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I thought this would be a simple addition and hopefully it is but I am not getting any closer to coming up with a supported solution despite my best efforts. Some of my issues may be due to "doorbell" having an alternate meaning when you add the computer/PC/automation search terms with it. Here is specifically what I am trying to to.
My core knows when someone presses a doorbell.
Once that works I can do custom events, trigger phone calls, alerts, pausing media, and all the fun stuff. I am dumbfounded though in how to get this connection. Here is what I have looked at doing and how I am currently approaching it.
Z-Wave: No 'buttons' or button modules exist. I could probably crack apart a door/window alarm to go off if the doorbell button separated the sensor units enough. I could modify a scene controller wall switch to send a state change but as described in other posts, events were not intended to be fired by direct actions. Soldering something onto a Z-Wave sensor really kills the PNP appeal of that technology anyways.
X-10: Similar to the Z-Wave problems, in that no simple contact seems to exist. I could justify spending the money on a box of used x-10 parts and probably come up with some way to get a signal back to my core but by the time I add a PC interface device to receive that signal and run isolated power lines to the doorbell (and then step down the current somehow to not have a 110V surprise for guests in the rain) I would have already spent more on a cm15a and other parts by this point to equal a controller for another tech.
Expensive intercom as simple doorbell: There seems to be some Insteon functions that allow for button pressing firing events but after 25 pages of the Smarthome website I only found units that talk to other intercoms and not back to a PC to keep it informed.
Other less often mentioned technologies: zigbee, KNX, proprietary systems, I even considered buying a security panel with ethernet outputs and wire a "panic" button which would act as a method of communicating something happened. 1-Wire to be honest is for hobbyists well above my abilities with bus addresses and willingness to solder onto my core. I actually attempted a simple switch on a test machine via serial, parallel and usb but don't think I had the proper "pull up voltage" pins wired... Each guide I found recommended a different port and some called out completely different pins. I even considered cracking apart "the clapper" to respond to a standard doorbell chimes, then have the clapper turn on a light which would shine onto a photo intensity sensor... There has to be an easier way.
I currently have a stand alone pc that I am purposing to act as a doorbell interface. Basically I cracked apart a standard keyboard and if you are familiar with how they work you understand that each key is tied to a controller in the normally open position. Pressing a key closes the circuit that the controller interprets as a key (this can be edited with a keymapper to be any input you wish) So I have a small pc running Puppy Linux and a wire coming out of the keyboard where the Home key would be and out to a switch that I will after testing move to the doorbell. I need to learn GSD and socket communications better before I can get "Home key" = lmce receiving an input via TCP that a button has been pressed.
I have some interested from the roommate to finance a doorbell solution, together we can probably invest as much as $300 into this. If this was one of your doorbells, how would you go about connecting it?
My core knows when someone presses a doorbell.
Once that works I can do custom events, trigger phone calls, alerts, pausing media, and all the fun stuff. I am dumbfounded though in how to get this connection. Here is what I have looked at doing and how I am currently approaching it.
Z-Wave: No 'buttons' or button modules exist. I could probably crack apart a door/window alarm to go off if the doorbell button separated the sensor units enough. I could modify a scene controller wall switch to send a state change but as described in other posts, events were not intended to be fired by direct actions. Soldering something onto a Z-Wave sensor really kills the PNP appeal of that technology anyways.
X-10: Similar to the Z-Wave problems, in that no simple contact seems to exist. I could justify spending the money on a box of used x-10 parts and probably come up with some way to get a signal back to my core but by the time I add a PC interface device to receive that signal and run isolated power lines to the doorbell (and then step down the current somehow to not have a 110V surprise for guests in the rain) I would have already spent more on a cm15a and other parts by this point to equal a controller for another tech.
Expensive intercom as simple doorbell: There seems to be some Insteon functions that allow for button pressing firing events but after 25 pages of the Smarthome website I only found units that talk to other intercoms and not back to a PC to keep it informed.
Other less often mentioned technologies: zigbee, KNX, proprietary systems, I even considered buying a security panel with ethernet outputs and wire a "panic" button which would act as a method of communicating something happened. 1-Wire to be honest is for hobbyists well above my abilities with bus addresses and willingness to solder onto my core. I actually attempted a simple switch on a test machine via serial, parallel and usb but don't think I had the proper "pull up voltage" pins wired... Each guide I found recommended a different port and some called out completely different pins. I even considered cracking apart "the clapper" to respond to a standard doorbell chimes, then have the clapper turn on a light which would shine onto a photo intensity sensor... There has to be an easier way.
I currently have a stand alone pc that I am purposing to act as a doorbell interface. Basically I cracked apart a standard keyboard and if you are familiar with how they work you understand that each key is tied to a controller in the normally open position. Pressing a key closes the circuit that the controller interprets as a key (this can be edited with a keymapper to be any input you wish) So I have a small pc running Puppy Linux and a wire coming out of the keyboard where the Home key would be and out to a switch that I will after testing move to the doorbell. I need to learn GSD and socket communications better before I can get "Home key" = lmce receiving an input via TCP that a button has been pressed.
I have some interested from the roommate to finance a doorbell solution, together we can probably invest as much as $300 into this. If this was one of your doorbells, how would you go about connecting it?
Hey there,
The route I opted to go for is buying a GC-100. I simply connect my standard doorbell to one of the contact closure sensor inputs. Then I connect one of it's relay outputs to a simple circuit I built which rings a standard door chime. The GC-100 is plug and play with LMCE, but there's a bit of manual config needed in webadmin.
It works well for the most part. The one problem I've found is that the device seems to have issues when there is rapid on/off input or output. For example, when I ring my doorbell rapidly and repeatedly, the thing freezes and needs a reboot. Still looking into this however.
