I just built a (proof-of-concept) door bell, which talks MQTT (via fixed Ethernet), mainly, because the door bell is at the gate 80m from the house.
I could be in the shed, or later in the house, and was wondering what method(s) to use to notify me that the door bell has rung.
The door bell already talks to OH, the question is now, what do I do with the signal.
We are next to a computer quite a lot depending on the time of day.
We may be out on the property.
I thought of:
a) using the presence detection to issue an audio message (either spoken text or door bell chime sound)
b) surely a message on whatever sitemap (mostly useless)
c) yes, activate an actual chime
d) … ???
We do not carry smart phones due to zero reception; nor would we carry anything else (NFC, RFID, etc.) and also avoid wireless where possible (only on for an hour per day).
I understand that not carrying any device will make it difficult to get notified outdoors; however, I just thought of installing one of the old car horns which sound like a cow mooing.
Without a device the only thing will be a loud siren of some sort or a series of not so loud speakers strategically placed ones so no matter where you are you can hear at least one of them without needing something as loud as a car horn.
I will eventually have audio in each room, as well as a microphone for voice control… but I haven’t approached or tackled any solution yet. --> Meaning the audio will take the ‘role’ of door bell sound
These cow horns are not that loud (at least not the ones i know… but at the end of the day, this requirement is one that seems to require almost a standard solution.
I have a zoned audio system that has speakers in several of the rooms, as well as the porch and patio. I also have the Unifi binding, which knows whether I’m present in the house, as well as the Unifi wifi access point to which my smartphone is connected. Knowing the access point, I can stream the doorbell sound (or whatever sound I want) using the squeezebox binding to the audio zones that are closest to the access point to which I’m connected.
I understand the issue with smartphones and cell coverage. Even though my cell coverage at home also is spotty, it won’t be an issue because the phones are wifi connected when in and around the house.
I use Habpanel and use it as an audio sync on my phones and tablets for notifications. I have a tablet and phone stationary in a few rooms so it works consistently. I’ll usually have habpanel up on my own phone as well so i hear the notification from it as well.
I also had 0 reception, had to install two ATT micro cells to get service in the house. As far as announcements, I have 21 tablets in the house with a app that listens for broadcast RTP. I then call a small script that uses Google TTS and FFMpeg to speak announcements.
I also have direction driveway sensors at two points in the driveway, I pay a chime and then enter driveway for the first and just a different chime for the second.
[root@lisa openhab2]# more rules/driveway.rules
rule "Driveway_Enter Alert"
when
Item Driveway_Enter changed from CLOSED to OPEN
then
if(now.getHourOfDay > 7 && now.getHourOfDay < 21) {
executeCommandLine("broadcast_sound ding.mp3")
Thread::sleep(4000)
executeCommandLine("broadcast_tts Enter,Driveway")
}
end
rule "Inner_Driveway_Enter Alert"
when
Item Inner_Driveway_Enter changed from CLOSED to OPEN
then
if(now.getHourOfDay > 7 && now.getHourOfDay < 21) {
executeCommandLine("broadcast_sound sonicring.mp3")
}
end
