I have used a recessed sensor for a long time (Wet North or England )
Recessed one on my back gate… drilled a couple of holes in the cover (in the bottom )
To make sure the air could get to it… no condensation
Samsung multisensor on a metal drive gate… in a project box… again with air holes
These have been working for a year or more… no problems yet
The gap in my outside gate is to large for most of the proposed solutions to work.
I can’t find the thread now, but someone in another thread recommended the below, and it’s working well for me!
Magnetic open/close sensor (gap up to 4inches):
Dry contact sensor (Takes input from the open/close sensor for ZWave):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0155HSUUY
As the Dry contact sensor isn’t rated for outdoor use, I put it in one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JEWNKR0
I just had to drill a tiny hole in the box.to insert the wire, and sealed the hole with some sealant, like this:stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/18285-Dynaflex-Premium-Outdoor-5-5-Ounce/dp/B0058I2MD2
End Result:
(Note: The while the box is sealed for outdoor use, the screws it comes with started turning orange within a few days, so I sealed them with sealant as well.
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I bought 3 of the Sensative strip sensors. 2 of them work, albeit with a slight delay in notification of change in status. The 3rd one worked for a little while then stopped. I think I had it too low on the gate and it couldn’t communicate w/ the hub. The other 2 I had to play a bit with some plywood to get the gap at the right distance where it always worked. Pretty pleased with them so far.
I have been using these for over two years without an issue
We have a kit for both covered doors / gates and weatherproof kit for doors and gates that are exposed to the elements.
https://www.007systems.com/pedestrian-door-and-gate-control.html
I have been looking for the same thing for a long time. Decided to go the “cowboy way” and bought this thing
sealed it with industrial aluminum tape and stuck it to my mailbox lid. So far so good. My logic behind this is that I will not cry my eyes out when something so cheap fails. We’ll see.
The sensor itself is clunky but very fast in reporting.
Does this relay give battery status updates to the hub?
i use this sensor and added a larger maget bar to the gate to make the difference…
ie
and
I have a driveway gate about 100ft from the closes z-wave device, any suggestions? I’d like to have a sensor on it to show when opened/closed.
Thanks
status update 4 months later - still working perfectly. Battery level after 4 months of really cold weather - 88%.
Could you share how you were able to get your Gen 5 to pair?
If you press and hold the “action button” on the Gen 5 for 20 seconds it will factory reset the device and remove it from the network. Remove the battery and set the SmartThings app to “add a thing” then re-insert the battery. Press the action button once on the Gen 5 and SmartThings should find it as a Z-Wave door/window sensor. If that doesn’t work you can try adding the device manually in the IDE using the Z-Wave door/window sensor as the type.
I have looked for the dry contact sensors to use as an open closed gate sensor with no luck. Maybe they have been removed.
But, I have an idea that I’m going try.
I have several of the door/ window open closed sensors that use the magnetic reed switches to sense the open closed status.
I’m going to remove the reed switch and add a set of contacts that can connect to a wired garage door open closed switch.
This should work the same as the dry contact sensor. I can mount the modified door sensor in a dry location and run the wires to the gate.
I’ll update this post with pictures and information as the project progresses.
So, I have a working remote gate sensor.
I purchased a cheap Neo Coolcam open/closed sensor off eBay for $17.50 free shipping.
(I will edit this with part number and cost).
But any kind of outdoor cable would work. I was worried about squirrels chewing on the cable is the reason I armored it.
I ran the cable through the same hole in the wall of the house used for my air conditioner and placed the modified open/close sensor inside the house.
The garage door switch mounts on one side of the gate and the magnet mounts on the other side. I used existing screw holes in the gate to mount the switch. The magnet had to be shimmed out a little but wasn’t difficult to find something to mount it. Home Depot sells some flat metal that is about 3ft long with holes above every inch in the plumbing department. Cost about $3.
Cut to length and screwed the magnet to it.
So for less than $40 I have a working gate monitor.
I’m going to create an instructable with better documentation and pictures.
I’ll post a link.
