Mirabella is continuing to expand its range of low cost smart home devices, and one of the latest is a Wi-Fi enabled Door & Window Sensor that’s available for $25 at Kmart.
This is not a complicated device. At its core what it does is detect whether a door or window is in open or closed state. There’s no inbuilt siren or camera or big flashing light, it’s just a sensor.
The cool bit is that this Mirabella door/window sensor is WiFi enabled and works with Google Home, Alexa and IFTTT, so it can notify you every time that door or window opens and even trigger other actions that you program via IFTTT etc, e.g. turning on lights.
Specifications are:
The set up process is pretty easy as shown in this instructional video.
Note as is the case for 99% of low cost smart home devices you must connect it to a 2.4Ghz WiFi network; it won’t work on 5GHz, but if you have a dual-band set-up e.g. Google WiFi there’s a good chance it’ll just work. Chris uses a few of these with his setup with no issues, but your mileage may vary.
Batteries, screws and 3M double sided tape are included, but I would suggest using the 3M tape rather than screws, especially if you’re renting. The two parts of the sensor need to be within 10mm of each other when the door or window is in closed state.
Once installed – as you can see – the two parts of the sensor can be attached to the frame and sliding/opening part of the door/window you want to monitor.
In the Mirabella Genio app you can see whether the sensor is open or closed, as well as the battery level and the recent sensor activation history.
The tamper warning feature is simple but effective, it triggers a notification if the bigger half of the sensor is unstuck from a window/door frame. This is what someone would do if they were removing it to stop being monitored, so it’s a nice inclusion.
Once connected to Google Home you can test the sensor by closing the door/window and asking your smart speakers or phone “Hey Google, is the [door/window sensor name] open?” , to which it will reply “[door/window sensor name] is closed”.
As we mentioned this is not a fancy internet of things device, it has a simple purpose to tell you if a particular door/window has been opened or closed. Depending on what door you attach this to, it might become annoying though.
It would be perfect for a front door and has many uses eg: parents could tell when kids left home for school or got back home again, you could tell when your partner left for work or reached home afterwards, single renters could tell if their landlord entered without their permission etc.
The Mirabella Genio Wi-Fi Door & Window Sensor is available exclusively from Kmart for $25. Very similar devices probably made in the same factory are available on Amazon and eBay etc but they won’t come with an Australian 1 year warranty and consumer rights you have from buying at an Australian retailer.
Mirabella allowed Ausdroid to keep the sensor as it would cost more to return it than it costs to make.
