mailbox sensor?

R

rismoney

Active Member
Anyone ever mess with this?
 
http://www.amazon.com/Multi-sensor-Detects-opening-ambient-temperature/dp/B00K252JV6
 
I want to potentially drop place this (or another battery sensor) on the inside lid of my mailbox.  This is my mailbox mounted on vinyl house siding:
http://www.amazon.com/Umbra-460322-592-Postino-Wall-Mount-Stainless/dp/B001DCZGFS
 
I would want something relatively cheap though I don't forsee theft to be a big issue.  The main idea would be to determine if the lid was open based on light or open position, though the contacts might be hard to align inside such a small config.
 
I also thought I could hack a hidden/recessed door sensor, but there might not be enough weight to force the spring, unless I weighted the lid.
 
A co-worker used a Honeywell 5800 series door/window contact in his mailbox; has system light up key on keypad (and/or text) when the door is opened.
 
I've been thinking about this for a while, I also want a good camera to catch details. I thought about putting a ring stick up cam in the mailbox but the response rate on those things is too slow. 
 
KLC said:
I've been thinking about this for a while, I also want a good camera to catch details. I thought about putting a ring stick up cam in the mailbox but the response rate on those things is too slow. 
Click to expand...
What sort of details are you looking for? General actions of the mail handler and/or activity around the mailbox, or activity on the road?
 
I was thinking about a camera on the house for mailbox and street video... Had someone leave a 6 pack of empty beer bottles in ours once. Not a big deal, but more curious!
 
cobra said:
I was thinking about a camera on the house for mailbox and street video... Had someone leave a 6 pack of empty beer bottles in ours once. Not a big deal, but more curious!
Click to expand...
 
A friend of mine got video of his mailman tearing off the front door of his mailbox and tossing it into his front yard. The mailman was fired when he turned in the video of what happened.

I have a pretty decent view of my mailbox, but it's not the mailbox that I'm worried about...
index.php
 
I dunno, seems like he/she makes a pretty good security guard.  Ought to keep the crooks from sneaking around the bushes!
 
rismoney said:
Anyone ever mess with this?
 
http://www.amazon.com/Multi-sensor-Detects-opening-ambient-temperature/dp/B00K252JV6
 
I want to potentially drop place this (or another battery sensor) on the inside lid of my mailbox.  This is my mailbox mounted on vinyl house siding:
http://www.amazon.com/Umbra-460322-592-Postino-Wall-Mount-Stainless/dp/B001DCZGFS
 
I would want something relatively cheap though I don't forsee theft to be a big issue.  The main idea would be to determine if the lid was open based on light or open position, though the contacts might be hard to align inside such a small config.
 
I also thought I could hack a hidden/recessed door sensor, but there might not be enough weight to force the spring, unless I weighted the lid.
Click to expand...
 
 
Since you have a metal mail box, I'm not sure how well a wireless sensor will work if you mount it on the inside of the mailbox.  Even when the lid opened, it may not be able to get a good signal back to the receiver.  And most security type sensors are supervised, so with the lid closed, the system may constantly report a lost sensor.
 
That's pretty tiny!  My plan for the mailbox was twofold.  1) A wireless window reed sensor for the door itself, and then 2) Honeywell makes these nifty little object presence sensors, I think the idea is you put a piece of art or something on them, and then when it gets lifted, it goes off.  Very Indiana Jones.  Anyhow, I was thinking maybe I could put one in the bottom of the mailbox, and it would notice when mail was put on top of it.
 
But I have one of those old-style long mail boxes, out on the street, not the vertical box type.
 
Here are two examples...
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mail-Reminder-Notification-Alert-Wireless/dp/B005XQYKHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463291967&sr=8-1&keywords=mailbox+notifier
http://www.amazon.com/Mail-Chime-MAIL-1200-Wireless-System/dp/B00103FDDU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1463291967&sr=8-3&keywords=mailbox+notifier
 
I bought the second one. It worked great but didn't work for me as my mailbox is about 500 feet away. The product I bought claimed 450 feet when I bought it but since then got revised to 300 feet. They claim will go through walls but it only goes through one or two walls. In my case I have two houses between my home and my mailbox. Didn't work out but I wanted to share those products with you.
 
Hope it helps.
 
drvnbysound said:
What sort of details are you looking for? General actions of the mail handler and/or activity around the mailbox, or activity on the road?
Click to expand...
Just catching people who's going into the mailbox. I have a tree nearby, I guess I could just run cable to it and install a camera, lol
 
The reason I asked, is that I can see my mailbox from 2 cameras installed on my home.
 
Could I get facial recognition (recognize a specific person based on facial features alone)? Probably not. Could I tell if it was a family member vs. someone I don't know? Yeah, I'm pretty certain that I could.
 
Having said that, I had a friend (now passed) who had a mailman who ripped the door off his mailbox and tossed it onto his front lawn. Not sure what the reason was. He took the video to the post office. Not that he was trying for this outcome, but the guy was fired pretty much on the spot.
 
If that's all your looking for, a camera on your home should be pretty easy to do - even if you want to use one with a longer lens to get a better image of the person. However, I know other people who want to capture details of the cars that are driving down the road, possibly even the ability to read license plates - in the event something happened, they could track down the specific car vs. just knowing it was a green Civic. In this case, you're going to need a camera closer to the road looking up/down the street. So, IMO it really depends on what your overall goal really is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top