I have a normal, wired doorbell that rings a chime in the house. Is there a simple Z-wave gadget that I can wire to the chime that senses when the doorbell has been rung? I suppose all it really needs to do is sense the same current that causes the chime to ring, and send a signal to the Vera Plus. So it would act more like a sensor than a switch.
What would such a thingamajig be, and is it a pretty straightforward “just connect these wires to these screws on your doorbell chime and hide this thing under the chime cover” configuration?
Well, I’m not that new. But my searches have turned up stuff that seems way more complicated than I’m imagining (or is it really just that complicated?).
The most recent post has you stating ‘My first thoughts on seeing the photo are “THROW THE LOT AWAY”.’ and then someone concluding the thread by describing a relay hooked up to the chime that then is wired to half a door sensor – without much explanation of the logic, so I don’t really understand how the door sensor is involved.
And before that, there’s a thread that requires these parts:
ELK-930
ELK-960
Everspring Zwave door/window sensor
16-18 gauge wire
1N4004 Micro 1-Amp Rectifier Diode (radio shack is cheap and simple for these)
12v wall wart (pretty much anything you have lying around - I used an old Netgear 12V 1AMP)
Plastic project box
heat shrink tube of the correct size for the wire you choose
solder
Two sided foam tape
and a freaking soldering iron.
I know virtually nothing about electronic, transformers, capacitors and the lot, so I was hoping there was a much more rudimentary solution, like “get an XYZ in-wall widget, connect tab A to slot A, tab B to slot B, and draw power from the chime by connecting wire C to terminal C on the chime.”
On this forum you learn to read just the facts and ignore the moans.
You will find that for the dimplest solution you just use a door sensor mountedby the doorbell solenoid. If the solenoid is not powerful enough you next go to a relay wired across the solenoid and use contacts from that into a door sensor.
One or other of those should be simple and easily found on here.
If you still struggle you need to send photo’s of your system and its wiring and get feedback on it.
Also as @Slartibartfast said, a relay may not even be required. Many standard AC powered doorbells could be detected with a door/window sensor alone or at most with an added external reed switch.
Back from the catacombs. I had a setup that worked for years, but at some point our doorbell button started sticking and I think my somewhat electronic solution took a beating over time.
I have gone down the route suggested in the thread link above. Bought the relay. The exact window sensor specified wasn’t available, but it looks exactly like a Schlage RS100HC, which I have. We do have a lighted button, so I went the NC route on the relay.
Press button. Light on relay goes out (expected). LED on RS100HC blinks on briefly, I would hope indicating a “trip”. But it doesn’t appear to be long enough for the device to trigger my Luup scene on Vera (UI5). I’m pretty sure I need that open circuit (while the doorbell coil is broken by the chime action) to persist a smidge longer.
It’d be lovely to be able to solve this with simple electronics…a capacitor here, a resistor there. Even nicer if there was some swell parameter for the RS100HC to tell it not to ignore really short “triggers”. I know I can fix this by buying yet-another relay…this one, delay-on. But it seems like this should be easier than that.
Ideas?
–Richard
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