# Intelligent mailbox
**URL:** https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374
**Category:** š¬š§ Development projects with Ruuvi products
**Created:** [11 September 2020 09:37 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374 "2020-09-11T09:37:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lauri](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/lauri)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 09:37 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/1 "2020-09-11T09:37:35Z")
Hey everyone!
Iām creating this topic to start discussion about an ancient problem:
**Oneās traditional mailbox can be located not close (in my case ~2 kilometers) and itād be nice to check remotely if there is snail mail in the box or not.**
With RuuviTag itās possible to create a simple alarm system by utilising its movement counter feature if the box is close enough (within Bluetooth broadcast range). And in some cases this is good enough!
But.
In my case, the box is faraway **and** Iād like to have something more than just a notification when its cover has been opened.
But what to implement and how? Here are my requirement specs:
- Has to work all year round (in Finland temperature drops sometimes down to -30Ā°C or even less)
- No external power required
- Battery has to last minimum of 12 months, preferably 5+ years
- Direct internet connectivity
- Some sort of a camera (so that I can see whatās in the box)
Some ready-made solutions may exist, but Iām not yet aware of those. And, of course, half of the fun is to build it by yourself! š¤
This is [the box](https://www.stala.fi/Tuotteet/suuri-metallinen-postilaatikko-pl-4-ruostumaton-teras-116/):
Maybe something like:
- [nRF9160](https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT/nRF9160) (LTE-M / NB-IoT)
- SPI still camera module (no need for video)
- IR LEDs (for the camera to work without daylight)
- ER341245 Li-SOCl2 battery (~35Ah, 3.6V, -55Ā°Cā¦85Ā°C)
What do you think? Has anyone here created something like this?
---
### Author:  [@lauri](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/lauri)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 11:14 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/2 "2020-09-11T11:14:58Z")
This is basically the idea:
---
### Author:  [@lchtbrn](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/lchtbrn)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 11:28 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/3 "2020-09-11T11:28:49Z")
As a simple DIY approach I would suggest a raspberry pi, equipped with a SIM card and powered by a small solar panel.
---
### Author:  [@lauri](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/lauri)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 11:32 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/4 "2020-09-11T11:32:39Z")
> [@lchtbrn](#):
>
> raspberry pi, equipped with a SIM card
Nah, that would be too easy and not reliable enough š¤
---
### Author:  [@aapris](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/aapris)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 11:55 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/5 "2020-09-11T11:55:19Z")
ESP32 camera and NB-IoT modem?
> **[ESP32-CAM Video Streaming and Face Recognition with Arduino IDE | Random Nerd...](https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-cam-video-streaming-face-recognition-arduino-ide/)**
>
> This article is a quick getting started guide for the ESP32-CAM board. We'll show you how to setup a video streaming web server with face recognition and detection in less than 5 minutes with Arduino
---
### Author:  [@lauri](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/lauri)
#### Post date: [11 September 2020 13:55 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/6 "2020-09-11T13:55:30Z")
> [@aapris](#):
>
> ESP32 camera and NB-IoT modem?
Not necessarily a bad idea. But a single SiP solution (nRF9160 for example) would be more neat. Need to think about it and make some more research on the options and also about memory constraintsā¦
And yeah, for sure it would be possible to use a generic [remote camera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_camera) with an external antenna and forget home automation integrations and custom circuit boards, but would it be this much fun? š
---
### Author:  [@petri](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/petri)
#### Post date: [18 September 2020 17:22 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/7 "2020-09-18T17:22:06Z")
[https://pycom.io/product/sipy/](https://pycom.io/product/sipy/) board for comms. Or the LoRa version, although the range requirement sounds like itās more than what LoRa can offer. [https://openmv.io/](https://openmv.io/) as camera.
---
### Author:  [@elventhor](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/elventhor)
#### Post date: [27 September 2020 16:36 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/8 "2020-09-27T16:36:00Z")
Haha, I did this years agoā¦ It was a lot simpler, though, as the mailbox was in my apartment building and I could even hear my wifi by the mailboxā¦ I just wired a wifi chip (redbear duo, probably) to reset on the action of opening the mailbox lid and the whole firmware was connect to wifi, send an email āyou got mail!ā and go back to deep sleep, it lived on a couple of AA batteries for as long as I lived in that apartmentā¦
---
### Author:  [@ive\_kuukkeli](https://f.ruuvi.com/u/ive_kuukkeli)
#### Post date: [1 July 2021 14:57 UTC](https://f.ruuvi.com/t/intelligent-mailbox/4374/9 "2021-07-01T14:57:14Z")
The antenna must be a flat type, at the back of box, like in mobile phones. The antenna cable taken out from the bottom extra āwaterā hole to the back. Electricity meter antennas as a reference but flat.
The sensor? A stainless steel pin between the front and the back wall dropping down when something is pushed into the box ?
Battery, 1 loading in 12 months i.e. a rechargable lithium accumulator attached inside the roof plate or the highest point of the back plate.
Sleeping time for the sensor about 5ā¦10 minutes. Burst sending.