So, situation: old-school doorbell, button outside, when you click on the button (electricity is on) the bell makes a sound. I want to send/save notification in HA every-time the button is clicked. I am not so good in hardware, was looking on the internet, but don’t know exactly what to search on. I need something that is between the button and the bell, it should always have power and be connected to network (wifi) and when the button is clicked is should recognise it and send/save event in HA. Any suggestion on the hardware and which HA component can be used?
I am using an Xiaomi door sensor. If I position it just right inside the doorbell housing, it is triggered every time the doorbell rings due to the magnetic coil that activates the plunger.
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With the instructions on the next Github page I made my dumb doorbell smart and it works fine.
Until now (appr. 4 months) no fake triggers.
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Fantastic. Anyone from Italy knows how to adapt it to a typical Italian installation?
I think my door ring is electronic since it is inside the internal door phone, I guess will not work with that, correct?
Yeah. You need a mechanical “ding-dong” type bell.
Awesome to see that this works… this was my plan for a contact sensor that is arriving in the next day or two… but I wasn’t sure if the electromagnet was gonna trip the sensor… I was wondering id be able to differentiate the front/rear door because of the double pulse… but im not sure how quick the on/off will trigger will respond… We will see soon enough… 95% of the time it’s my front door so really not a big deal just thought it’d be cool if I knew which door.
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That literally made me laugh out loud! Like watching the proverbial Gordian Knot being ‘solved’ with a sword!
Clever, simple and effective; using the device’s own magnetic field to your advantage. If only all home automation challenges could be solved by just wedging in an inexpensive contact sensor!
Thanks for sharing that!
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Yes - only use the actual Xiaomi sensor. The electromagnet in the doorbell acts as the other small piece. Not sure if it will work with that type of doorbell or not - if it is a mechanical doorbell, then there is some sort of electromagnet that is charged to pull the ringer back to strike the bell. The trick is getting the sensor close enough to that magnet to activate the sensor. Try it and see! Good luck!
I don’t have Xiaomi gateway and don’t want to buy it only for the doorbell, so will look around for some wifi solution or something else. But thanks for great idea!