Ring Mailbox sensor

Mine opens up to the dashboard on ios phone / air 2 tablet.

Two cool things I did today. I have my echo show announce when the mail comes so the wife knows too. Next I set a routine where my echo show says out loud, Alexa arm ring stay mode, and the the Alexa nearby hears it and arms the system at a set time each night. I hope ring adds arming / disarming scheduling but until then this is kind of a cool work around lol.
 
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Maybe it is an android bug then. Kind of annoying.

Sweet! Yeah, the more I play with it, it is clear it is still an infancy system missing some things, but with Amazon backing they have made tremendous strides and will certainly make improvements, most of which can be rolled out via update.
 
Yeah. Even having to have the show announce the mail shouldn't have to be. I mean it's good to have actually. But this is also a work around because they force the mailbox sensor into a light group and...groups can't be shared so my wife can't get a notification on her phone too. So yeah, ring needs to tweak settings for sure.
 
@Shockwave199 - so in trying to figure out why my sensor wouldn't detect motion at night I figured something out that I think is a flaw.

So the mail was delivered today and I get the notification. I go out 5 minutes later and get the mail and I do not get a notification.

Puzzled since it was in the middle of the day, I look at the event history and it shows it being opened 5 minutes later, yet doesn't notify.

I cannot find anywhere to say notify for every instance. From my unscientific study, it is around 20 minutes before it will notify again. But like that is a crucial time if someone was following the mail truck and sitting behind looking for a package going in.

Can you try yours and see if you experience the same thing?
 
I get motion notifications when the mail comes and when I check it at any time after. Today it was 6 minutes afterwards. Phone and echo notify. Make sure your signal strength is good and you might try turning motion for it off and then back on again and see if it clears up anything odd.
 
Yeah the signal is green good according to the app.

I will try turning motion off and then back on. Next step will be to remove the sensor from the system and reinstall.
 
If the PIR simply completes a circuit why not try a reed sensor (door sensor) that's normally open? The only change I would make is if you have a metal mailbox I'd mount the reed switch and magnet on a piece of wood to crteate a small stand off so as to prevent the magnet part from magnetizing the metal and causing the reed switch to remain open when the door is opened (it won't stop the magnetization probably but as it's likely weak the distance should stop it affecting the switch.

Something like this should work (assuming it's normally open - you'd need to check the operation of the pir but I'm pretty sure most trip a relay and close the circuit when activated):

RDEXP AC110-220V Normally Open Door Magnetic Switch Black : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Free delivery and returns on all eligible orders. Shop RDEXP AC110-220V Normally Open Door Magnetic Switch Black.
www.amazon.co.uk
 
Perhaps? But ring users get the benefit of each accessory being folded into the ring eco system and so, that's the appeal, and of course the easy integration. I link the mailbox sensor with my doorbell video so every time the mailbox gets motion the doorbell records a video of it. Of course my dahua camera gets the premo video of it but the convenience alone of quickly being notified and super easy video check far outweighs having to deal with dmss or pss for dahua playback...especially quickly. The super quick and easy notification chirps and dings from the ring stuff I assumed would annoy the piss outa me. Turns out it's the best feature, lol. Ah...gadgets lol.
 
Knock on wood that turning the motion off and back on fixed it as it would notify me for all the door opens!
 
It seems Ring went a complex way around solving a simple solution. Maybe they didn't trust users to mount magnet and switch together or maybe they were afraid of metal mailboixes becoming locally magnetised and stopping the switch working. Either way, a PIR seems a complex and unusual way of detecting a door open.
 
I agree and tried the magnet sensor first but no joy at that distance, so I needed to go with the one with the antenna. And I think you are right, they knew the average consumer wouldn't install the magnet on a metal mailbox correctly, so they went with the next option.
 
I just installed my mailbox sensor today and as others have said instructions are not too intuitive. But I now have it up and running so I now get a phone message and an verbal announcement on my Amazon Echo Show.
I have one significant concern. I live in Florida and during a good part of the year it can get very hot inside my mailbox. My mailbox in situated in direst sunlight. In fact, if I know I have prescriptions coming in the mail I make it a point to retrieve my mail on those days as quickly after delivery as possible. My concern is, how long are those 3 triple AAA batteries going to last in the sensor in the intense summers we have here in Florida? Has anyone had any experience with that?
 
It hasn't been out long enough for anyone to know yet LOL.

But up north, we have a concern about the frigid temps as batteries tend to go faster in cold than heat!
 
wittaj said:
It hasn't been out long enough for anyone to know yet LOL.

But up north, we have a concern about the frigid temps as batteries tend to go faster in cold than heat!
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I think batteries are prone to not liking either extreme hot or cold. I just wish that RING had come up with a better way to power the in-mailbox sensor than with common AAA batteries.
 
I don't know what better way to power it there is except a solar panel and that would be overkill I think. I installed mine in October and just changed the batteries last week. It's only ever been in the cold here thus far. It died at 35% which I thought was odd. Turns out two of the batteries tested ok and one just completely crapped out dead. Weird. I got a couple of those lately in an energizer pack. A battery will just die super early. Anyway except for that I would expect the sensor to power for 5-6 months in cold and maybe longer in warmer climates. It gets used twice a day- delivery and retrieval. Btw, when you replace the batteries don't immediately freak if the percentage doesn't update to 100% right away. Give it a while, even by the next day and it should update.
 
I do agree that I think they rushed the mailbox sensor to the market. And having it require their bridge system that is used for their lights and shows up as a light is wonky.

I suspect that they decided that they wanted to provide basically a stand alone product that people could buy just the mailbox sensor/bridge if they didn't want the whole security system. I am sure they have sold lots of these to people without their security system. I assume they made a decision they could make more selling it as a stand-alone instead of making it part of a requirement to have the security system.

I tried both a window sensor and the motion sensor in my mailbox, along with the range extender plugged into the garage so that it was as close as possible and even though my mailbox is not metal, it still couldn't get through. One would think they could have provided a sensor that was truly part of their security system by adding an antenna like what is provided on this sensor. Maybe a future version and I will recycle this to a family member LOL.
 
Shockwave199 said:
I don't know what better way to power it there is except a solar panel and that would be overkill I think. I installed mine in October and just changed the batteries last week. It's only ever been in the cold here thus far. It died at 35% which I thought was odd. Turns out two of the batteries tested ok and one just completely crapped out dead. Weird. I got a couple of those lately in an energizer pack. A battery will just die super early. Anyway except for that I would expect the sensor to power for 5-6 months in cold and maybe longer in warmer climates. It gets used twice a day- delivery and retrieval. Btw, when you replace the batteries don't immediately freak if the percentage doesn't update to 100% right away. Give it a while, even by the next day and it should update.
Click to expand...

So I got 3.5 months out of my batteries in the cold northeast. Stopped at 29% battery. No warning or anything, just offline. And yep, mine new batteries are showing 29%, so give it a day LOL.
 
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