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Door Casing Mount/Larger Magnet Size

Rob BlakeRob Blake
edited January 2013 in At home Vote Up0Vote Down
I picked up two Twines to monitor temperature and access to my ski condo at Copper.  My lower and upper exterior doors have 3 1/2" wood casing around them; it's the type of casing that's thicker on the outside and thinner as it gets to the door.  My struggle is the best way to get the motion circuit board close enough to the door to detect the magnet, or finding out how big of a magnet I need to keep from having to mount the circuit board directly on the casing itself.  I wish I had it as easy as the picture on the Forum of the setup for the workplace bathroom door (no trim around the door) but I'm not so lucky.  I'm planning on heading to one of the local big box stores to by a handful of larger/stronger door magnets to do trial-and-error but was hoping someone had beaten me to it...=).

Anyone have door casing mount photos or larger magnet sizes they'd like to share?

Comments

  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Sean McPhersonSean McPherson
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    If you want to use the breakout board you can use any commercial available reed switch door status magnet (ie, from any access control/security system) as they're just Normally Open or Normally Closed circuits that the magnet either closes or opens when the door changes state. That way you're not having to use the magnet contact circuit board as a 'production' board. I like using mine to prototype things I want to do, but expect to use breakout boards for fancy projects (or permanent installation, as it sounds like you're doing). With the breakout board, you can have the twine (and the breakout board) nearly any distance from the door(s). In my test lab, I actually had 4 cabinets wired all in series using normally closed magnets (the circuit is complete when the magnet is need the reed switch) all wired end to end. If any cabinet opened, the circuit changed state and the twine alerted. I didn't know which one, but I also didn't care and I only needed 1 twine :) You could do this if you decide you need to monitor a front door and a front window and a back door and a back window; one twine could tell you "either the front door or window is open" and the other about the back, or you could use one to say "A door is open" vs the other saying "A window is open". It all just depends on wiring distances and convenience for you.

    ooorrrrrrrr (back to the original question in the simplest form)

    You can use a larger rare earth or hard drive magnet to get a couple inches of throw but you have to position the sensor board carefully :) My twine is out of commission at the exact moment or I'd go measure for you. Sorry I can't give a real value ATM.

    Sean McPherson
  • Rob BlakeRob Blake
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    You nailed it Sean...all about permanent installation...set-and-forget.  I'm going to head to Lowe's today and pick up some larger magnets to play around a bit and see how the results go.  I know my primary motive is "cosmetic goodness" but I'm assuming as the Twine community continues to go, I won't be the only one trying to get the device to work with some pretty standard door casing.  Let me know if your Twine is back online for that measurement and I'll report back ntl.  Oh, and I did not get the breakout board when I ordered originally so...good to know that's something I can look into as well.  Cheers!
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