#Contact sensors

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clear patrol
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||Where do i start with contact sensors?||
I been googling and been on youtube, most results within a year are nothing informational about what's all needed and how their set up. Mostly just ideas.
Im looking to add a contact sensor on my garage door, detached garage. I do have wifi and ethernet out there. I see some devices need a hub and some done.

So lets go with this question to give me a point to start my research
What are your recommended contact sensors?

steep axle
# clear patrol ||Where do i start with contact sensors?|| I been googling and been on youtube, ...

ok so there is wired vs battery
and then there is communication protocol

most contact sensors send to be battery powered and therefore also tend to avoid wifi for power efficiency (although they definitely do exist in wifi versions)

a lot tend to be either BLE or zigbee

some brief and limited info on these protocols

for BLE (bluetooth low energy) you need to add bluetooth to your HA server either directly or via a proxy. either would need to be in range.

for zigbee you need a "zigbee coordinator" which is likely what devices mean when they say "needs hub". if a device is zigbee you dont need a specific hub you just need to have a zigbee network. you can add a coordinator directly to your server by usb or you can get a network based one.

hopefully this general information can help you find a starting point in your research.
if you post what kind of setup and other devices you have I or others can maybe recomend something suited.

clear patrol
steep axle
# clear patrol I currently run home assistant on a *Beelink N150*(In docker, No bluetooth), I d...

as you don't already have zigbee and if your not planning a bigger setup to create a mesh I would recommend going for a bluetooth setup in this case, this means you need 2 things:

The BLE sensor itself - something like THIS

and a way to attach it to your home assistant network.
the easiest way to do this would be to use a ESPHome based bluetooth proxy
getting something like THIS and flashing it with the generic bluetooth proxy firmware using THIS TOOL

once its flashed and connected to network you can place it somewhere convenient where its got power and wifi (and close enough to the sensor) it will pop up in home assistant and once integrated you hit the pair button on the sensor and that will pop up and your in business.

This is a similar setup to what I have in garage

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forgive the crude diagram, but hopefully helps along what i mean

clear patrol
# steep axle as you don't already have zigbee and if your not planning a bigger setup to crea...

I'm not aposed to zigbee. I do plan on adding smart switches, plugs, motion sensors.
Switches may have to wait till I update the wiring. I know there are some that don't require a neutral but it needs updated anyways.

Just for now i want to make sure my garage is not left open, I was using my camreas and some image possessing but it's not reliable enough and I don't have the time to sit and tweak it

steep axle
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zigbee is good but single device connects are not a large range.
some devices are also "routers" (these tend to be wires devices) and some (usually battery powered) are just end devices.

routers relay signals from other devices. so the more that you have the bigger and more stable your network mesh grows.

with a detached garage you will likely need routers at the closest point to each other inside both the house and garage so they can be the "bridge"

clear patrol
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Dang, how atom-lite-esp32-development-kit they want $7 but the product page is broke and googling it everywhere else is $20+ lol

My detached garage has ethernet ran from the router in the house. So the network does not have to travel far wirelessly.

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nvm page loaded

steep axle
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you could use zigbee and but a zigbee coordinator on ethenet in the garage but then you would have to consider briding that with zigbee routers into the house if you want to expand the zigbee network into the house for other stuff in the future

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i imagine you want your main zigbee coordinator in the house if you plan to use various devices on it down the line

clear patrol
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That make the BT option seem more user friendly lol.

steep axle
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btw apprantly there is now the atoms3-lite which is a newer version. for this purpose it will make no difference whichever one you get. but may give you buying options