Presence sensor - can i make it beep when its not at home near the hub?

hi, i lost my keys at the cemetery, can i make it beep while its not near the hub?

Unfortunately no.

The ST presence sensor works by sending a signal every 30 seconds or so that says “I’m here” but if it’s not within zigbee range of your hub then nothing else will happen.

OK thank you

its a shame as i know roughly where the key are but not exactly, im assuming that there is no tech out there that could potentially pick up the signal that the sensor sends out every 30 seconds :slight_smile:

Yeah that’s really annoying, I’m sorry you lost your keys.

I’m certainly no engineer, but I would imagine its technically possible. However I have no clue what type of specialized equipment it would require, or whether it would allow you to localize it to an area any smaller than where you roughly know it is anyway.

My wife is pretty bad about losing track of her keys so I bought her a Tile. It doesn’t integrate with SmartThings AFAIK (so won’t work as a presence sensor or for triggering any automations), but it pairs to your phone with Bluetooth. If it’s within Bluetooth range of your phone, you can ping it and it’ll beep. If you know where your keys are but not your phone, it works in reverse too.

It’s most helpful if you tend to lose your keys at home or someplace where it stays within Bluetooth range of your phone. However if you were to lose your keys outside the home, as long as you had your phone on you, the tile app can tell you where you were the last time your phone and keys were together so it could narrow down your search quite a bit.

Plus if you opt-in, the app can allow other people that also use Tile to help you find your lost keys. The tag will update it’s location in the app if someone else passes by it with their phone.

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thats really useful, thank you, i think ill have to invest in a tile (hope they work here in the UK).

thanks for all your feedback and help

if you powered it by UPS and walked around you might be able to trigger it but

a. it may be disrespectful.
b. the situation paints a ridiculous picture that could wind up on YouTube
c. the fob makes a pathetic tiny sound anyway

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rent a metal detector. Probably the most straightforward solution.

You could feasibly power your hub and provide an ethernet connection using very long cables, but that is the ridiculous route.