I just got my first Wyze cam and Sensor Kit. I looked on the forum and saw that some other people attempted similar things to make a DIY lock sensor, but they seemed to be dependent on really thin door trim, which mine isn’t. Here’s what I did:
My doorframe was already kinda out-of-whack and someone in the distant past drilled on the deadbolt and latch plates way off-center in order to make the door close tightly. So in my case, I actually didn’t need to expand the hole at all. It fits in there perfectly, and the deadbolt doesn’t hit it. (Although I had to scrape off the mounting tape in order to give it enough clearance.) In your case, it’s more likely that your deadbolt plate is centered on the hole, so you’ll probably need to expand it, but it shouldn’t be very difficult. If you have a jigsaw or a drill or a chisel – or even just a flathead screwdriver and a hammer – you can do it. In my case, the depth was also perfect already, but your mileage may vary.
I put a 1/2" neodymium magnet onto the bolt itself. That seems to be the perfect size. (12-13mm if you’re using metric) For now, it’s just stuck to the deadbolt latch with magnetism, but I’ll probably put a dab of superglue on it in a day or two. (I want to make sure everything works as expected for a couple days, but so far, so good) I put the sensor into the deadbolt hole, with the flat side of the sensor facing inward, so that it’s furthest away from the magnet when the door is unlocked, and closest when it’s locked. (I assume that’s the side which is most sensitive to magnetism, since it’s the part that connects with the magnet end )
At first, the sensor didn’t trigger when I had the magnet on the bolt with the opposite facing out. But when I flipped the magnet over, it was perfect, so if you’re having issues, try that first. Rotation might make a difference, too. Basically, don’t superglue anything until you’re 100% sure you’ve got it right. You may even want to draw an “up” arrow on it with Sharpie or something, to make sure you glue it on correctly.
I haven’t put the deadbolt plate back on yet because I wanted to buy a better one anyway. Instead of a deadbolt plate, I’ll probably replace it with a T-Strike. A T-Strike generally isn’t necessary for a deadbolt, since a deadbolt doesn’t “latch” the way a doorknob does, but it won’t hurt anything and it will look better because it will cover the expanded hole. (I didn’t technically expand mine, but it was screwed on off-center enough that you could see the hole outside the plate anyway, even before I did this)
Anyway, good luck if anyone else gives this a shot. I’m going to do my back door, too, but I need to buy more sensors, and I’ll probably need to drill out the hole a little larger.
Edit: I posted it in a subsequent post, but I figured I should add the video up top for easy access:
(Hey, worth a try. Haha.)