Hard Wired Contact Sensor Battery with CR123A for longer service

My 2 Contact Sensors on my mailbox batteries lasted only 5 months.
The original CR1632 Battery has 130 mAh . I decided to hard wire the sensors to CR123A batteries with 1500mAh .
They should least 10 times as long as the original CR1632 . I should get least 3+ years out of them .
I might do the same to other door contact sensors if I can find a small enough project box to mount the battery in .
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Here are my 2 sensors
1 for the Mailbox and the 2nd for the Newpaper box.
I mounted the battery box behind the sensors under the mailbox .
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I also measured the amperage draw of the contact sensor .
I found that it draws about 14 mA when there is a state change ( Contact open or closed) for less than 0.5 sec.
They draw only 1.6 Microampere µA when not broadcasting a state change . It draws the same if the contact is open or closed.
I am not sure what the draw is when it broadcast a heartbeat message or how often it broadcasts this message . I assume it would be the same 14 mA .

Normal operation amperage draw
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Amperage draw when state changes

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4 Likes

How far do you have your sensors from the bridge? Didn’t think it would be strong enough to reach a mailbox.

78 Feet as a crow flies .
I have the camera that has the bridge mounted inside a window facing the mailboxes .
Since I have removed the CR1632 battery and made these remote mount CR123A batteries I am getting 2 and 3 bars signal strength out of these 2 sensors. I only had 1 bar with the CR1632 .
Even with the CR1632 I never had a issue with these two sensors . I have more issues with sensors that are inside the house and 8 to 10 feet from the bridge .
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Ok thanks! I just have them set up in my home one by the front door and in the bathroom to control the light.

Troy B. Norman

I’ve also been using one on my mailbox since middle of last summer, works great and I like your battery idea. Question though, I can’t really tell from your picture, but why 2 sensors? Also, where is your magnet?

Just curious what climate you’re in and is it the original battery. I’ve had one since last fall, but cold weather seems to be an issue.

I’m in upstate rural NY. It’s been in the 90’s in the summer and we’ve been down as low as zero degrees so far this winter and I’m on my second battery since the original install. I think it was July when I installed it and I changed the battery in December

1 Like

What are the best practices with Wyze bridges?
I have one about 10 ft from my sensor in the garage and I hardly get a bar of signal. Same cam, same sensor in the house, has lots of signal. Is it picking up my bridge in the house, not the garage? I checked Wyze app and it looks like it is assoc with the garage cam bridge. Puzzled.

Here are a few with regards to the camera that has the bridge installed . The bridge adds extra power draw (load) and the camera needs a good power source .

  1. Make sure the camera has a good power supply use the one that came with the camera.
  2. No USB extension cords or if you use one make sure it heavy enough gauge wire . Use the shortest length possible .
    3 . Do not use a camera that is daisy chained with another camera.

I have also found that I have 2 cameras that the bridge does not work well with . 1st was a V2 that the bridge doesn’t work at all in and the other is a Pan Cam that it seams to randomly drop the bridge and I would have to reset the bridge often . This Pan Cam has since died … :frowning:

I was having connection issues with all interior sensor for about 2 months . I had a Dish receiver with UHF remote controls and when I finally cut the cord and sent the Dish receiver back I have had very few disconnects . I am assuming that the UHF remote control was interfering with the sensors . If you suspect something might be interfering with your signal strength you can shut of devices as a process of elimination .