Alert me when my dumb doorbell rings

I’m trying to figure out how to get home assistant to alert me once my dumb (non-smart/wifi-enabled) doorbell rings. I have a d-link ip camera (with built-in mic) facing the doorbell, and I can access the audio stream via url. What should I do next, and any existing python code I can use out there? Thanks!

I have an Arlo camera facing my front porch. I use its motion detection to trigger an automation in HASS. Should be able to do similar with d-link, but you may need some more software to handle motion sensing.

If you’re mechanically inclined, a doorbell is simply a normally-open contact switch. There’s lots of things you could do to tap into that. You could connect the doorbell to some sort of IoT module, catch the press and communicate it to HASS (prob via MQTT). Or you could use a zwave magnetic sensor - most of those have terminals that you can attach leads to.

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There was a recent blog post for a smart baby monitor using a camera’s audio, not quite a baby :slight_smile: but the idea is the same!

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Is it a wired or wireless doorbell? I have a Broadlink RM2 Pro which receives 433MHz signals, and I recently found out that my bell, much like a remote socket switch, can be picked up/programmed into the unit. So now when my doorbell rings, I have my Hue lights flash.

So simple! I’m going to try that…But not now, it’s midnight :grin:

I’m not mechanically inclined so tapping into the switch might not be an option. But I’ll try to see how the d-link can trigger motion/sound sensing.

Unfortunately, my bell is wired! I do a wireless doorbell on the back door, but I bought an RM Mini instead of an RM2 Pro. Now I’m kinda regretting that decision.

What about tapping the wiring for the doorbell and running it into the GPIO pins on a raspberry pi?

A Fibaro Universal Sensor may be an option if you’re using Z-Wave. It can be powered from any DC source between 9V and 30V, so if your bell is mains powered then the built in transformer likely will be able to power that too, and you can hook it in the path of the bell push cabling.

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Mysensors would allow this too. But there will be soldering involved…

very interesting solution

This project provides alerts as well as a way to turn the dumb bell on and off.

No soldering needed with this plug in board, but you would need to have a MySensors gateway in place.

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I ran doorbell to GPIO.
There is a delay of about 15 seconds before automation (SMTP notify) is received (GPIO trigger is instant so another notify method may be more affective)

FYI…Doorbell runs at about 24V
You will need to remove doorbell chime from doorbell switch or use relay to trigger GPIO if you use this.
Many doorbell have light inside doorbell switch. This must be removed if using as NO/NC switch direct to GPIO as this will always show as short

Just what I though about implementing at home.

Here is a nice tutorial which explains just that.

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How does this work? I have learnt the packet from my wireless doorbell and programmed it into HA, but unsure as to trigger an automation from it?

@anthonymcmenzie I thought that the RM2 Pro would only listen when it was listening for commands when programming, not listening all the time. So if you wanted to listen and record it, then you could replay the command to make the chime go off but not constantly listen how do you do that?

I went a different route for my cheapo Amazon wireless doorbell and built a 433-to-MQTT device mentioned elsewhere on the forums. Cost barely anything to make and constantly listens for any 433Mhz signals. When the code for my doorbell is detected I have Node-Red update another MQTT topic home/doorbell which Home Assistant reads and then notifies me by Telegram. The message is received via Telegram about 1 second maybe 2 at most after pressing the doorbell.

Is that possible on the RM2 Pro.

Sorry if I’m hijacking the thread a bit.

Ah right, sorry, crossed wires here. I use HA/Broadlink to simulate the doorbell rather than permanently intercept. Guessing you might be able to do it with a 433 sensor on a Pi (if such a thing exists) but not something I’ve dabbled with.

I think part of the problem may be that doorbells (and your HVAC too, most likely) use 24V AC and just about all computer stuff is looking for about 5V DC.

Personally, I would wire the coil of a relay across the bell part of things, and then use the NO contacts from the relay to trigger either a Zwave dry contact sensor or run them to the GPIO pins with a pullup or pulldown resistor. I can bodge together a quick BOM and schematic if you’d like. Essentially what this will do is use the power that’s being sent to the bell part of things to activate a little switch, which will in turn send DC voltage to your GPIO which can then respond accordingly.

I have the dlink camera as well
I used iSpy a software to record video/sound using the dlink camera.

Some info here

Basically, iSpy has a built in server and some commands can be accessed through links (like start recording, etc)
I had setup iSpy to start recording on motion or sound and then you could specify a command action to follow: pushbullet? notify? something…

so:
Option 1:
door bell rings > camera active recognizes sound through iSpy and sends HA command to notify

Option 2 (my setup):
when nobody home > HA sends a command to iSpy to start recording > whenever there is movement iSpy sends a command to HA > HA notifies me of the action through pushbullet

The link included above shows all the code I used for Option 2 (except the pushbullet part… I havent updated that… I could tonite when I get home, let me know)

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all this talk and no one has mentioned the Sonoff SV

accepts 5-24V input and pretty much do what you want with Tasmota firmware loaded on it.

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