Adding a Z-Wave Door Sensor to your Backyard Gate
I spent some time looking for a Z-Wave sensor for my backyard gate. I didn't find much for something that was rated for outdoors and all weather so I made my own.
The key here is utilizing my favorite Z-Wave Door Sensors by EcoLink because they have an internal connection for wired sensors allowing you to connect almost anything to these. I was able to find a heavy duty stainless steel garage door contact sensor
and I was off and running.
You'll want to enclose your Z-Wave Door Sensor in something that is rated IP65 or higher to protect it from the elements. I went with this sealed project box here that was just deep enough for the sensor and mounted nicely on my 4" fence post.
Drill a hole in your enclosure to pass the armored cable from the sensor and attach it to the contacts inside your Z-Wave sensor. It's a little messy, but I used some outdoor sealant to seal up the cable entrance into the enclosure.
Install the cover back onto the enclosure with the gasket seal. I like to treat it like lug-nuts on a tire and tighten each one in a diagonal fashion to ensure an even seal around the enclosure.
Mount the contact sensor near your gate opening and attache the magnet and bracket (if needed) to the gate.
What I really like about this garage door contact sensor is that it has a 3" open gap where it will still read as closed. You can mount the magnet on the gate door in such a way that it isn't visible from the outside and it made for a very clean and covert installation.
Now the fun part, I will presume you know how to include the Z-Wave sensor in your network. I use Home Assistant for all of my home automation needs. I like to use template sensors to make my Door Sensors make a little more sense to me in the frontend:
sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
backyardgatestate:
value_template: '{% if
is_state("binary_sensor.ecolink_doorwindow_sensor_sensor_14_0", "off") %}
Closed
{% else %}
Open
{% endif %}'
friendly_name: 'Backyard Gate'
And now we can create automations based off of the gate such as an alert notification or turning on some exterior lighting in your backyard!
automation:
alias: Notify iOS app backyard gate was opened
trigger:
platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.ecolink_doorwindow_sensor_sensor_14_0
to: 'on'
action:
service: notify.ios_iphone
data:
message: "Backyard Gate is open!"
data:
attachment:
content-type: jpeg
push:
category: camera
entity_id: camera.backyardcamera
Hope this helps someone out! Sometimes it's very easy to build it when a specific device does not exist!