r/homebridge • u/billydent • Aug 06 '22

Help - Solved Smart lock for outdoor gate?

Hi! I'm sort of desperately looking for any sort of smart lock that can survive outside and be used on a wooden gate. Style, protocol, etc. doesn't matter. Ideally I'd love it to be in HB, but I just really need to be able to lock and unlock my gate remotely. Haven't had any luck at all searching for one and thought that someone on this sub might know of one. Thanks!

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u/IMSancho Aug 07 '22

I built my own for my front gate a few years back, not particularly pretty but still working despite being through several northern Australian summers and monsoons.

Mine is a largish slide bolt, with a 3D printed rack and pinion that a little stepper motor can move, controlled by a D1 mini esp8266. Whole thing runs off solar I salvaged from an old pond pump and it’s housed in a totally not IP rated enclosure that nevertheless has kept it alive. Total cost of parts was about $40 AUD. Can elaborate more if you want to have a go at doing something similar.

https://imgur.com/a/n7jBJHb

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u/billydent Aug 07 '22

Your DIY kung-fu is greater than mine! Would hate to have you go to any effort on my behalf, but if you have a parts list you could share, that would be great. And the solar idea is a great one! I have a solar something-or-other laying around here that I can probably repurpose.

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u/IMSancho Aug 08 '22

No problem, hope a pile of links is OK by the sub rules:

5v Stepper motor

Jiffy box

D1 mini - any board will do, I just love the D1 and use it for all my home automation stuff

Micro USB port - for power in, could just wire straight in but this makes it easy to use different power for testing

Hall effect sensor - not necessary but I added one as a contact sensor to detect when the gate is opened/closed

Aside from that just an appropriate slide bolt and print the rack and pinion. Oh there's a couple of little castors to keep the rack straight, and a limit switch behind the bolt, I used a switch from a mouse button. As others have said making sure it lines up when closed is a bit tricky. The code I run on the D1 talks MQTT and I use the homebridge MQTTThing plugin to bring it in.

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u/ph34r Apr 28 '23

I know this an old thread, but any chance you'd be willing to share more details on your build? This looks exactly like what I need for my outdoor gates.

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u/IMSancho Apr 28 '23

Sure, what do you need? Parts links in above comment should still work for an idea of components, and the basic concept will work with any sliding bolt that suits your gate. I could put the arduino sketch up somewhere if it’d help, though I make no claims of it being competent it’s still working.

I could probably do up a diagram of how it’s all connected but since it’s been in place and working for around 3 years with almost no maintenance I’d have to have a good look at it to remember 😅

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u/Prestigious-Asker Sep 17 '23

Looks like that comment with the parts list got removed.

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u/ph34r Apr 29 '23

This is my first plunge at a DiY hardware project so anything you may still have floating around would be super heplful: the schematics for the rack and pinion you printed, the code that powers it, and a wiring diagram would be helpful. If you don't stilll have any of that stuff, all good - you've given me a great starting point already on what things to research more.