Author Topic: My custom doorbell. vc+vera (Read 9107 times)

keithj69 · « **on:** May 18, 2014, 06:54:42 PM »

After a morning of playing around with voxcommando, I ventured into a project that I've needed for a long time. A doorbell.

parts
1) voxcommando
2) veralite
3) schlage rs100hc door sensor (able to externally wire to it)
4) the cheapest non-lite doorbell button from the hardware store i could find
5) you may need some wire depending on the doorbell switch
6) a housing for the project
7) you really only need half a brain for this

Wire the switch to the sensor (pretty straight forward, only 2 wires, swap if not working). Follow along in fireside chat #3 to setup a simple voice response when the sensor is tripped. test. fix.... test...bask.

caveats. In the beginning, there was a delay in response. Once things settle (or a heal on vera) things sped up. Also in vera, it will appear that your sensor is always tripped. Doesn't stop this from working. (if i come up with something better, i'll respond here)

When I press the button, all my lights turn on to 40%(vera trigger), after 3 minutes they turn off. Then VC speaks to me letting me know someone is at the front door(fireside chat #3).

Right now it is at version 1, as the case i have it in is actually a vcr tape case. I plan on making it much smaller, but right now, i am just happy that it is accomplished, and it works.

Why this is of value to me.
I re-purposed an non used stereo to play my sounds from my pc. doing this means that i do not need to buy a sonos system that ties into vera with limited use.

edit: tweaked setup; decided to turn on all lights and have them turn off after 3 minutes.

nime5ter · « **Reply #1 on:** May 19, 2014, 10:36:40 AM »

Sounds like a fun Sunday project. Any chance of some photos or a demo?

keithj69 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2014, 12:51:22 PM »

This is the the only picture i have right now. I have a new sensor coming in soon that will be dedicated to the doorbell. I will take better pictures of the build then. In the meantime, i am looking for a new housing.

nime5ter · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2014, 01:08:10 PM »

"Knocking may be required."

Good stuff. Maybe you need to add a piezo element to the mix.

Thanks for posting.

mdsh · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2014, 02:38:51 AM »

"Knocking may be required."

made my day...

love the project though and please do keep us posted. Well danoe

keithj69 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2014, 12:10:37 PM »

The good news is that knocking has not been required. The lights trigger first and it has worked every time i have tested it. Someone actually used it last night and it did puzzle me for a moment as to why my lights were turning on.

The new sensor will be in sometime between now and next weds. I was thinking of finding a small clown mask and making it where the nose is the doorbell. I figure if a person is to afraid to push on a clowns nose, they have no reason to have my attention.

keithj69 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2014, 05:19:15 PM »

I got version 3 finished. I have gone through a couple of different buttons trying to find the correct one for me.
The parts list I have used

button- Amico AC 660V 10A 40mm 1.6" Green Mushroom Head Momentary Push Button Switch 1 NO NC (you want a normally closed momentary button)
door sensor - Everspring Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor sm103 (way to big, will get another schlage)
cheap project box
blinking led - this was from a dummy surveillance camera enclosure i bought to enclose a raspi ir camera setup. from harbor freight.
battery connector for led.

The vera/vox combo still is the same as before. lights on for 3 minutes, an email, and my lovely Lemon (vox) telling me someone is here.

I like the piezo idea, but i am not sure what i need to do to incorporate it. Might give me a reason to break out the arduino and try figuring it out again.

Next step is graphics. Not sure what i will do, but with my twisted mind, most likely no one will want to use the button.

Other uses for this setup- this is portable so if you had someone home sick, injured, or elderly, this would work also as an attention button, or emergency button. Or as a remote light turner oner. I actually use it to turn lights on and off when outside. (3 minute delay)

Thanks for reading.

nime5ter · « **Reply #7 on:** June 05, 2014, 09:41:21 AM »

Good thing that's a green button. I'm guessing visitors would find a red button too daunting to mess with.

I don't know how reliable it would be, but I think the piezo knocker project would be a fun experiment as an intro to Arduino + VC.

This: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/KnockSensor

Plus some of the code from James's 2-way communication example:

http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=1452.msg12742#msg12742

Not sure about power supply (and wireless communication) for real-world use though.

keithj69 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 05, 2014, 11:47:34 AM »

The red button one i got was incorrect. I might be able to swap though the tops though.
Thanks for the links and ideas. I will see what i can do with them.

jitterjames · « **Reply #9 on:** June 05, 2014, 12:32:46 PM »

Quote from: keithj69 on May 18, 2014, 06:54:42 PM

3) schlage rs100hc door sensor (able to externally wire to it)

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by this? Does applying a voltage to the input trigger the sensor? If that is the case then you can set up the arduino to apply this voltage when you detect a knock vibration so you won't need to worry about wireless communication from the Arduino to VoxCommando.

keithj69 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 05, 2014, 04:28:49 PM »

The external wiring is wiring an external magnet switch. Not power. This allows for wiring in the momentary switch i am using. Added picture for reference.

jitterjames · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2014, 07:03:43 PM »

You should be able to use Arduino to control a relay then, but the closing of the switch is probably effectively applying a voltage to one wire in order to trigger the sensor so you might only need to figure out what voltage is expected if that is easier.

keithj69 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 16, 2014, 09:46:24 AM »

Did some additional work yesterday on the doorbell. When football season kicks off I will swap out the pirate with a gator.

jitterjames · « **Reply #13 on:** June 16, 2014, 10:50:40 AM »

Looks great. I love the glowing eyes.

I'm not sure what the "hand recycling" icon is for...

keithj69 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2014, 05:34:49 PM »

Some people didn't grasp the concept of the button actually being the doorbell. So I made it a little more user friendly this time.

The commands still stand as before. Select lights turn on for 3 minutes, an email is sent out and Lemon (voxcommando) makes an announcement. New people usually will have me open the door and they will keep pressing the button to listen to the messages.

jitterjames · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:29:39 PM »

I think there are still a lot of people who won't get it, but at least they can leave you a note!

keithj69 · « **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:49:06 PM »

If they can not figure out the "door....button....bell" they have no reasons to be at my house. But then again, I may have high expectations.

yokel · « **Reply #17 on:** June 13, 2015, 10:36:37 PM »

I know this is pretty old but I thought I'd share my doorbell solution. It doesn't require a new doorbell or any wiring. You just need a typical binary window sensor & a rare earth magnet or two.

The attached photo shows an aeon labs window sensor taped above the springed doorbell plunger. Attached to the top of the plunger are two rare earth magnets. When the doorbell is pressed the plunger pulls back the magnetic field is broken. This is quick but will trigger an open command to your controller. Its worked flawless for me since setting it up. The only caveat is that it will kill your original doorbell as the door sensor is in front of the door chime.

jitterjames · « **Reply #18 on:** June 14, 2015, 04:00:23 PM »

Cool idea. thanks. Too bad the ZWave door/window sensors are ludicrously priced.

This gives me an idea though. It would probably be pretty easy to set up a "MySensors" sensor that is connected to the 12 volt input on the interior doorbell using an analog input or something and generate an event whenever the voltage goes up. I'm not actually sure how a normal doorbell works so it would require some tests and measurements but I'm sure this could be done for very little cost, especially if we can use the DC from the doorbell to power the sensor so that no batteries would be needed.

More research is required!

keithj69 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2015, 05:38:53 PM »

Quote from: nime5ter on June 05, 2014, 09:41:21 AM

Good thing that's a green button. I'm guessing visitors would find a red button too daunting to mess with.

I don't know how reliable it would be, but I think the piezo knocker project would be a fun experiment as an intro to Arduino + VC.

This: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/KnockSensor

Plus some of the code from James's 2-way communication example:

http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=1452.msg12742#msg12742

Not sure about power supply (and wireless communication) for real-world use though.

Now that I am playing with arduino and mysensors, I am going to work on the knock sensor. I should have a working prototype by sunday.

Kalle · « **Reply #20 on:** July 24, 2015, 03:33:51 AM »

Cool, if you need a serial gateway PCB for mysensors, let me know - I have a lot of boards here.
You can get the board complete assembled if you want. The board size is 38x18mm. We have also a python script to use VoxCommando instead of Vera as controller.

green/yellow/red LEDs
inclusion button
pinheader for NRF24 chip
pinheader for Arduino Nano

A full assembled PCB with all needed components (Nano+NRF24) will cost 10$ + shipping / the PCB only 1.50$ + shipping