Wireless Doorbell Rings You In

GraysonPeddie

GraysonPeddie

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PC World - Wireless Doorbell Rings You In

For those of you who spend lots of time away from home, there's now a device to answer the doorbell from nearly anywhere in the world with your mobile phone.

After testing the technology in its home Dutch market, wireless startup Waleli now plans to sell its GSM Doorbell internationally, beginning in northern Europe, the company said Tuesday.

The wireless doorbell allows apartment dwellers, home owners and small businesses to answer their doorbell, talk to visitors and even open the door remotely with their GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) phones.

The GSM Doorbell consists of four parts: an intercom, an electronic lock, a GSM-enabled doorbell and a SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) for the GSM device.

When someone presses the doorbell device, it rings your handset, allowing you to communicate with visitors and, by entering a "pincode," to grant them access to your home, all without having to leave your location.

The technology can be useful when dealing with delivery people, door-to-door solicitors and many others who need or want to stop by. And you don't have to worry about locking yourself out of the house or apartment again because the machine will recognize your mobile's number and unlock the door for you.

Pricing information was not immediately available.
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Is there a similar product for the deaf? I typed in "Wireless Doorbell PC" in Live Search and I stumbled across the article from PC World (I've been to PC World frequently).

I was looking for a wireless doorbell that communicates to my PC, so that I can perform home automation (like flashing lights, play a sound file in my computer, and for seconds later, vibrate my bed (I have a 120v bed vibrator that plugs into my appliance module)).

Currently, I have a $20 wireless doorbell with a chime, and when listening to music or watch TV shows or movies, it seems to conflict with some frequencies from the doorbell chime, and it's kind of hard to distinguish the doorbell chime from speakers.
 
And you don't have to worry about locking yourself out of the house or apartment again because the machine will recognize your mobile's number and unlock the door for you.
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So what happens when you forget your keys AND phone?
 
I always carry my phone with me, including my keys. But that's not the focus of the topic.
 
This can be done with Homeseer / X-10 (or Insteon) products. I am doing this right now. I have my doorbell chime wired to a Powerflash Module . When someone rings my doorbell, the powerflash module triggers an alert to Homeseer, which in turn runs a script that lets me flash my lights with several Insteon switches throughout my house AND sends an email to my blackberry that someone rang the doorbell. That way, if my house is too bright or I am in the back yard, I will still know someone rang the doorbell via my Blackberry. As to opening/unlocking the door, it is possible with my blackberry. I would need to send a code to my Homeseer system which would trigger an event to run an universal IR to unlock the door. However, I do not plan to implement the door unlocking system. No need for it.
 
Okay. So would I have to hack my doorbell chime (which I currently have) to wire in to the Powerflash module?

It seems I have no other choice but to use X10, which is less secure (256 logical devices -- A-P and 1-16) than Insteon's 24-Bit Addressing.

Also, I'm a computer programmer, so I don't use HomeSeer. I do RS232 communication through 2412S Insteon PowerLine Modem. This allows me to bypass the SmartLabs Device Manager (that communicates with the 2414U/2414S PowerLinc Controller), which don't seem to be compatible with Windows Server 2008 that I'm beta-testing.

I live in the "rental" apartment, though.
 
Yes, correct. You would have to hack into your wireless doorbell chime. The nice thing about Powerflash Module is - it will trigger on either a dry contact (0 volts) or small voltage (up to 18 volts, which is what a regular doorbell chime transformer gives out). Once you get the Powerflash to trigger, then you can use your program to send you emails to your pager or whatever. I personally prefer Insteon - that is what I am using to flash my lights. The Powerflash is the only thing using X10 to trigger it all. I'm a .NET programmer by day myself, so this makes it all easy - should be a walk in the park for you after you get the triggering done. :D

P.S. I have the same Powerline as you, but mine is the USB version.
 
It's actually "PowerLinc Controller" if you're using a 2414U, as the 2412S doesn't have an external EEPROM for storing applications like a stand-alone timer, but for me, I don't care about running a timer stand-alone. I am running off events and timers in my server, thus a home automation server.

As for wireless doorbell chime, this will be my first time performing hardware hacks, but I've done jumper-changing, such as changing to a different channel frequency to reduce interference (false alarm during midnight) and changing to a different chime sound (done via the doorbell).

After I do hardware hacking with the doorbell chime, I might have to think about building an enclosure around the doorbell chime and a PowerFlash module, so that the wire can't be touched.

Thanks.
 
If you're comfortable with software hackery, you might want to look at Mister House. (I think it's at misterhouse.sourceforge.net, but I'm not sure). It's a set of perl scripts to allow you to control an X10 network from your computer. Possibly more general than that, actually, but I know it supports X10 and some serial interface devices.

Plus, y'know, perl, so it's cross-platform and easily modifiable.
 
Well, I have no knowledge of Perl language, but thanks. I can code using C# (a language from Microsoft, like VB.net), so that I can do RS232 communication with 2412S. I don't have CM11A (ActiveHome) or CM15A (ActiveHome Pro) as I've moved away from X10.
 
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