Post mailbox to email notifier.

[psy0rz]

I'm created a little project that notifies my by email when I have actual paper mail.

The ESP will always be in deep sleep and will be waked by a magnetic switch.

Look here for details: https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/inde ... ifications

[Gilles]

Hello Psy0rz,
This is an awesome project, thank you for that. I want to use it for my home.
So I need to order some hardware parts.
one ESP12F, one case, a pair of magnetic switches and I also need a resistor and a capacitor.

My question is about the capacitor because I am not electricity expert. When you say 4U7 capacitor, do you mean 4.7 ufarad? what voltage do I need? I suppose that it must not be a high voltage but there are a lot ( 50V up to 300V). A link would be a ,great help.

The power can be done with a powerbank, but they deliver 3.7V not 3.3V . Is it a problem ?

Thanks
Gilles

[psy0rz]

Hi,

Yes the capicitor is a 4.7 uF, and anything of 5v or above is fine. (since the esp is only 3.3v)

I'm not sure, i think 3.6 or 3.7 is the max an esp can handle. Didnt have any problems so far.

I'm want to create a better solution that uses a mechanical motion switch instead of a seperate switch. This way its only one box without any extra wires. Anyone has a suggestion for a sensitive motion switch? (which is mechanical or almost doesnt require power)

Edwin

[grovkillen]

Search for "limit switch" and you find multiple switches for the specific use case

[Shardan]

Technically the magnet switch is an optimal solution as it is resistant to temperature, humidity and whatnot.

The contact you use is very big, they usually are made for mechanical mounting.
This makes them big which is quite unnecessary for this use.
I'd use a very flat case that can be mounted at the lid without blocking letters.
Use a PCB inside with the blank reed contact (just the little glass tube without casing).
Place the contact directly at the edge of the PCB, place the PCB in a way the reed contact is directly at the case side.

Besides that i'd use an ESP-07S which is a variant of the ESP12 (4 MB) with a plug for an external antenna.
Some letter boxes are made of metal limiting the WiFi range. If an internal antenna suffices you may use an
ESP12-E instead of the ESP-07s or use a small self-adhesive PCB antenna.

BTW i wouldn't use a completely air tight case for this. If it gets cold outside humidity will condensate inside the case.
Drill a hole of 4...5 mm at the lowest point of the case.

Regards
Shardan

[Gilles]

Thanks Psy0rz and Shardan,
I have ordered the hardware parts in China because there is no more shops in Paris.
The next step will be to do the right wiring.
Happy New Year
Gilles

[Gilles]

Hi Psi0rz,
In the "Post mailbox to email notifier" guide, one of your sentences makes me feel uncomfortable:)

"You need to connect some extra pins to VCC or GND if you use a bare ESP-12-f, google for this. "

I went through the espeasy doc and I have understood the below:
- to make the sleep feature work, the GPIO16 must be connected to the RST pin.
- The powerbank has to be connected to vcc and GND pins.
- A notification has to be created top send a mail ( it already works for me except that the mail goes to the junk bin because there is no subject: I can manage this)
- "config" tab
sleep enabled must be ticked ticked
sleep delay 0
sleep on connection failure must be ticked

It is written that : "If you specify a Sleep Delay of 0, you will have to wake the device yourself by pulling RST to GND. " So, the magnetic switch has to be connected between the RST and the GND pins (along with the resistor and capacitor in //). When the circuit is closed, it connects the RST ping to the GND ping.

Is there something else that I must connect to make it work? I have tried to enlarge your pictures, but I am not able to understand if I miss something.
I have not yet received the esp07 and the antenna but I would like to be prepared ...
Thanks for your help.
Gilles

[Gilles]

Hello,
no answer?
You know, I don't want to burst my first esp07.
Regards,
Gilles

[psy0rz]

i'm not sure, i'm not using a bare esp myself.

[jjansen]

On a bare esp you have to connect some GPIO's to GND or VCC to set boot mode.

Some guidance (for ESP-01, I guess it is the same for ESP-12)

[Gilles]

hahaha,
so nobody has made the "mailbox to email notifier" work (at least with a bare esp) ...

I will try to make it work and if so, I will post the info. I don't have the hardware parts yet. Still waiting.
Thanks jjansen for the booting info.

[Gilles]

hahaha,
so nobody has made the "mailbox to email notifier" work (at least with a bare esp) ...

I will try to make it work and if so, I will post the info. I don't have the hardware parts yet. Still waiting.
Thanks jjansen for the booting info.
Gilles

[Shardan]

Maybe or not.

Anyways, on another note you obviously never looked up the wiki, for example
the user pages with alot of samples including schematics and such....
https://letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/UserProjects

[Gilles]

I will definitely go through it.
I already have flashed a few numbers of SONOFF (standard or S20) with EspEasy , that has lead me to learn more on the esp(easy) . When looking at the ESPeasy notifications section, I found the "Creating a paper-mail to email Gateway" tuto (at : https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/inde ... ifications).
My requests come from there.
And I try to understand what I would have to do, because, depending on the Tutos, some say that you need some résistors, some other not, so as I don't have a big skill in electronics, it is not easy to make up my mind.
I am 60 and I don't even know someone having these skills around me to help.

Gilles

[Gilles]

I would like to submit you the results of my searchs.
Could you have a look at the attached Word diagram and comment it?
It is the sum of what I have collected after reading a lot of things. Please tell me if I am right or if something is missing or is incorrect.
I understand that I will need something different to flash the esp07 with Espeasy (Vcc, Tx, Rx, Gnd)
Thanks
Gilles

cabling.JPG (100.78 KiB) Viewed 18120 times

[Gilles]

Hello,
Any comment or error in my diagram ?

Do you think/confirm that the cabling is the right one? I am not a specialist so any advice is good to me.

I have ordered 3 more ESP07. They may be helpful if I am wrong.

Gilles

[Gilles]

Hi Shardan & Psy0rz,

I have just read a recent post titled : "Need help flashing ESP-07" in the hardware section.

It says that I cannot use the ESPEASY software with the ESP07 because it has only 512K memory, and that I should buy the ESP07-S instead. Is that true?

I have followed the guidances from the Psy0rz project plus your comments. There is a note which says "Note: Use v2.0.0-dev11 or higher. There was a bug in dev10 and older versions that lead to crashes. "
As per your recommendation, I have bought a lot of ESP07 instead of ESP12 to use an external wifi antenna.

Based on your pix,( https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB17kh3NpXX ... tional.jpg ) I have bought the old ESP07 (no choice on the web site).

So, what to do now ? Can you confirm?

Thanks
Gilles

[Shardan]

The old ESP-07 has 512KB Flash - the ESPEasy 2.0.0 binary is bigger then that and does not fit into memory.

If you need an external antenna use the ESP-07S (4MB).

For an example of the circuit you might take a look in the wiki's User section.
I've published some of my circuits, they are tested and work.
For example: https://letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.ph ... /IR-Remote

Regards
Shardan

[Gilles]

Thanks for the info.

My bad. I have missed the extra "S" in your recommandation of using a ESP-07 instead of a ESP-12.
I also will have a look at your project to check the wiring.
I have just ordered 5 ESP07-S to a chinese site.

btw, would you know an european site where to order parts and avoid waiting at least 1 month to get the parts delivered (to France)?

Thanks
Gilles