Support of APDS-9930 and similar planned?

[cyvr1]

Hi,

as I'm new to this board I would like to thank everybody involved in creating ESPEasy first. It's a great peace of firmware for the ESP modules and already helped me a lot in the automation of tasks at home.

I would like to start a new project but am a bit stuck as the module I would like to use for it is not supported by ESPEasy yet. It is the proximity sensor APDS-9930 (or a similar other one using I2C). Are there any plans to support this sensor with some upcoming version of ESPEasy/ESPEasy 2? That would definitely help me (and probably others) a lot. I would also be willing to do beta testing if required.

A little bit of backgroud of my current project: I would like to use the APDS-9930 in combination of a ESP8266-12F as mailbox sensor to send a message when there is something in it. Our mailbox in not directly located at the house but is in a WLAN covered area. Using a proximity sensor would in my opinion the best option for this kind of sensor as it provides some form of self-reset. I just need to take the reading of the sensor when the mailbox is empty as "There is nothing in it". As soon there is some letter or card in it the reading will definitely change to a different value because of the way something needs to be placed in the box. I tested this with an arduino nano and the proximity sensor.

So why not use the arduino nano with the sensor and ESP-12F?
Unfortunately the arduino draws to much power for a battery powerd sensor and the ESP8266 with ESPEasy can be send to deep sleep togther with the sensor. According to my calculation two AA batteries would provide enough power for at least a year if not longer when the presence of mail is checked only once or twice an hour. Also both ESP-12F and APDS-9930 can be powered with 3.3V which makes the sensor fairly easy in therms of needed hardware (no step-down adapter and level-shifter needed) and power supply resulting in a smaller sensor.

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Kind regards
Stephan Kraetzschmar

[krikk]

i2c sensors are very simple to implement, so should be no problem to write a plugin for it, if it does not exist already... but i don't thing you battery powered esp will work so long... it will definitly use more power than a power optimized arduino nano... i suggest you to to a bit more reseach on low power sensors... and wouldn't be a reed switch which triggers an interrupt a better solution for monitoring the "door" of the mailbox?

[cyvr1]

Hi krikk,

thanks fpor you reply. I doubt an ardnuino nano consumes less power than a ESP in deep sleep. Besides as I wrote the arduino nano requires 5V which I can not provide where I want to mount my sensor (too many components for the sensor needed and to many batteries -> sensor too large) So I wil try my luck with the ESP in deep sleep and checking for mail just twice an hour. Don't know if it works like I would like it to but hey, trying to find out how it will is also part of the fun.

But it seems there is no plugin for the APDS-9930 (yet).

Regarding useing reed sensors as a switch or something similar: thats difficult because of the design of the mailbox. I would always end up with the status "Mail present" as I need to open the the lid to place a letter in the box prior to open the larger door to remove the letter. After retrieving the mail from the box the door needs to be closed before I can close the top-lid again which leaves the sensor of the lid open till I can close it again. As a result the status "Mail present" will still be there. With the proximity sensor it would be easier. I can place it at a different point which is not affected by opening or closing the mailbox. If I remove the mail it will just report the "empty" distance again as everything decreasing this distance has been removed. Unfortunately there is no space for an ultrasonic sensor which is supported by ESPEasy. On the other hand that would also require 5 Volts again.

[krikk]

yes, but as a starting point have a look at this (found this a while ago) https://lowpowerlab.com/2015/02/03/mail ... upgrade-3/

[cyvr1]

Thanks, that looks interesting but it can not determin whether mail is placed in the mailbox or retrieved. Therfore you need to reset it automatically after some time or manually. My government (wife) will not like that and me neither. Also it woud be much too big for our postbox. But many thanks for providing the link.

[Hairyloon]

Did anyone get anywhere with the APDS-9930 sensor?