This DIY System Notifies You When Someone Enters Your Home
YouTuber GreatScott! explores Raspberry Pi and ESP8266 home automation with his own intruder alarm system.
Like many of us, YouTube hacker GreatScott! has a rather expensive selection of electronics test and assembly equipment that he’d rather not get stolen. This led him to start work on an alarm system that sends out notifications whenever the door is opened, but actually doing so led him down a rabbit hole of home automation that appears much more awesome (and involved) than he originally expected.
His integration uses an ESP8266 module to sense when a magnetic switch on his apartment door is opened, sending a signal to a Raspberry Pi running as a Home Assistant home automation server. As GreatScott! touches on in the video, this setup presents a fantastic array of abilities beyond alarm functions. He could, for example, turn on lights according to a schedule, or in response to certain conditions.
The Pi 3 that he’s using is nicely DIN rail mounted in an electrical box with purchased hardware, while the ESP sensor is attached to the wall via a 3D-printed box and Velcro. With the Home Assistant app running on his phone, he now gets notifications when the door is triggered, which he can turn off with a toggle switch attached to the ESP enclosure. GreatScott! is really just scratching the surface of home automation possibilities, and it seems like a good bet that the system will be expanded in the future.