Next school year, my son will be left home after school for a few hours while my wife and I are at work. I’m looking for a way to detect when he’s home and have the front door unlock (among other automation scripts that are in place).
I came across this post and was going to get the Tile Pro as it seemed to check off all my requirements:
- I could put it in his backpack where it can be forgotten.
- long battery life.
- Through the Home Assistant integration, it can trigger when it gets in range.
- It also has a few other beneficial things, so I was thinking of putting one on each of our bicycles in case they’re ever stolen. Hell, I could look into putting one on my cat’s collar in case she ever gets out.
Then I came across some concerning articles regarding data harvesting. The whole reason I started self-hosting was to prevent data harvesting, so it seems like the Tile is a non-starter for me.
Has anyone been in this (or a similar) situation? Mainly, I’m looking for a device I can put in my son’s backpack that can trigger when he’s within range, so the house will open for him. BLE seems like it might be a solution, though I run my server on an old Dell r720 enterprise server in my basement, so I don’t currently have Bluetooth functionality (and it’s pretty far away from the front door, 20+ feet), though getting that is not a dealbreaker for me.
- Addendum: To people saying just get a key: we have a key for him. I have a monolith sized server in my basement that automates most everything in my house these days, and was curious if anyone had set up something similar to what I was thinking. Home automation is very much a hobby, and I’m using it to learn new things.
Maybe you can go a bit lower tech. There are “smart” door locks with a keypad that have Bluetooth, but are not otherwise cloud enabled. Then find a small device you can use as a Bluetooth proxy and position it near the front door, to keep tabs on it. Our lock is from Kwikset, and while there is an app to program it, once it is programmed it is pretty much stand-alone and won’t need the app anymore.
The lock does have Home Assistant integration but I haven’t tried it yet because I haven’t done the Bluetooth Proxy yet.
Yeah, I have an August lock right now. That one is nice because I can keep the out-facing lock the same, so people like my father-in-law don’t get flustered. Ultimately, I’m trying to solve this in the most complicated way possible for me. I could just give him a key, but where’s the fun in that?
What you mentioned with the proxy is probably the way I’ll have to go.
This lock has a keypad, so the kid just needs to remember that. It has a key also, but if the kid never has the key, they can never lose it.
Does your August lock allow multiple codes? I’ve got a Quickset keypad deadbolt that does, and that allowed me to set a code I gave my neighbor, and the lock reports which code was used. If yours does something similar, you can give kiddo a separate code, then when that code gets used after school, the house does the needful. No key to lose or tag to track that way.
I got the Eufy S330 doorbell/keypad lock. The kids have their own pin and can lock/unlock without a key. I get notifications when they use it and can remotely lock/unlock via my phone. It’s been fantastic for us.