You've got mail! Wyze Contact Sensor installed in mailbox

Mine is only 20 ft from my camera. Just bring it over to your mailbox and try it, that will be the only way to tell. I know mine has worked when the temperature was in the low 20s too.

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I put the motion sensor at the back of my double-walled, heavy duty plastic Rubbermaid mailbox. I paired it to a V2 cam mounted under the eave of my roof (very well protected from weather) about 20 feet away. At first, it would not clear once triggered. I deleted the sensor from the app and re-added it. Has worked perfectly ever since.

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I was gonna put the sensor inside mine, but I have an extra large mailbox and get a lot of packages. I didn’t think it would last a week with boxes getting shoved in. That’s why I mounted my contact sensor outside the mailbox. I cut a piece of silicone about the size of the sensor from an old mold and siliconed that to the mailbox covering the sensor. It protects the sensor from rain and works like a flap that I can lift to expose the sensor for battery changes.
It’s been working well for several months in rain and now snow.

I also opened the sensor, uncoiled the antenna, and routed it outside the sensor which increased the signal strength. The wire is about 5 1/2 inches long once uncoiled.

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@raym64 Can you please post a picture of your setup? I have a similar situation and am having a hard time visualizing what you’ve done.

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I’ll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow since it’s dark out right now. But in the meanwhile, I’ll try to explain better.
I simply attached the contact sensor to the side of the mailbox next to the mailbox door and attached the magnet part to the door itself. Then to help protect it, I took a scrap piece of silicone rubber and glued it above the contact sensor to cover it from rain. It acts like a flap that I can lift up to get to the sensor for battery changes, etc.

It was working okay most of the time, but occasionally would show offline, I think due to distance. The camera with the bridge in inside an enclosed sun room porch and is at least 75 feet away if not more. So I opened up the sensor and found the antenna is coiled up like a spring to fit inside. Antennas need to be a specific length to match the frequency. I uncoiled and straightened the antenna wire, which once uncoiled was about 5 1/2 inches long and made a slot in the sensor case so I could extent it outside the sensor housing. then added a bit of silicone around the wire to seal it So basically, I now have a contact sensor with a 5 1/2 inch wire sticking out of it. It’s a pretty stiff, but thin wire, not soft copper.

After doing that a while back, it hasn’t failed or dropped offline once, except when all the Wyze sense dropped for other reasons like the system being down a week or so ago. I have a good signal with 2 out of 3 bars shown in the settings and it was only 1 bar before my mod.

I even set up an Alexa routine so she announces “The mail is here” when the mailbox get’s opened.

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Excellent mod! Thx for sharing.

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I took a couple quick photos of my mailbox sensor. You can see the antenna wire that I uncoiled and routed outside the sensor, and also the white silicone rubber weather cover.

image image

Edited to say sorry about the sideways photos

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Thanks @raym64! Clever mod. I appreciate the pics and extra explanation.

Sean

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I finally gave up. I tried the door sensors a couple of times (several different ones), but seems they go offline often. I tried fresh batteries, mounting them in different place around the lid.
I then saw this thread, and tried the motion sensor, and it never cleared. I have a metal mailbox approximately 95 feet from the wyze camera that has the bridge in it which is in my garage. The door sensor showed one bar, the motion sensor when mounted in the back showed 2-3. Since the motion sensor never cleared, it never sent notifications or recorded videos. I also have a camera that when the bridge is installed, it talks to you about adding a device, but it will never add it (neither a sensor or motion detector). Seems nothing I tried worked consistently enough to be useful. Pulling the antenna to the outside of the door sensor looks great, but I am not mounting that sensor outside the mailbox, and I hate to drill a hole to run the antenna out. I am glad some people had success, but I think distance to the bridge is what is getting me. It is not that big of a deal now that I signed up for that postal service feature called “Informed Delivery Daily Digest”. The postal service sends you a picture of what should be coming to your mail box that morning.

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Mounted mine inside of my metal box in front of the flag retainer clip. I ended up using a magnet from an obsolete Simplisafe alarm sensor on the door, since the Wyze magnet seemed to have some difficulty closing. Distance to my exterior mounted bridge cam is about 50 feet.

Does anybody have a good sensor mounting idea for a garage door? I put mine on one side of a cabinet door hinge and command stripped the hinge to the door and let gravity separate them, but I am not happy with the look of it and sometimes the sensor magnetically attaches in the open position. I don’t want to drill into a brand new Hurricane proof metal garage door.

I like this idea and did similar on my garage door…

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I’ve placed my contact switches outside (oops) on my 2 gates to tell me when they have been opened to the yard. Works great. I made sure the contacts are underneath a wood crossbar so I don’t expect them to get water on them.

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Thanks @raym64 !
Have mine mounted on our metal mail box with your mod.
Before it had 3 bars before mounting it to the box then it when to off line state.
With your antenna mod it show one bar but it better then none …and it’s working… Alexa says, You’ve got mail …

Completely Water Proof the Contact Sensor with Scotch Removable Mounting Putty. Removed the factory mounting tape and warped the entire case with it … not sure how it will work/holdup in the snow though?

The last pic is an old mod I did with a landscaping flag that needs to be reloaded after I pickup the mail. I can see if the mail arrived just by looking out our living room window to see if the flag dropped. Great mod for people who seem to have problems and give up on the Wyze sense …

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I tested the direct line-of-sight communication distance and got one bar of signal at 250’. I actuated the contact sensor in my hand.

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I got one bar of signal strength at 250’ line-of-sight.

Checkout @Omgitstony April 19
A very clever, simple and robust method of attaching a contact sensor to a garage door.

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Everyone has great ideas but it’s focusing on one style of mailbox. The type with flip down door. What about the ones where mail is dropped in from the top (through the slot). That’s what I have.

I’ve tried with limited success with a sensor on the side. When the cover is lifted up notifications is sent that the box was opened.

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You could probably replace the reed switch functionality in Wyze Sense with 3mm LED or smaller IR beam break functionality for $5-$10. Similar to garage door safeties or perimeter alarms… passing mail breaking beam equivalent to open contact.

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I installed the Motion Sensor in the back of my mailbox, Per App has 3 bars, and i get nothing when the mailbox is opened or closed.

I put the Contact Sensor on the front left side of my mailbox and on flip down down (mailbox is metal, or Aluminum… and I have only 1 bar and the contact sensors register open or closed.

I am not sure why the sensor (which would be nice cause its hidden toward the back) doesnt give me alerts when the mailbox opens. Surely that is a wide enough opening when the mailbox door flips down to register motion?

I am safe with the contact sensors being left on, and they are sticky taped (with what they come with) down. I hate to break that seal in 1 year after battery dies to replace it, then may have to glue it down.

I will see what happens tomorrow with either contact or motion sensor, but I have a feeling that the motion sensor will not report (ill just have stick with contact sensor and put the motion one somewhere else)

cj

I never could get the motion sensor to work in the back of the mailbox either. I had to go with the contact sensor on the inside wall of the mailbox in the front, and the magnet portion on the inner door of the mailbox lid.
I think I will use that 3M Scotch removable adhesive putty to attach mine next time (when the factory adhesive fails). This way I can get to the battery, because at extreme distances those batteries do not last long on the contact sensors. You might as well go ahead and order a spare battery for the contact sensor which is a CR1632 (3 Volt). The motion sensor does not use the same battery! If you have to buy one at Auto-zone or somewhere like that you can spend up to $7 on one of them, or you can buy 10 of them on Amazon for that price. I love being able to tie one of my video cameras to video the person at the mailbox. This way I only have to go out to the mailbox once a day, and if anyone plays with my mailbox they will be recorded! Good Luck!