I’m having a problem with mounting the Multi’s on my external doors. Not sure if it’s building codes or that I live where we get snow, the inside of my external doors are not flush so I can’t mount the multi’s properly. If i took the magnet out of the non brains side of the Multi it would work because I could recess them a bit into the jam and the door could swing pass the magnet without being blocked. Instead of butchering the Multi I thought best to check and see if I could use another type of magnet. maybe something at “The Source” (Radio Shack in the US), home depot, walmart.? Can I strip the magnets out of the something I already own, I have lots of computer bits around?
I have tried mounting the Multi on the hing side of the door and the magnet on the jam and that sort of works. I do get the OPEN trigger but the door has to be almost open before the contact is triggered. If I swing the door open to hard the brains side of the Multi hits the jam. It works but not the best solution.
I’ve tried using just the Brains side of the Multi and setting it as a garage door but that did not give a consistent, reliable trigger when the door was opened.
Plus, you may not need the magnetic – use the accelerometer – I did.
When you use the accelermoeter though, can you tell if it’s closed vs. open? What I mean is, if the door is close and then I swing it all the way open, the accel will report movement. But if I then swing in 1/2 or 3/4 closed, doesn’t it just report movement again? Or can you tell that it’s only been 3/4 closed and therefore still report open until it’s all the way closed?
Not sure of your setup… I actually have two of my open/close sensors mounted on the “outside” of the door. Between the main door and the storm door. From a security stand point this isn’t ideal. A competent intruder could see this and easily remove the sensor and/or magnet to keep the connection closed. There’s also danger of someone stealing the unit if I don’t keep my storm doors locked. But it does make for a more “pretty” setup and less trim-work to get in the way.
I’m looking at adding some accelerometer to warnings to help with the security end.
I would imagine you could use most any magnet. I ran into some issues as well with my multi because my doors have odd shaped molding around them. I thought about doing something similar, but for me, I wasn’t convinced that I could pull it off with just the magnet any better. In the end, I temporarily made a small ‘L’ bracket out of plastic that I molded with heat to match the molding shape. I stuck that to the door molding and then used the double sided tape to attach the magnetic side of the multi to the ‘L’ bracket. It works well enough, but I don’t care for how it looks. Mainly, I wanted to get it up and running and I plan to come up with a better solution.
While trying to work out how to handle the situation, I did pop the magnetic part of the multi open and it seems like it would be pretty easy to remove the magnet from it if you chose to without destroying the housing. You could always put it back later if you chose to.
Just some food for thought. Let us know what solution you come up with, as it might help others with similar issues.
Thanks for the responses. I haven’t bought anything yet. I was looking around the house for something with a magnet and there it was infront of me. I bought a TWINE off KickStarter and it’s mag switch comes with a magnet that is thinner and smaller then a 10 cent piece (Canadian OR American) and I’m testing it now for consistency. Mounted the Multi on the door and the magnet on the door jam using poster putty. I have the multi changed back from Garage Door to Smartthings Multi.
My Back Door on the hing side, has the Multi on the door and magnet on the jam, has not been consistent. I have to mount the Multi and Magnet far apart so that the door opens properly, this has led to false readings. Don’t think the hing side is the way to go, at least not with Multi magnet, might work better with a weaker magnet like the one from the TWINE.
I’ll report back when I get it running consistently but please keep the suggestions coming.
I found some magnets at my local Princess Auto store, not sure if they are in the US. But in the General Tools section, under Magnets sign I found a “Power Fist” package of 10 rare earth super magnets. They are round, a 1/4" across and 1/8" thick and cost $3.99 For the last two days they have worked perfect, I have smartthings open on my phone when I open and close the doors. Any changes I’ll repost