Mailbox Sentinel Detailed Explanation - Wireless Arduino & OpenHAB
About this video
For a tutorial on how to build this, take a look at these two project pages:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Uber-Home-Automation/
Here's video of it mounted on a mailbox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Sh2cuNuSA
Note: It's illegal to tamper with a US federal mailbox. This is just an example of how to integrate wireless Arduino sensors with a home automation platform. You probably shouldn't do this at home.
Related article summary
This Instructable shows how to build low-cost Arduino-based wireless sensor nodes integrated with OpenHAB on a Raspberry Pi (or PC) to provide timely alerts (email/audio) and mobile status for home monitoring (dog barks, washer/dryer, door/window, temperature, gas/smoke, water leaks, garage door, GPS dog tracker, etc.). It uses RFM69HW transceivers for long range, MQTT (Mosquitto), and examples for battery and mains-powered designs, plus wiring, sketches, and OpenHAB configurations. The project emphasizes flexibility, reliability, and aesthetic presentation of sensor data.