ARDUINO project

[Bonnex]

I'm planning on making a mail notifier for my mailbox. When I get a letter, I get a notiflication to my phone. I'm planning on using an ARDUINO with a motion detector, but I dont really know if it will work, and I'm very inexperienced with programming. Any tips on wich ARDUINO to use and if there are any existing guides on how to do it.

[igormp]

Since you'll probably want some kind of internet connectivity, an esp would be a better fit for this project, be it an esp8266 or an esp32. You would also need to power everything up, be it with a battery or some wiring that you manage to get into your mailbox.

[JSFetzik]

I would also go with an ESP variant. Mostly because I have a bunch of them already. Easy to use and there are a lot of examples out there.

 

Check out the following article by someone has already done this.

https://blog.zakkemble.net/remote-mail-notifier-and-gps-tracker/

[maxtch]

Given the fact that you are likely going to have to implement big protocols like TLS1.3, I'd suggest a Raspberry Pi Zero W, or one of those Chinese alternatives like Orange Pi 2G-IoT.

As of actually programming it, you can use your favorite language that is available on Linux - C++, Java, Python, Node.js, even Swift.

[igormp]

5 hours ago, maxtch said:

Given the fact that you are likely going to have to implement big protocols like TLS1.3, I'd suggest a Raspberry Pi Zero W, or one of those Chinese alternatives like Orange Pi 2G-IoT.

As of actually programming it, you can use your favorite language that is available on Linux - C++, Java, Python, Node.js, even Swift.

You can have SSL/TLS on an ESP8266/32 without much hassle for a fraction of the cost of a rpi.

[maxtch]

On 1/25/2020 at 8:16 PM, igormp said:

You can have SSL/TLS on an ESP8266/32 without much hassle for a fraction of the cost of a rpi.

The specific board I mentioned, Orange Pi 2G-IoT, has a price tag between ESP8266 and ESP32, comes with both built-in Wi-Fi and cellular, and runs Linux. Built-in cellular would be a big bonus if you don't expect Wi-Fi to be available at all times, or you want to use something like SMS alerts.

[igormp]

4 hours ago, maxtch said:

The specific board I mentioned, Orange Pi 2G-IoT, has a price tag between ESP8266 and ESP32, comes with both built-in Wi-Fi and cellular, and runs Linux. Built-in cellular would be a big bonus if you don't expect Wi-Fi to be available at all times, or you want to use something like SMS alerts.

How so? That orange pi goes by $10, while an esp32 devboard goes for less than $4 (and the IC itself for $1~2 ).

[Scheer]

Are you doing this as a project to learn? If so, ignore the rest and have fun.

 

If you want something fairly plug and play, just get a Zwave or Zigbee door/window sensor and some kind of hub. I'd assume the battery life is better, not sure how long the ESP or Arduinos last, but on a coin cell most of my sensors last a year even out in the cold. I was a little concerned how indoor sensors would hold up outside, but I have yet to have one fail and some of them are literally two sided taped to gates without any protection whatsoever. I enjoy tinkering and saving money, so I tried doing Home Automation with ESPs, Sonoff, etc... but it wasn't worth all the headaches I faced in the long run. Smartthings has custom device handlers and apps for this exact use case, and I'd assume HA, Vera, etc. do as well.

[maxtch]

6 hours ago, igormp said:

How so? That orange pi goes by $10, while an esp32 devboard goes for less than $4 (and the IC itself for $1~2 ).

I am quoting Taobao prices. Also for ESP32 it would be hell to hot update them if you found a vulnerability. Linux-based solutions can be easily hot patched.

[igormp]

5 hours ago, maxtch said:

I am quoting Taobao prices. Also for ESP32 it would be hell to hot update them if you found a vulnerability. Linux-based solutions can be easily hot patched.

As someone who has worked on some projects that had ESP32s in production, I can guarantee you that doing an OTA firmware update is easy as single click. You can even do so through the Arduino IDE lol

[MartinKweh]

I made something similar for my microelectronics class. But instead i made something akin to a anti theft/door alarm thing. Where the system will notify me if the door or object has been moved from that spot. Via sms but i think a wifi module is better .

 

I used a ultrasonic sensor, an arduino board , a gsm/wifi module and a battery pack.

 

If you are using an ultrasonic sensor, you can implement it so that the sensor will detect if the mailbox door was opened and message you about it.

 

[Matacks]

I don't know if you live in United States but the USPS does offer a pretty nifty free email notification service which shows you scanned images of incoming mail and packages.   There's an app as well.   But it's not nearly as cool as having a mini computer monitor your mailbox.