Make a dumb wired doorbell smart for less than $6

[@dancoulson6579]

I never really appreciated how great wired doorbells are actually. No batteries to replace, no dead spots for signal, no interference. Plus the push-button illuminated with an incandescent lamp is a nice retro touch. No LED tatty crap there.

[@AnotherMaker]

Yep. It's hard to justify swapping mine out because it works so well.

[@cattivellio]

Hey why didn't you do a part 2? It's an exiting project for beginners as us. Either way, good video, new sub 👍

[@AnotherMaker]

It's funny because I'm actually working on part two right now. I'm not attaching it to the doorbell but the logic will be the same. It's going to be a video about a button you should not push. If not my next video, the one after that

[@isoguy.]

Another awesome project. Just ordered an esp and detector loop; can hardly wait to see the next vid. My grandparents are hard of hearing so a big red 10mm flashing led will flash in each room to let them know someone is at the door, similarly an orange led when post arrives in the letter box and a green one for when the phone rings. Now thinking of adding a microphone and speech button to the wireless led indicator box in each room to let them tell the person at the door that they are on their way. Also want to add an indoor speaker of a ferocious dog braking after the door bell chimes to ward off any undesirables. Wow, what about an IR laser across the driveway (blue led) to let my grandparents know when someone enters the yard (after dark it could put on the security light too) and another lazer at the bottom of the stairs to remind them to put the trash out on Wednesday? The sky really is the limit with this little gem idea of yours. Thanks for sharing.

[@AnotherMaker]

Thank you! A few of those things are on my list. I definitely want the notification light. My plan is to use sounds in my office normally and lights when I'm in "studio mode" in my office. Plus I may have a few deterrents planned for the front door. I do have this for shooting IR long distances. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3y4d5Kwp82ph8k Hope that helps. If you're in the US, I'd be happy to send you one of those lenses.

[@n1kkri]

Did you get this to work? I just ordered the board and current sensor. I am newer than a newbie. If your available I could use a hand with this project. Thanks

[@UReasonIt]

Nice! A great project. I was actually thinking a few weeks ago about having a remote buzzer for upstairs when the DB rings. Now I did implement a ESP controlled buzzer to get my teenager's attention when being called. I never placed it in his room though, due to looks I received.

[@AnotherMaker]

Anyone who looks at you funny....just let them know that it's only a prototype until the shock feature is ready.

[@n1kkri]

Scott, did you ever complete the project?

[@n1kkri]

Scott, I would like to make this. I just ordered the board and sensor and should have them in a couple days. Would you be available to help me setup the program and program it into the board? I think once I do a few of these I will be OK but I find it impossible so far to find a project that brings you from the beginning to end complete ending up with a working project. Thanks

[@onecircuit-as]

Great project! Thank you for the AliExpress links and code. 👍

[@BlueSky-cy5nw]

Wow you made it look really simple. Thanks

[@mrnix1001]

Thank you for freaking my dog out @ 5:00ish :)

[@AnotherMaker]

You are very welcome. Stay tuned for my next video, "Do dog whistles really work?" Followed by "Me listing my favorite Alexa commands."

[@GnuReligion]

20V and 0.6A is 12W. That might produce a lot of heat in the solenoid coil, if the doorbell is left pushed-in. Possible to create smoke and fire? Just where my mind goes. A secret tap code that unlocks the door might be useful. Strange that new houses are still built with these telegraph-era doorbells. Seems like a much better idea to just close a small signal circuit.

[@AnotherMaker]

I LOVE the secret code idea. Even if it's just for an easter egg on the front porch. Or maybe that auto engages my squirter!!! I think the idea is that the wiring just "works" and has survived a lot of tech changes over the years. Idk what the limits are. Someone later reminded me that I need to double check how much current the current sensor is putting out. This project was originally on an arduino, but on an ESP32, I may need to be a little careful.

[@GnuReligion]

@@AnotherMaker My dream is to make a doorbell that triggers the sounds of vicious dogs barking, and moving all over the house. Not a recording, you know, but something that deep fakes and angry pack, different every time.

[@AnotherMaker]

I love that!

[@user-hg4hz9kb4c]

I had the exact same idea yesterday, cool project👍🏻

[@AnotherMaker]

Very cool! It's worked really well. I have a ring now but I did make a followup video of how to make a water squirter to squirt people at your front door. It's in the queue. Will come out some Friday :)

[@user-hg4hz9kb4c]

@@AnotherMaker Haha nice, i will definitely check that one out.

[@mr.bianchirider8126]

Great project. I’m thinking of modifying it to detect when my water pump is running while out of town (a poor man’s frozen pipe detector). I would assume it would be safe to use the bigger brother of the current detector (the one that splits to allow the hot wire through) on an ESP8266/32.

[@AnotherMaker]

Yeah absolutely. That's a perfect use

[@TheKennyCollins]

I've ordered the sensor, I'm going to try to adapt this for Smartthings integration. Thanks for your video and code.

[@AnotherMaker]

That seems fun! Hope it helps!

[@jeoffer]

Hi, I arrived courtesy of fellow KZbinr Simple Electronics and I have subscribed.

[@AnotherMaker]

Welcome and thank you. That guy is so nice!

[@Cheekitty77]

I live in an old Victorian and have three doors that get visitors. Rather than doing a regular doorbell I thought it would be fun to hack the system to turn on old radios or vintage phones when someone rings a bell. Can that be done with this setup?

[@AnotherMaker]

Absolutely. The point is that you're sensing the current of someone trying to ring the bell. Once you do that, you can pretty much do anything with that information.

[@n1kkri]

I have this water detector with WiFi. I was wondering if I could mod it to work with my doorbell. If I short the contacts that sense water but with a wire jumper nothing happens but if I do it a second time it successfully sends me the text message. This unit was only $15 on amazon. I built a A.C. to D.C. rectifier with a 12 volt regulator connected to a 12v relay. The A.C. side connects to the 2 transformer wires at the doorbell chime. Push the Doorbell button and the relay closes. The closed contacts go across the 2 post of the water detector. Not until I get a second push of the doorbell button does it trigger the water detector. If I leave the contact closed for a few seconds it triggers and I get an alert message the first time. I was thinking if I add a capacitor across the coil of the relay it might hold the relay closed long enough to not need the second push of the doorbell. Any thoughts of modding a water detector for a doorbell alert message The best part of the project is its only $15 on amazon and holds 2 AAA batteries. The other thing I was wondering about is, I am assuming this is using a small micro computer like in the video. Could it be re-program to work like in the video?

[@n1kkri]

are there any good websites that hack things like Smart wifi water detectors to make them do something different?

[@n1kkri]

when using the current sensor program does the box pop open automatically when pressing the doorbell? I am trying this program with pin 34 and Gnd of my ESPs board and no luck. Nothing. When I flash the board it gives me a successful response. I would like to confirm something is working with this project

[@tomlynn1000]

The current sensor appears to be so much better than a reed switch next to the chime that I've seen in other projects. There are no moving parts and a lot of the reed switches suffer failure after lots of cycles. How would you power it? I found a prewired stepdown module that converts 12-24V down to 5V to use the doorbell transformer.

[@AnotherMaker]

I had power in the area so I just used a usb charger.

[@paulm3063]

Thanks for the video and instructions. I have a 2 chime, 2 push button setup at my home; would this work in that scenario? Also, is it possible to mute the chime in your code?

[@AnotherMaker]

It should be possible as each button goes to a different part of the transformer. I'm thinking you could figure out what kind of current the chime draws and put some other form of resistive load in its place. A light might be an interesting idea.

[@n1kkri]

I am using the board in the link you offered but I don't know what board in the Arduino to select. Can you tell me what I am looking for. Thank you

[@n1kkri]

Node32s seem seems to work. More important you have to press the BOOT button prior to UPLOAD

[@SimpleElectronics]

Sweet! Looks like your channel is big enough to attract bots!

[@AnotherMaker]

I'm in my office alone all day so it's kind of nice to have someone to talk to.

[@n1kkri]

was this project ever completed. I am a newbie. I am still trying to figure out how I install the program to load in someones program and learn how to edit things like my home router user name and password and how for free I can then have it send me the text message. This project is exactly what I wanted because I wanted to install it at my doorbell transformer location which is close to my Router. I certainly would appreciate a little guidence (assume I know nothing about Arduino) but has no problem wiring up the hardware with a diagram. My goal right now is not to learn programing but to get a project working and then look at how it was written later. Thanks,

[@n1kkri]

If my doorbell does not use any current until the doorbell button is pressed does the program have to be changed? In your example you mention you have current flow all the time. I am assuming you have a doorbell button with a light built in?

[@AnotherMaker]

The variations are enough that it shouldn't be a problem. You may have to tweak it but basically you can install the program as is and see if it is firing off when a doorbell is pressed

[@n1kkri]

@@AnotherMaker Could you also explain where in the program, if I have to do anything to make it work for push messages besides install the app on my cell phone and sign up. I was told another push server called Pushsafer is free. That would be a nice alternative then a pay for app. Knowing how to change the program for different push services would be really handy.

[@AnotherMaker]

I'm not really sure what you would need to change because every API service like that is so different

[@n1kkri]

I tried your basic current sensor program but no luck connecting to the board. When I connect the board to the laptop I get the usual bong sound. I click UPLOAD and its starts but it never connects finally giving me an error. Any hints what I could be doing wrong? I am using the board you put in the amazon link and a known good USB cable to my laptop that I have used to communicate with other devices. Looking in the Device manager it shows as CP210x USB to UART Bridge Com 3

[@n1kkri]

@@AnotherMaker I have the basic current sensor program working. I had to remove the 80 ohm resostor across the sensor. No luck with the completed program. I keep getting failed to connect to MQTT. I installed pushover 7 day trial which will be ending soon. Serial Montor is telling me I an connected to my router. You said the program was completed. Any idea why I keep getting the MQTT connection fail message over and over? How does he program know to connect to my cell phone for the alert message? I know I am a newbie but I would think something in the program has to know how to link to my cell phone??

[@n1kkri]

I was told PushOver is a pay for subscription for text messages. If this is true does your program support any free services? I will look at the other video. This is exactly what I want to do. I have a USB to TTL adapter that I have used for other projects. I just need to learn how do I put the program on my computer, what do I use for this and how to I load it into the ESP32xx board. I have been wanting to get into this but never had the right how to for a newbie. Thanks, Ken

[@AnotherMaker]

Pushover notifications are free. You may have to pay for SMS or pay for the app one time. ESP32 boards are super easy to flash on the Arduino ide. This guy is the best with this stuff randomnerdtutorials.com/getting-started-with-esp32/

[@GreenOnionBrother]

My main issue that is that I have random spikes every now and then, any way I can fix that?

[@AnotherMaker]

Are you saying your transformer has spikes that are triggering false rings?

[@GreenOnionBrother]

@@AnotherMaker correct, I managed to minimize the issue, though. I set a pretty narrow range because the spikes are usually greater than a real signal and I also used the median function with a window of 3, since spikes are...well, spikes. I still got some false positives because sometimes the pin doesn't go back to base value immediately after a real signal, so I set a condition that the median has to first have reached base value before a new notification can be sent again. This can cause a delay from 300 ms to potentially several minutes, but I don't really need to know if someone rang twice. Since the chime is electric (rather than a mechanical bell), though, I might try measuring that circuit instead. Maybe that's more reliable as it is internal within the speaker itself. EDIT: Ok, tried the latter, gives me the same inconsistency. I do still get false positives, so I might have to adjust even further. But sometimes one spike just happens to be exactly in range. I wonder what causes those spikes.

[@GreenOnionBrother]

@@AnotherMaker Maybe a binary sensor would be a better way to go. Any idea how I could do that? Thanks in advance for your help.^^

[@GreenOnionBrother]

I'm using ESPHome btw. But I can't seem to figure out how to not get false positives. I live in an apartment building and somehow there quite often seem to be random spikes and I haven't found a way to filter all of these out reliably without getting false negatives.

[@UhloMuhlo]

Here is the time code for when he finally presses the button 2:58

[@UhloMuhlo]

DING DONG

[@UhloMuhlo]

Nice video

[@AnotherMaker]

Thanks for the link ;)

[@DrexProjects]

So Node-Red is a program that writes code? Why have I been doing it the hard way?

[@AnotherMaker]

I'd say node-red simplifies connecting things together. I use it for quick integrations and when I want to leverage the horsepower of a "real" pc/pi over say an arduino. I also like it because I can program the arduino once and then change logic on the node-red side without necessarily having to reprogram the arduino. I have a 2 part video showing it off. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJCXlamZodh3iNE

[@DrexProjects]

@@AnotherMaker Nice. Thanks.

[@domingoscastelhano1702]

Hi There,Thanks for this great video .I'm trying to replicate the project but I'm stuck with the connection to my broker .Maybe is the fact that I have a user and password set-up ,and I don't see it on your code .Any idea about what can be blocking ?Regards

[@AnotherMaker]

The client.connect line gets a few other parameters... client.connect("arduinoClient", "testuser", "testpass")

[@domingoscastelhano1702]

@@AnotherMaker Thank you .I'll check

[@n1kkri]

const int doorbell = 34; //current sensor connected to analog15 and ground this is the completed file. Could you clear up the pin for the sensor. Your sensor only test states to use pin 34 following a comment to use pin 34, However the completed program uses the statement above with 34 and comment analog15 which is not pin 34 on the board in your parts list for Amazon, ESP32s, the ADC15 is GPIO12 pin 4. what should it be and feel free to talk low level. I really would like to try something to get my feet wet. Thanks

[@KevinLaFollette]

I just built this with ESP32 off of Amazon. Left the code with "const int doorbell = 34". Wired the current sensor to GND and pin #10, marked "D34" on the ESP32, and from pinout diagrams is described as "ADC1_6, GPIO34....and it works! At first I just ran the doorbell transformer wire straight through the current sensor, but that didn't work. Instead of modifying code to see actual values in real-time to see where it was sitting when rung and playing with the threshold, I just looped the doorbell wire through the current sensor once, to double the output, and that worked to trigger the "DingDong" MQTT message. Am going to play with code a bit to get DHCP IP address set and regular MQTT health/status messages sent.

[@n1kkri]

@@KevinLaFollette My only luck with this has been using just the current sensor only program. Never had any luck with actually alert messages. I did have some help with someone who help me get the project to work with BLYNK. I am at the point now where I get alert messages sent to my BLYNK setup. I get occasional false alerts and have been experimenting with different levels for the sensor. For example at the "50" level I was getting false alert messages about every 5 or 6 minutes. This could be due to a noisy line. My last test was with a level of 1200 and I got 1 false alert over a 24 hour period. I will increase the level a little more. I will be interested how you make out getting actual alerts sent to your phone. My trial using the notification service mentioned has expired and I won't be using that.

[@KevinLaFollette]

@@n1kkri I have the Mosquitto MQTT broker for handling MQTT messages and HomeSeer home automation system listening to MQTT, that I use to trigger event actions. Based on the MQTT message coming into HomeSeer, I turn on lights, make announcement over Alexa Echos, display front door security camera on TVs and send text message to phone that doorbell has been rung.

[@n1kkri]

@@KevinLaFollette I am not familiar how to setup MQTT. I was asuming the completed program was all configured and all I need to do was enter my ssid, password and sign up for the app. Obviously there was more to it then that. I started looking at BLYNK and had someone remove all the MQTT stuff and anything else that would not be needed for BLYNK. I have it working at about a 99% level. I have been adjusting the sensor level and noting if I continue to get fake alert messages. at 1200 I received only 1 fake alert. This is really good. Next step will try it at 1300.

[@n1kkri]

@@KevinLaFollette I am using the sensor from Amazon indicated by the link. It comes with a 80 ohm resistor to be wired onto the board with the sensor and connection posts. Assuming this resistor was to be used since it was the sensor in the link for parts, I did solder it to the board. I found the sensor only program did not work. I removed the resistor and the sensor only program did work however in my case I received in addition to legit alert messages when using the serial monitor in the Ardrunio IDE program, I also received several fake alerts until I changed the default sensor setting of "50" to a much higher level. If you used the sensor from Amazon did you also have to remove the resistor?

[@felixokeefe]

There is no way in hell that tiny transformer can put out much more than 1 amp (continuous) Furthermore it puts out AC yes but not mains voltage. It's more like 8 volts AC. Fully isolated and perfectly safe to touch. Just put the wires on your tongue.

[@AnotherMaker]

The other side of the transformer had 110v... That's what I was warning people about. The other side is 16v-18vac

[@felixokeefe]

@@AnotherMaker oh sorry. Totally right you don't want to go messing with 110 or 220 vac for that matter

[@n1kkri]

Has anyone here actually done this project.?

[@n1kkri]

This is what I am looking for but unfortunately I am a newbie with programming and I need a more step by step detail how to make my door bell send me a text or email message

[@AnotherMaker]

Hi Ken, this video is a little old but it would walk you through the email part. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6iWoH54pZmlqLM

[@n1kkri]

@@AnotherMaker I took a look at the other video and that is way beyond my know how at this point. I was really excited about this project. I was hoping the program was already written and all I had to do is edit (when I learn how) to enter my user name and password of my router and load it into the ESP32 (when I learn how) The other thing I want to make sure what ever I install on my cell phone is not a subscription service but free.