Doorbell WiFi Upgrade [DIY, IoT, Node-RED, WLED]

In this video we upgrade a basic doorbell to send notifications over WiFi. With some power harvesting no battery is required. An optional Node-RED server translates the signal and activates a visual notification remotely. This not only helps if the bell isn't audible but can also be use for hearing disabled people.
Code and Noder-RED flow can be found here:
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Music:
Jeremy Blake - Powerup!
Wayne Jones - Brain Trust
Quincas Moreira - Sparse Clouds
#electronics #maker #iot

[@simfoo]

Love the ElectroBoom appearance :D

[@WM22]

FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!

[@nacs]

3:23 for those who missed it

[@raagamparmar5602]

*FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!*

[@MasterFX2000]

0:15 you are right, research is very important ;-)

[@JonathanDeWitt1988]

The idea of a doorbell system like this has always fascinated me. I've been tinkering with my own version. What I found most interesting about this video was how you powered the microcontroller and used the very short duration pulse from the doorbell to do so. That was ingenious! I've never seen something like that before. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed learning from this.

[@peter.stimpel]

I like how you picture the behavior of DHL, Amazon and others when those guys throw parcels at me, literally. You forgot the one who is "hiding" parcels somewhere in the garden or carport when I am not at home. Nice project. I was connecting to my 8VAC doorbell as well, luckily I have steady power there available, so I did not need to run from caps

[@ncot_tech]

What we need is a doorbell that rings before they even get to the door, to cope with the ninjas who appear at the door, ring the doorbell and then are half way back to their van before you've got the door open.

[@peter.stimpel]

@@ncot_tech easy, just put some high voltage on the doorbells switch. Their recovery period will give you plenty of time to get to the door

[@bornach]

@@ncot_tech I thought they throw the parcels to maintain social distancing.

[@leglessinoz]

"If you're not home we'll leave in safe place". I found about a half dozen small parcels one day months after they were delivered in a "safe place".

[@justin.campbell]

I love how you drew out the schematics and diagrams. It really helps to easily understand the project!

[@oskimac]

nice detail on the "icarus express" note jajaaj . "we tried for almost 3 seconds but coudnt catch you at home" and the office hours 10:30 to 10:45. you have a full 15 minutes!!!

[@bitluni]

It makes my day when people spot the little details put in giggling 😂

[@diffmull]

You could also put a resistor across the door bell push button. This would provide enough current to keep the ESP permanently powered but wouldn't be enough to ring the bell permanently. In the old days there would be a small bulb in in the bell push to light it permanently so this is not a misuse of the bell setup.

[@phinok.m.628]

I like the idea... There's some room for improvement though. Using your current method, you can set a static local IP for the ESP in the Sketch. If the ESP doesn't "choose" its own local IP it is assigned an IP by the DHCP Server of the router. Due to this "negotiation" the ESP needs a little longer to connect. If you really want to save time there are other methods, some of which involve more "hacks" than others. Personally I think the best method is to have one "main ESP" somewhere in the house that receives ESP now packets and relays them into the wifi network somehow. It's a bit tricky since you can have ESP now and wifi at the same time. But there are solutions. Anyway the main ESP can be considered the "ESP now" gateway. And then any device that has limited power just wakes up and sends an ESP now message to that gateway. This has the advantage the ESP hast to be awake for less than 50 ms compared to a few seconds when it connects to wifi normally. P.S. After the rectifier you don't have 12 V DC... 12 V AC is the RMS voltage (Effektivspannung), when rectified you get the peak voltage which is 12 V * sqrt(2) = 17 V minus the voltage drop over the rectifier of about 1.4 V... So probably around 15.5 V. Also the transformer is most likely not regulated therefore is around 12 V AC under a specific load. Personally I would assume a max voltage of 25 V or so to be on the safe side. And anther thing to consider, is that while buck converters are more efficient, they usually have a higher quiescent current. So while the ESP sends the message it is more efficient. But when it sleeps, you would probably be better off using a linear voltage regulator with a low quiescent current. This is especially important with battery powered projects that deep sleep most of the time.

[@schuballaa]

ach tool, espnow wollte ich gerade vorschlagen... ich bin so ein opfer... statt ein wemos mit den ganzen kleinkram würde ich einen nackten ESP12F mit eben espnow nehmen

[@ESCcrasci]

I am probably not the first guy who noticed the lab's password and the research topic 😏

[@matoumakes]

I saw the password. Gotta re-watch and look for the research topic 😁 Really cool video!

[@shamrithponlingam1656]

PH intro

[@SimpleElectronics]

lol what a great project and I love the comedic aspects of your videos! Well done!

[@TheRealKuif]

Ha! The old doorbell makes the exact same sound as my doorbell. I would be lying if I didn't get confused for half a second as if there was somebody at my door xD... Nice project as always!

[@sharedinventions]

Use static IP address pre-configured in the microcontroller for faster WiFi connection!

[@ilducedimas]

You're a Renaissance man, thanks for your content and enthusiasm.

[@CTCTraining1]

Great project and extra credit for being able to hide the tech inside existing units rather than littering the house with extra odd boxes here and there which seems to be my problem (amongst many).

[@bitluni]

hmmm I like the borg cube flair 😂

[@connecticutaggie]

One idea to harvest a bit more power would be to delay the doorbell. Most people release the button when they here the bell so adding a delay would cause the to hold the button a little longer.

[@paulbehrens5842]

Love it! I think the layer of dust on my pi's and microcontrollers is a few more mm's deeper though.

[@steveraby6023]

I love the simplicity of the project. Great little device with not much effort or expense.

[@IntermitTech]

Nice, that's an excellent application for it, WLED is just so awesome! :D. I built my version a while back but my doorbell (Dahua VTO) speaks "native" MQTT, and also has a camera and app. I have some Automation in Home Assistant to automatically store states of lights and then can make the whole house blink like a 🕺Disco party🕺 when someone is at the door, very useful when you are somewhere you can't hear the doorbell! Your way saves a lot on the doorbell part though if you don't want a camera and app! 👍👍

[@markushahnenkamm]

I recommend using a fixed IP Adress for the esp module. So ist doesn't need to wait for the DHCP Server to assign an IP Adress first. This saves time and energy.

[@BaumInventions]

I can see that as a real Product. This is way simpler then anything i came up with to make a simple doorbell smart. Great.

[@sami3267]

Cool project! I just made my doorbell smart as well, placing a z-Wave door sensors‘ reed contact nearby the magnetic coil, sending messages through OpenHAB to my smartphone… The battery lasts very long but of course your capacitor solution is really smart while powering the D1 mini just momentarily! Good job!!!

[@BeniaminBia]

The voltage will exceed 12V. It is 12V rms, zero to peak will be sqrt(2)*12 which is 16.97. It depends on diodes, they might have as low as .3 v drop and you will still end up with 16.4 v. It will shorten the life of the capacitor

[@daoneTM]

You can try giving the ESP a static IP address. I heard it speeds up the wifi connection time. Never tested it myself tho.

[@nrdesign1991]

It does significantly. two to three seconds of saved time

[@larsthestorf5630]

You do not need an IP to send UDP Broadcasts

[@bitluni]

the dynamic ip is negotiated on connection with the dhcp. i totally need to try it... that might safe a capacitor

[@sandervanderhorst9851]

You can also shave off some time by connecting to a specific bssid & channel in the WiFi.begin call

[@kloppertje]

Aren't 16V capacitors for the energy storage rated too low in voltage? IIRC 12V AC RMS is ~12*sqrt(2) = 17V peak. The full bridge rectifier will take 1-2V so then you'll just be in spec, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with so little headroom. Unless I'm mistaken of course. Edit: from the charging time the RC time seems sth like 300 ms, so similar to the 6 Ohm resistor you proposed. If someone were to press the bell for longer than 5 RC time constants (1.5 s) angry people at your door could make capacitors explode :).

[@PIXELamPC]

turns out i am not the only one who does basement research... great project!

[@JanJanson84]

Cooles Projekt. Hatte mir sowas auch schon mal überlegt, aber hier ist zum Glück ein neueres Klingelsystem bei dem ständig Spannung anliegt.

[@Issa_eth]

i love the humor in the video, its like finding easter eggs :D

[@ArnaudMEURET]

Great job. NodeRed still has its uses but you should checkout ESP Home + Home Assistant which have really reached an awesome level lately.

[@dwietr]

Nice project. I've recently solved a similar issue, albeit with a more lazy solution. I've pointed a smart PIR sensor so only movement right in front of my door is detected, then Home Assistant uses this signal to blink a light at my desk. So when my partner is asleep after a night shift, I could disable the breaker of my doorbell and still get notified when a delivery guy is in front of my door.

[@christophertstone]

12v AC rectified will hit 12 * 1.414 maximum, that's almost 17v without collapse spikes... 16v is underrated.

[@laurynaslauris9677]

I was wondering if no one else noticed that.

[@KucharJosef]

Yeah, even if you account for the voltage drop of diodes it's still too close.... sqrt(2)*12 - 2*0,7 = 15,57V in best scenario. sqrt(2)*12 - 2*0,3 = 16,37V with shottky diodes. And that's for the nominal voltage, there could be slight overvoltage on the lines...

[@huho4962]

Totally, how does that slip through?

[@FelipeLenschow]

I think u would have 17V (12sqrt(2)) after de rectifier, because 12Vac its not peak voltage.

[@Leif_YT]

That's what i thought too. It could exceed the input voltage limit of the buck boost converter which is rated up to 15V.

[@carstengoellner8858]

You are right, I am confused that Bitluni didn't saw the higher DC voltage. But to be honest a lot of professional manufacturers dimension their capacities too low to limit product lifetime 😉

[@IainMace]

Great video. Going to try and modify this to create a "dinner" notification for all the kids... Save me yelling

[@ClassicGOD]

I did a similar project with one of those wireless doorbells with "kinetic" switch (it does need a battery). The indoor receiver part runs on about 4.5v (there are also 3xAAA powered versions of this design so I'm not surprised at the voltage) and that is well in range of D1 mini built in voltage regulator. So I just slapped one D1 mini on the inside, connected the receiver led that flashes when activated to one of the pins and "Bob's your uncle" . It's been working flawlessly for 2 years now. Total cost of parts including the doorbell was like 15euro.

[@pcruz9083]

That is a great solution. One option would be to define a preset in wled that would do the difference sequences like do the door bell ringing and the go back to the previous state one. That way would save the node red and the Pi running

[@zaragonrl]

Since you effectively can have power at both the doorbell push button and the bell you could permanently power an 8266 in the doorbell. If you simply tap across the doorbell push button you would need either a small battery or capacitors to maintain charge when the push button is pushed. This way the 8266 stays live and attached to WiFi and response times are drastically reduced. You can then also use an MQTT client in the 8266. Alternatively if you wire the push button to the 8266 instead then you have more control over your doorbell like turning it off overnight. Using a relay with the 8266 you can have it also monitor MQTT and ring the bell. An alternative to the relay is to use another 8266 in the bell box to trigger the sounder. Deriving power for this 8266 is a little harder and getting enough to trigger the solenoid is also more challenging but this lets you add say an infrared sensor outside so you can also activate the sounder if someone approaches the door and just knocks. It is potentially easier to replace the chime with a small mp3/ogg player, amp and speaker then you have a choice of chimes and its easier to power.

[@CraigEngbrecht]

Ok, I have ordered all the parts, (Atleast bulk parts that I can use when I figure it out, :P ) I am excited.

[@rallymax2]

Awesome job Luni. I love watching a bit of electronics hacking and seeing results.

[@Funibert-Fox]

Its funny and very intelligent way. I build a comparable solution last month. But i wanted more. With a simple voltage sensor module, a bridge rectifier and a relais, you can do a lot more - open the ,door, shut off the bell and have a second bell in the basement. But with the need of more power.

[@D3M0320]

I think this would be a very good Accessibility option for doorbells in general

[@lozzak998]

Another great idea and enjoyable video. Love the way it worked out - tidy.

[@tinkermind]

Danke für das Video. Ich finde es richtig gut, sowas kann mein Opa gebrauchen, der hört nämlich nicht mehr ganz so gut 👍

[@FrankGraffagnino]

very cool. you can Kevin Durrah with the trigboard should do a project together! He had done some similar things with powering his low-power trigboard just long enough to send out signals.

[@michaelpxd6325]

Ich liebe deine Videos. Fachlich und spaßig. Habe tatsächlich ein sehr ähnliches Problem (mit Kopfhörern hör ich die Klingel nicht) und wollte das ganz Old-School mit 2 Mikrocontrollern über Funkkommunikation lösen. Ein Sender mit Mikrofon direkt an der Klingel und ein Empfänger mit einer Leuchte eben.. aber das wäre echt sehr primitiv gelöst und natürlich geht das viel cooler ^^

[@piconano]

Now we know what your research is all about :)

[@bbjunkie]

Great project! I was getting ready to build the Doorbell_modernizr (github) but this is MUCH better, not requiring any external power for the ESP8266

[@lightdark00]

Wow, they are way more careful with packages there! Here, they try to kick a field goal from the street. When it bounces back, they kick it again, then kick it up to their hands to ring the doorbell. Some days they even stomp on the package. 😑

[@leifclaesson2470]

Nice one! Setting a static IP will help, but setting the BSSID and WiFi Channel Number for your access point will make an ever bigger difference and speed up connection even further, because then the ESP won't need to sit there and scan channels and wait for announcement frames! Channel and BSSID are parameters #3 and #4 on WiFi.begin().

[@haus_automation]

Nice solution :)

[@richdobbs6595]

Your video ringing the doorbell set off my cat. Almost as much as my multimeter. With doing continuity testing with the multimeter, the cat starts looking around and underneath things for that darn mouse. BTW, your door bell doesn't sound anything like mine, and my cat has never seen or heard a real mouse in her life!

[@NugTrace]

Good thing you hurried... Almost missed that FedEx delivery :-)

[@aldob5681]

The ben hack regretable acting moments have a successor

[@RPhulNewsTrue]

that password bro. It must be hobbies.😂

[@Schlumpfpirat]

Erinnert mich an das Haus meiner Großeltern

[@stoojinator]

Hahaha @3:25 ElectroBoom! That's hilarious :)

[@augurelite]

8:15 I love this guy hahah

[@evertjoris506]

With node red you could ping the microcontroller when it wakes up. This wil improve the detection speed by alot :)

[@23di]

so, to get your wifi handshake we just need a press of a button)

[@rklauco]

The ESP works reliably with ~2.2V, it also eats less current. Would you consider to also the option to go down on the DC2DC? Might increase the chance of the ESP to send the packet even with short press of doorbell...

[@mahdinazari3961]

I LOOOVEEE this channel

[@amritsharmapoudel959]

Icarus - Our *wings* stand for reliability. LOL Give this guy a Medal!

[@garagemonkeysan]

Whoa super clever. Amazed that it worked. Great video. Mahalo for sharing!🙂🐒

[@ligius3]

I like the project though I ended up using 433Mhz (ASK) or LoRa for most of the stuff. The advantage for 433 is that it's instant-on and the PSU could be much simpler, with just a Zener. The disadvantage is that it requires a gateway, but OpenMQTTGateway is great and easy to set up.

[@bitluni]

yeah that was also my conclusion when thinking about using rf. whatever works is fine with me

[@SoulOfNoob]

I will try this as well, i recently analyzed power draw of different rf methods on the esp32. WiFi takes up to 3s (and 858mWs) from wakeup to successful transmit, LoRa (868MHz) takes just 500ms (69mWs) and ESP-NOW is also a great way, it only takes 640ms (108,9mAs).

[@metallsimon]

My Esp8266 based plant sensor is running on a 400mah lifepo battery(Duracell - Solar Akku 14430) and it is up an running for 10 months now. It's sending the Waterlevel of the plant once a day via a telegram bot, but it has to wake up every 2 hours since the timer can't go longer. I think for a Doorbell you can get 2+ years with one battery charge, but i dont have the equipment to measure the deep sleep current.

[@lelandclayton5462]

I'm about to redo my who Doorbell setup. My home didn't come with a Doorbell so I had to retro one in. I used CAT6 cable so I have some extra pairs. Instead of running the cabling to a Transformer I had ran them into the Alarm Panel box so I could figure out a way to add some smarts to it. I was planning to use a 12 volt relay to trigger some GPIO pins on a ESP that is constantly on. This way with Home assistant I can make lamps flash in the Kids room and have Alexa notify me in the Garage. I also have a siren that can play sound effects so I can be funny and use the Barking Dogs sound effect.

[@ebisuhotel]

An alternative way would be to have the ESP32 broadcast a custom frame and have the AP/router listen for that frame, and relay it to nodered. This improves latency as it removes the lengthy wifi auths, and possibly the capacitor as well as everything can be done within milliseconds.

[@TheJay6621]

You MUST have tissues handy before starting your RESEARCH. bitluni teaches alot of things.

[@SolaLupus]

Nice one 👍 Could be interesting to see a version with LoRa. I know it has to have a gateway, but you could use it also for other home automation projects down the line

[@Coltography]

I love this idea and the video. I wish I knew half the things you knew about electronics! Did you have to configure anything extra in wled to get it to receive the udp packets? Or all you did was set the preset 5, and then sent that #5 via the receiving udp port within wleds settings?

[@ManfredGerhard]

It would ne great to know that.. been struggling on that too..

[@jensschroder8214]

Maybe switch to a bare ESP12 and solder out the LED. Or use a Witty and remove everything that is unnecessary, you can unplug the serial adapter. You only need the serial adapter for programming.

[@Car_Ram_Rod]

KEKLEO electro boom showing up!

[@scottwilliams895]

@Bitluni, I typically really like your interesting projects and videos, thank you! I've even watched a few with our 8 year old STEM-interested girl. @0:16 I was surprised and disappointed by your "basement research" joke. I guess this one won't be shared with her. I'll have to look for other content she and I can watch together.

[@rasyidridho7]

Why not use the 433mhz remote + rf bridge? I think that will remove the power issue and ~3s delay.

[@midnightgadget3459]

Awesome project, keep up the great work :P

[@Patchworkdaddy007]

Das wär auch ein sehr interessantes Projekt auf Deutsch!👍👍👍

[@MrBobWareham]

I would have used a 433Mhz transmitter as it will run on 12 volts DC then a 433Mhz receiver a bit like your old circuit for sockets you did anyway good video thanks

[@jenskaa4044]

What about putting a diode across the button, then you will have dc to your mcu and ac when pressing the button. A relay to controle the bell by the esp

[@vasiliyivanishvili9025]

perfect delivery!!! ;)))

[@robertschnobert9090]

Perfect! 🌈

[@ricurse]

3:11 Nice password 😂

[@KJW648]

What strange door bell, was it made from a Bally electro mechanical pinball 🤣 I know no-one with this type, other then old bell. Enjoyed the video 👍

[@DaveGriffithsUK]

How about using ESP-Now to reduce the startup and send delay?

[@ulwur]

I was thinking the same. And luni is quite good city the coding, and might get esp-now to run on the raspberry.

[@Atlantismonkey40]

Really good humor.

[@mrfrog8502]

12V AC will give you 17V DC so I'd use 25V cap but I suppose for such a short time it won't matter too much.

[@suncrafterspielt9479]

Isn’t 12Vac the effective value? So 16V caps are not sufficient for the 16.9V peaks?

[@gotj]

Qué bueno, mi timbre es idéntico!!

[@meistro32]

Next project a doorbell camera that streams video to the led pingpong wall 😂

[@mr.meticulous1241]

Would ESPNow theoretically work in a case like this?

[@user-yc9sj8xg7d]

Brilliant work!

[@PaulOvery001]

Only if your password was that! (but giving +1 for 'hold the door')

[@TheBitProgress]

You can use some radio 433Mhz rt that would be much faster and simpler.

[@wualex846]

How about connect the door bell wire to a zigbee end device(e.g. remote button), use the 2A as a trigger signal to control the WLED(Zigbee2MQTT), The delay will be much less.

[@CoolDude-vc2fl]

Its like you have made a program to calculate 2+2.

[@SidneyCritic]

A projector wall!, things just got crazy - lol -.

[@martingerken7094]

Strangely it reads "Netzgleichrichter" = mains voltage rectifier, but gives AC not DC

[@ncot_tech]

Works quicker than my Ring doorbell.

[@Arthur-rh9tf]

Good work man 👌

[@Davedarko]

WHAT A TEASE AT THE END!!! Are you building a holodeck?

[@algre977]

Which one is faster for wake up -> connect -> send short message -> switch back off : MQTT or UDP ?

[@oliverer3]

Ahahaha love the intro!

[@FixerFax]

how did you create the old state buffer? i have been messing around adding it in node-red with the API of wled. but i cant seem to get the part working where it restores the prevoius state

[@sydcarter3]

Save yourself some capacitors by connecting the unused white wire to the broken power leg, supplying constant 12v

[@Davedarko]

seems like the current, working solution is using much less power though.

[@sydcarter3]

@@Davedarko true.. tradeoff with reliability.