I have new idea for my home automation. I want to create a 2-way communication when someone press my home doorbell (which is already integrated into HA). I plan to put a Bluetooth speakerphone at the door and link it to an Android phone/tablet that is placed indoor. When someone press the doorbell, HA will trigger the automation to publish an MQTT topic similar to Send SMS format in Zanzito. Zanzito will then call my SIP based number as per the topic so that I can talk to the person at the door.
Hi @masterkenobi, in general I think this is doable: I was thinking myself of adding such an option, but I just couldn’t find the right scenario to place it in
Added to the list…
In any case, I’m working on an improvement that might solve your problem in a different way… we’ll see!
May I know what doorbell model are you thinking of?
Right now, I’m using a generic 433Mhz doorbell from AliExpress. When someone presses the doorbell, the 433Mhz signal will be captured by OpenMQTTGateway and publish it to my MQTT broker.
While you are at it, do you think it is possible to use my Android phone as BLE tracker? I plan to attach my phone at the back of the door (interior) and when me or another family members walk near the door, it will detect the smart band and zanzito will publish the smart band MAC address and its RSSI value to MQTT. HA will then unlock my zwave lock.
The closest app I can find is BLE Scanner. I have tried it and it can detect my smart band. Unfortunately, it cannot publish its value to MQTT.
Until now, I’ve tried to stay as far from bluetooth as possibile… I tinkered a bit with Bluetooth to integrate a few python scripts in HA: I think it’s one of the most unreliable and undocumented piece of technology I’ve ever met. But, of course, it’s just me: I’m not enough competent…
We’ll see: I’ve had many requests to integrate beacon detection in Zanzito…
BLE Scanner look cool, maybe they can offer some mean of integration with third party apps, I’ll investigate.
I hope he just taking a long break. Anyway, this is also a possibility we all must prepare for. Nothing last forever. That’s why I like the concept of zanzito; a standalone system that doesn’t rely on third party service. It will continue to work even if it is abandoned by the developer as long as the hardware and OS is still supported.
Anyway, I might have to look for alternative solution for this feature request.
I’m sorry, I did take a long break from android development, but the project isn’t abandoned at all. This summer I started working on a feature that kind of derailed me, then life took over…
I hope I’ll be able to release a new beta version quickly.
I might as well add that I’m working on having zanzito transmit audio and video through mqtt, and it works well. I’m still having some troubles with echoes during two-way communications (yes, the dev version can do two ways video calls), but I’m working on a solution…
I’m actually thinking of making phone calls using SIP calling. I have tried achieving this using Tasker with MQTT Client. It can trigger a normal phone call using MQTT message but it couldn’t make phone call using SIP calling. I don’t want normal phone call because the spare phone I plan to use for my main door doesn’t have any SIM card and I don’t plan to get one just for this purpose. Furthermore, SIP calling is better because it can calls to every phone extensions I have in my home including those softphones I have installed in my PC and dedicated SIP phones in every rooms.
