Author Topic: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier  (Read 2054 times)

bickyb

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What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« on: April 30, 2015, 02:23:28 PM »
Hi,
I read about the Moteino and am having some problems understanding what parts I would need to have my mailbox notify me of mail received. 
Do I need 1 or two Moteino devices (i.e., a transmitter and receiver)?
I believe a kit is being sold.  Do I need 2 kits or one?

I would like to have the setup send me a notification when I receive snail mail.  I would prefer this not to be SMS but rather I would like to use Pushover.  https://pushover.net/clients   since I want to have a notification on my mac as well as my phone.
Do I need a Raspberry Pi in the mix to do this? 

If the battery of the Moteino is running low, I would like to get a Pushover notification telling me that the Motenio is running low on battery.  Is this doable?

TomWS

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Re: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2015, 04:49:24 PM »
Hi,
I read about the Moteino and am having some problems understanding what parts I would need to have my mailbox notify me of mail received. 
Do I need 1 or two Moteino devices (i.e., a transmitter and receiver)?
I believe a kit is being sold.  Do I need 2 kits or one?

I would like to have the setup send me a notification when I receive snail mail.  I would prefer this not to be SMS but rather I would like to use Pushover.  https://pushover.net/clients   since I want to have a notification on my mac as well as my phone.
Do I need a Raspberry Pi in the mix to do this? 

If the battery of the Moteino is running low, I would like to get a Pushover notification telling me that the Motenio is running low on battery.  Is this doable?
I'll let Felix answer the questions about what's needed for constructing an end to end Mailbox notifier. 

I was intrigued by your question re Pushover.  On scanning the developer page, it looks like all you need to 'push' notifications to Google's server is an HTTP Client with an Internet connection (and a registered App token) so I'd say some kind of gateway would be necessary, Raspberry Pi being one that's supported by LowPower Labs.  Then any of your Pushover clients could receive notifications.

To answer your last question, yes, technically very easy to do.  However, you would need to program this (unless Felix's latest gee whiz config gadget does that for you).

Tom

prairietech

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Re: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2015, 05:48:19 PM »
The Pushover reference caught my eye but I don't want to hijack this thread.
However........it would be great to have the upcoming gateway be able to send unique sounds depending on the event.  My phone chimes all day with the same sound for incoming emails and someone pulling into my driveway.  I get tired of checking my phone every time just to find spam.  Then ignore the email with an attached jpg of a strange car pulling in my driveway.

Felix

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Re: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2015, 11:27:26 AM »
I apologize for delaying a response here. I generally don't have a ready off the shelf kit specifically for the mailbox project. HOWEVER, there was the MotionMote kit which was perfect for detecting motion while keeping a long battery life and when battery goes low it can quickly be charged via USB within a few hours and redeployed.
There's also this dedicated page that documents my mailbox notifier project.

bickyb

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Re: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2015, 05:13:23 PM »
Felix,
Would I just need to order 2 MotionMote kits to act as a mailbox notifier?
Would I need a raspberry pi to be involved in order to be able to make pushover notifications ( see https://pushover.net/clients )?
I was reading about your doorbell project.  Could I run a mailbox notifier and a doorbell notifier and have them both talk to 1 receiving motionmote (in short, a setup requiring 3 motionmotes)?

Thanks,
Kulvir

Felix

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Re: What do I need for Mailbox Notifier
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2015, 03:15:46 PM »
The MotionMote can be used as a motion sensor or as a monitor (using the OLED instead of the sensor).
I don't have any more in stock right now though, sorry to say. I am not sure when they will be available again.