Projects
IoT-PostBox
Integrations

Integrations

Latest Release

Complete integration guides for connecting your IoT-PostBox to popular home automation platforms and services. The device supports both WiFi/MQTT and LoRaWAN connectivity options.

🏠 Home Assistant

MQTT Integration

Add the mailbox sensor to your Home Assistant configuration:

sensor:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Mailbox Status" 
    state_topic: "mailbox/events"
    json_attributes_topic: "mailbox/telemetry"
    device_class: "motion"
    icon: "mdi:mailbox"

  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Mailbox Battery"
    state_topic: "mailbox/telemetry"
    value_template: "{{ value_json.battery_percentage }}"
    unit_of_measurement: "%"
    device_class: "battery"
    icon: "mdi:battery"

Automation Example

Create automations to handle mailbox events:

automation:
  - alias: "Mail Delivered"
    trigger:
      platform: mqtt
      topic: "mailbox/events"
      payload: "mail_delivered"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app
        data:
          title: "📬 Mail Delivered"
          message: "New mail has arrived in your mailbox!"
      
  - alias: "Mail Collected"
    trigger:
      platform: mqtt
      topic: "mailbox/events" 
      payload: "mail_collected"
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app
        data:
          title: "📭 Mail Collected"
          message: "Mail has been collected from your mailbox."

🔄 Node-RED

Basic Flow Setup

Create Node-RED flows for advanced event processing:

MQTT Input Node Configuration:

  • Server: Your MQTT broker
  • Topic: mailbox/events
  • Output: Auto-detect (parsed JSON object)

Function Node Examples:

// Event Processing Function
var event = msg.payload;
var timestamp = new Date().toISOString();

switch(event) {
    case 'mail_delivered':
        msg.payload = {
            event: 'delivery',
            message: 'New mail delivered',
            timestamp: timestamp,
            priority: 'normal'
        };
        break;
    case 'mail_collected':
        msg.payload = {
            event: 'collection', 
            message: 'Mail collected',
            timestamp: timestamp,
            priority: 'low'
        };
        break;
}

return msg;

Notification Flows

Telegram Bot Integration:

  1. Add Telegram Bot node
  2. Configure bot token and chat ID
  3. Connect to event processing function

Email Notifications:

  1. Add Email node
  2. Configure SMTP settings
  3. Template message with event details

Push Notifications:

  1. Add HTTP Request node
  2. Configure Pushover/Pushbullet API
  3. Send formatted notifications

📡 LoRaWAN Networks

The Things Network (TTN)

Device Registration:

  1. Create application in TTN Console
  2. Register end device with DevEUI, AppEUI, AppKey
  3. Configure payload formatters for data decoding

Payload Decoder Example:

function decodeUplink(input) {
  var data = {};
  var bytes = input.bytes;
  
  // Event type (byte 0)
  switch(bytes[0]) {
    case 0x01:
      data.event = "mail_delivered";
      break;
    case 0x02:
      data.event = "mail_collected";
      break;
  }
  
  // Battery voltage (bytes 1-2)
  data.battery_voltage = ((bytes[1] << 8) | bytes[2]) / 1000.0;
  
  // RSSI and other telemetry (bytes 3+)
  data.rssi = bytes[3] - 200;
  
  return {
    data: data,
    warnings: [],
    errors: []
  };
}

Helium Network

Device Configuration:

  1. Add device to Helium Console
  2. Configure integration (HTTP, MQTT, AWS IoT)
  3. Set up data flow and alerting

Integration Webhook Example:

{
  "app_eui": "your_app_eui",
  "dev_eui": "your_dev_eui", 
  "payload": "base64_encoded_data",
  "decoded": {
    "event": "mail_delivered",
    "battery_voltage": 3.7,
    "rssi": -85
  }
}

📱 Mobile Applications

MQTT Dash (Android)

Configure dashboard tiles:

Event Status Tile:

  • Type: Text
  • Topic: mailbox/events
  • Color: Dynamic based on payload

Battery Level Tile:

  • Type: Progress Bar
  • Topic: mailbox/telemetry
  • JSON Path: $.battery_percentage

IoT MQTT Panel (iOS)

Setup monitoring panels:

Connection Settings:

  • Broker: Your MQTT server
  • Port: 1883 (or 8883 for SSL)
  • Client ID: mailbox_monitor

Widget Configuration:

  • Switch widget for manual testing
  • Gauge for battery monitoring
  • Log widget for event history

🔧 Advanced Integrations

Webhook Endpoints

Create HTTP endpoints to receive mailbox events:

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
import json

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/mailbox/webhook', methods=['POST'])
def mailbox_webhook():
    data = request.json
    
    event = data.get('event')
    timestamp = data.get('timestamp')
    
    # Process event
    if event == 'mail_delivered':
        # Send notifications, log to database, etc.
        send_notification(f"Mail delivered at {timestamp}")
    
    return jsonify({'status': 'received'})

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=5000)

Database Logging

Store mailbox events in database:

CREATE TABLE mailbox_events (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    event_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    timestamp TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    battery_voltage FLOAT,
    rssi INTEGER,
    raw_data JSON
);

API Integration

RESTful API for mailbox data:

@app.route('/api/mailbox/events', methods=['GET'])
def get_mailbox_events():
    # Query database for recent events
    events = query_events(limit=50)
    return jsonify(events)

@app.route('/api/mailbox/status', methods=['GET']) 
def get_mailbox_status():
    # Return current status and battery level
    status = get_current_status()
    return jsonify(status)

GitHub Repository

Last updated on
IoT-PostBox v0.x