This weekend, I started setting up my first HA instance. My first and main goal is to monitor the fridge and deep freeze sitting in my garage. Kids of cost me two expensive clean outs already. I setup an aqara door sensor, which are magnetic switches. While they do work, getting placement exact is not great. I am having an issue finding a position to get reliable readings, and not being able to leave the door just lightly cracked.
My thought is like a pin switch or similar. Hopefully, not having to create one from an esp32, though not out of the question. Does this exist in a purchasable form, or am I stuck to wiring and 3d-printing?
Surely the best approach here is a temp sensor with a threshold at which to alarm? Then you’re actually monitoring the state of the appliance, not the state of the door.
While that is a solution and solves a big issue, especially like a power outage, a door sensor stops this problem long before that is an issue. My freezers and fridges are on the whole house generator, so power problems don’t effect them. A temp sensor is still a valid thing long term but does not solve the problem I am trying to solve.
I second this… it also has the advantage of alerting you if fuse pops / someone’s unplugged it / whatever reason.
There was a recent discussion about this very topic recently…