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Radio Door Sensor

Radio Door Sensor will notify you to your phone anytime someone opens the door, window or cookie jar! It is also usable as a notification when you forget to close garage or gate in the evening.

It can be equiped with magnet for easy attach enclosure and works for many years on batteries. Really easy installation!

Assembled Radio Door Sensor in a yellow enclosure with the wired magnetic switch beside it
All Radio Door Sensor parts laid out: modules, magnetic switch, enclosure halves and fasteners

Project Intro Video​

Requirements​

info

You can also connect Radio Dongle to the Raspberry Pi or other single board computer. Please see Raspberry Pi Installation document.

Download HARDWARIO Playground​

Download the latest HARDWARIO Playground for your operating system. After download run the Playground application.

BigClown Playground application open on its Home screen with the Learn documentation

Now we need to make sure that modules use the latest firmware. You need to flash your Radio Dongle and the remote node Core Module.

Flash Door Sensor firmware​

Step 1: Connect​

Connect just the Door Sensor to the USB of your computer.

Step 2: Flash firmware​

In Playground go to Firmware tab, select the firmware bigclownlabs/bcf-radio-door-sensor, choose the device's serial port in Device and click FLASH FIRMWARE.

Firmware tab with bcf-radio-door-sensor selected, the serial port chosen and Flash Firmware highlighted

Step 3: Disconnect​

Disconnect Door Sensor from your computer. Disconnect the batteries and keep the Door Sensor unpowered for pairing process later.

Flash Radio Dongle firmware​

Step 1: Connect​

Connect just the Radio Dongle to the USB of your computer.

Step 2: Flash​

In Playground go to Firmware tab, select the firmware bigclownlabs/bcf-gateway-usb-dongle, choose the device's serial port in Device and click FLASH FIRMWARE.

Firmware tab with bcf-gateway-usb-dongle selected, the serial port chosen and Flash Firmware highlighted

Step 3: Keep connected​

Keep Radio Dongle connected to your computer.

Start the gateway​

In the bottom left corner, click on Gateway and select device's serial port. The Gatewaytext should change to green.

Gateway control in the bottom-left corner with the Radio Dongle serial port selected

Pair the Radio Door Sensor​

Step 1: Start pairing​

In the Radio tab click on the Pairing start button.

Radio tab with the Pairing start button highlighted

Step 2: Turn Door Sensor into pairing mode​

Now insert the batteries to the Door Sensor. The pairing command is send every time you put batteries to the remote module.

Step 3: Stop pairing​

Stop the pairing by clicking Pairing stop.

Radio tab with the paired door-sensor:0 listed and the Pairing stop button highlighted

Test the Door Sensor​

Step 1: Switch to MQTT tab and subscribe to # topic.​

Step 2: Now put the magnet to and away from the sensor, you should see MQTT messages in the top window.​

Step 3: Other messages are button press and temperature change. Try it!​

MQTT tab subscribed to # showing door-sensor state messages switching between true and false
success

Perfect! You have created radio network which is receiving events and measured temperature.

IFTTT integration​

In this section, we will create an Applet in the IFTTT service. The Applet is a sort of event-trigger mechanism.

Step 1: Open the web-browser and go to IFTTT:​

IFTTT homepage with the Sign in button highlighted

Step 2: Log in to IFTTT service. You can sign up using your Google or Facebook identity:​

IFTTT Discover page after signing in, with My Applets highlighted in the menu

Step 3: Go to My Applets in the menu and click on the New Applet button:​

My Applets page with the New Applet button highlighted

Step 4: Click on +this in the if this then that sentence:​

New Applet editor with +this highlighted in the if this then that sentence

Step 5: Find a service with the name Webhooks and select it:​

Choose a service step with Webhooks typed in the search and the Webhooks tile highlighted

Step 6: Click on Receive a web request:​

Choose trigger step with the Receive a web request card highlighted

Step 7: Type door in the Event Name field and click on Create Trigger:​

Trigger fields with door typed as Event Name and the Create trigger button highlighted

Step 8: Click on +that in the if this then that sentence:​

New Applet editor with +that highlighted in the if this then that sentence

Step 9: Find action service with the name Notifications and select it:​

Choose action service step with Notifications searched and the Notifications tile highlighted

Step 10: Click on Send a notification from the IFTTT app:​

Choose action step with the Send a notification from the IFTTT app card highlighted

Step 11: Edit the Notification field and insert the text Door Sensor Alarm at {{OccurredAt}} ! and push the Create action button:​

Action fields with the Door Sensor Alarm notification text filled in and the Create action button highlighted

Step 12: Click on the Finish button:​

Review and finish step for the door applet with the Finish button highlighted

Step 13: Click on the Webhooks button:​

Finished door applet card with the Webhooks icon highlighted

Step 14: Click on the Documentation button:​

Webhooks service page with the Documentation button highlighted

Step 15: Now you have your notification key. Keep this page open so you can copy this key to the Node-RED later:​

Webhooks documentation page with the personal key highlighted for copying

Step 16: Install the IFTTT app on your smart phone and sign in using the same account as you just used to create the applet. Allow the app to use the push notifications when asked​

success

At this point, you've got working notification Applet in the IFTTT service.

Node-RED plug-in for IFTTT​

To use IFTTT in Node-RED, we can use simple plug-in which will send notifications.

Step 1: Click on MQTT tab, then on the menu in the top right corner and select Manage palette​

Node-RED menu open with the Manage palette item highlighted

Step 2: Switch to Install tab, search for ifttt and click on the install button. In the pop-up window, click again on Install:​

Manage palette Install tab with ifttt searched and the install button for node-red-contrib-ifttt highlighted

Step 3: After installation you see confirmation that new nodes has beed addded to the Node-RED:​

Confirmation banner that the ifttt-key and ifttt out nodes were added to the palette

success

Perfect! Node-RED plugin for IFTTT will allow to send notification directly to you phone.

Import Node-RED notification flow​

Step 1: Copy the text below to the clipboard:​

[{"id":"5ca15197.aef91","type":"mqtt in","z":"49c6b66c.16eaf8","name":"","topic":"node/door-sensor:0/door-sensor/a/state","qos":"2","broker":"67b8de4a.029d3","x":210,"y":100,"wires":[["ccd36bb4.eccae8"]]},{"id":"ccd36bb4.eccae8","type":"switch","z":"49c6b66c.16eaf8","name":"","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"false","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":210,"y":220,"wires":[["6cb9da01.6abab4"]]},{"id":"6cb9da01.6abab4","type":"ifttt out","z":"49c6b66c.16eaf8","eventName":"door","key":"","x":210,"y":320,"wires":[]},{"id":"67b8de4a.029d3","type":"mqtt-broker","z":"","broker":"127.0.0.1","port":"1883","clientid":"","usetls":false,"compatmode":true,"keepalive":"60","cleansession":true,"birthTopic":"","birthQos":"0","birthPayload":"","willTopic":"","willQos":"0","willPayload":""}]

Step 2: Click on the top right menu, then select Import and Clipboard:​

Node-RED menu with Import and Clipboard highlighted

Step 3: Paste the text from clipboard to the textbox and press Import:​

Import nodes dialog with the flow JSON pasted in and the Import button highlighted

Set IFTTT key​

Step 1: You have imported the flow. Now you need to fill in your own IFTTT key. Double click on the IFTTT node:​

Imported notification flow with the door IFTTT node highlighted for editing

Step 2: Click on a pencil symbol and copy and paste the key from the last step of IFTTT integration chapter. Check that the Event name is set to the door event. Then click Done:​

Edit ifttt out node dialog with the Key pencil icon and the door Event Name highlighted

Run and test your flow!​

Step 1: Everytime you change the flow, you have to click on the Deploy button in the right top corner. Please do that now:​

Node-RED editor with the Deploy button in the top-right corner highlighted

Step 2: Now put the magnet near the magnetic sensor and away on your Radio Door Sensor. You should get IFTTT notification in a few seconds later!​

You should see "true" and "false" messages in the right debug tab and during false there will be a Sent! green flag near the IFTTT node for a while.

Door state messages true and false in the debug tab and the Sent! flag under the IFTTT node

If you would like be notified on "true" messages instead of false, just open the switch node and change the false text in the rules to true.

Phone showing the IFTTT push notification Door Sensor Alarm with the date and time

success

Now find the right spot for the Radio Door Sensor and enjoy the notifications you get!

More functionality​

Import this flow to Node-RED that will be able to:

  • Show current door state with a graphical padlock
  • Display the stopwatch for opened doors. Also get an event after the doors are opened for set amount of seconds
  • Check the state of the door at the set time and generate event
[{"id":"6f038501.0d3aec","type":"mqtt in","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","topic":"node/door-sensor:0/door-sensor/a/state","qos":"2","broker":"29fba84a.b2af58","x":290,"y":260,"wires":[["27a2954e.e0ee9a"]]},{"id":"968704d7.760558","type":"ui_switch","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","label":"Doors","group":"57ff470b.93fdf8","order":0,"width":"0","height":"0","passthru":false,"decouple":"true","topic":"","style":"","onvalue":"true","onvalueType":"str","onicon":"fa-lock","oncolor":"green","offvalue":"false","offvalueType":"str","officon":"fa-unlock","offcolor":"red","x":750,"y":260,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"cd19b231.5a539","type":"inject","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"1","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":210,"y":420,"wires":[["90766ef0.cb081"]]},{"id":"ec67f171.3a0db","type":"ui_text","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","group":"57ff470b.93fdf8","order":0,"width":0,"height":0,"name":"","label":"Opened (sec)","format":"{{msg.payload}}","layout":"row-spread","x":580,"y":380,"wires":[]},{"id":"90766ef0.cb081","type":"function","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"human time","func":"var human = {payload : \"\"};\nvar seconds = {payload : 0};\n\nif(flow.get(\"state\") == \"true\")\n{\n    human.payload = \"CLOSED\";\n} else\n{\n    diff = parseInt((Date.now() - flow.get(\"timestamp\")));\n    human.payload = new Date(diff).toString().slice(16,24);\n    seconds.payload = parseInt(diff/1000);\n}\n\n\nreturn [human, seconds];","outputs":2,"noerr":0,"x":390,"y":420,"wires":[["ec67f171.3a0db"],["fa64f9a0.2e58e8"]],"outputLabels":["human time","seconds"],"icon":"node-red/timer.png"},{"id":"27a2954e.e0ee9a","type":"change","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"state","pt":"flow","to":"payload","tot":"msg"},{"t":"set","p":"timestamp","pt":"flow","to":"","tot":"date"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":580,"y":260,"wires":[["968704d7.760558"]]},{"id":"3ed1d655.049fda","type":"inject","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"at 22:00","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"00 22 * * *","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":200,"y":600,"wires":[["66b56029.25196"]]},{"id":"66b56029.25196","type":"switch","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","property":"state","propertyType":"flow","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"false","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":370,"y":600,"wires":[["bf5ca77b.366198"]]},{"id":"94e19310.ac12e","type":"debug","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"false","x":770,"y":600,"wires":[]},{"id":"bf5ca77b.366198","type":"change","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"Door opened at night","tot":"str"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":580,"y":600,"wires":[["94e19310.ac12e"]]},{"id":"fa64f9a0.2e58e8","type":"switch","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"opened for 5 s","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"5","vt":"num"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":580,"y":440,"wires":[["e3ba7f50.53703"]]},{"id":"e3ba7f50.53703","type":"debug","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"false","x":770,"y":440,"wires":[]},{"id":"cd9712a1.91c45","type":"comment","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"Save state to flow and show it on dasboard","info":"","x":300,"y":200,"wires":[]},{"id":"21a591a0.10411e","type":"comment","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"Opened doors stopwatch","info":"","x":250,"y":360,"wires":[]},{"id":"6752875e.0092b8","type":"comment","z":"84faeffa.c3a93","name":"Check door state at 22:00","info":"","x":250,"y":540,"wires":[]},{"id":"29fba84a.b2af58","type":"mqtt-broker","z":"","broker":"127.0.0.1","port":"1883","clientid":"","usetls":false,"compatmode":true,"keepalive":"60","cleansession":true,"birthTopic":"","birthQos":"0","birthPayload":"","willTopic":"","willQos":"0","willPayload":""},{"id":"57ff470b.93fdf8","type":"ui_group","z":"","name":"Default","tab":"11207769.c31889","disp":true,"width":"6","collapse":false},{"id":"11207769.c31889","type":"ui_tab","z":"","name":"Home","icon":"dashboard"}]
Extra Node-RED flows: door state on a dashboard, opened-door stopwatch and a 22:00 door check