Using a Shelly Button1 as car presence sensor
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Caveat: I'm still bored, so I'm building a lot of things lately (I used to travel a lot, so the last year has been really different - but I digress).
Last week I built two car sensors using a Shelly Button1 in each. It's a new device, with a battery and USB charging (see https://shelly.cloud/products/shelly-button-1-smart-home-automation-device/)
I've placed one in each car under the leg rest. I'm parking outside (my house is modern architecture, I have a covered terrace that's my open space, so cars are outside the garage, but covered), but WiFi is still reachable.
When plugged via USB, the device is sending a new MQTT message upon boot, and that's great for leaving home. It usually takes less than 10 seconds from when I open the car. This action will open my car gate unless party mode is on or the gate is already opened. It will automatically close it after 40 secs.
When coming back, it will reconnect in seconds (less than 10) and send a new online MQTT message. The trick here is to get the uptime via an HTTP call to /status (I've asked them to add to the MQTT message) and if more than 10 seconds are passed from the last boot, I'm assuming the car is coming back and the gate needs to be opened, and then closed automatically after 40 secs (again, if no party mode is enabled and if the gate is closed upon arrival).
It's a very simple thing to do, but I'm loving it. Obiously, my wife was like "you're really lazy", but I know she will love this eventually. Saving me from 10 clicks to a remote is what home automation really is
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I am doing something similar but a bit differently. I am using video recognition to detect a car and then read the license plate. If it recognizes the car, it triggers some actions in openLuup. Similar idea as facial recognition to unlock the door when it detects that my phone just came back home.
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I am doing something similar but a bit differently. I am using video recognition to detect a car and then read the license plate. If it recognizes the car, it triggers some actions in openLuup. Similar idea as facial recognition to unlock the door when it detects that my phone just came back home.