Old Door Lock Opener

Hi all,
i am searching/asking for tips or ideas to make an old Door lock opener “smart”.
We have an old house with a 2 wire Door lock opener. If someone rings the door bell, you have to go to the “inside” door station, (where you could talk to the visitor with audio onlny) and press a button to open the door.
I have installed OpenHab3 with some Window Open Sensors and Heating Controllers from HomeMatic (CCU2) and AVM Dect Sensors.

Since my father-in-law in our House now needs a nursing service, I’m looking for a solution to be able to open the door for the nurses via cell phone (or OpenHab App) when I’m on the road. Is there any ready to use Solution or any other “Sensor” or Thing that i could use for that?

For example if press a button on the OpenHab App, an Contact will be closed for 5 or 10 Seconds, like a Human is pressing the OpenDoor Button.

Any Idea would be helpful. Thank you!

Ben

Not a ready to use solution, but some devices that could be used to design a solution to your problem:
https://www.google.de/search?q=homematic+relay

If it’s an option, I would consider just giving keys to the nursing service. Otherwise, you can easily end up with a scenario in which you can’t be reached and they can’t get in to help your father-in-law.

Earlier this year, a resident in my condo building wasn’t responding to the intercom or phone calls. Their nursing service had keys to their unit, but the person with the keys couldn’t be reached. So, the police were called to breach their door. Unfortunately, the person had passed away already (likely a day or two earlier in their sleep).

Since forced entry is a “last resort” sort of thing, people instinctively delay the decision while searching for other options. Doing so probably led to there being a delay of maybe two hours before entry was gained. If the resident had still been alive and then passed away in those two hours, then this would have gone from unfortunate to tragic.

None of that happens if the person with the keys had been reachable, or if someone else in the building had keys due to the resident’s poor health.

I have a reasonable amount of trust in openHAB, but I don’t trust the Internet to always work, the power to always be on, or myself to always answer my phone. So when it comes to health care and life safety, I think it’s best that others not have to rely on me to do something that requires all three of those things.

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Never rely on a single access mechanism. Physical keys can be lost. In addition, proactive surveillance (cameras, fall sensors, motion sensors, mattress sensors, …) might be an option. Always keep in mind that technology can fail.

If it’s just about closing contact, something like Shelly Plus 1 could do it. Has integrated wifi and app to do it remotely.

There’s also Nuki Opener which can detect ringing and open the door automatically. You can set schedule to open the door after ringing at certain times and get notification that doorbell was rung. You’d have to check whether your intercom is compatible.

Also it seems like Ring made its own Ring Intercom which works like Nuki Opener but also lets you answer the call on your phone.