A Customized Zigbee Doorbell · SteveStreeting.com
Only a fast publish in the present day about how I changed our doorbell with a customized Zigbee button
and Dwelling Assistant, operating on an previous Raspberry Pi 2 I had sitting in a drawer,
which pings our telephones when somebody presses the button, as a substitute of ringing an everyday
chime. If this pursuits you, learn on!
Whyyy?
Good query!
Our cat Harry, who we adopted from the shelter a few years in the past, is petrified of all people
besides us. We don’t know why, he was 10 once we acquired him, and during the last 2
years we’ve tried to acclimatise him to guests, however he’s completely not having it.
He’s tremendous pleasant when you’re on “the record”, however getting on “the record” means
being one of many those that feeds him for a month or so. Realistically, no-one
however us is ever making the record.
He is aware of that the doorbell usually means guests, so when it goes off, he freaks out
and runs to one in all his hiding spots, akin to underneath the mattress, and received’t go away till
he’s positive everybody else has gone. The issue is individuals ringing the bell for
the rest, akin to deliveries, set him off as properly. These are extra
frequent than precise guests, so he’s freaking himself out unnecessarily more often than not.
So I needed to strive changing the doorbell with notifications that pinged us on
our telephones, somewhat than a (essentially) loud house-wide bell. Clearly you should purchase
merchandise that do that, however just about all of them are linked to a door digital camera and
a web based service, and I need neither of these issues. I simply need a button that
pings a notification to our telephones regionally once we’re house, the top.
I don’t actually “do” sensible house stuff. I don’t need my house to be dependent
on the cloud for important issues. I don’t need to bug my own residence with microphones.
I don’t need to contribute to the 24/7 surveillance society if I don’t need to.
However, I’m beginning to make exceptions for issues which might be non-critical, nonetheless
bodily, don’t invade individuals’s privateness and are fully purposeful inside my very own community.
Enter Dwelling Assistant
Home Assistant is a locally-hosted sensible house
answer that permits you to do an unlimited quantity of house automation stuff.
I solely wanted the power to ping a few telephones in response to a button
occasion; it’s overkill however appears to be the best choice.
It additionally runs on extraordinarily modest {hardware} – I put in it on a Raspberry Pi 2B
which I already had sitting round. Their install documentation says to make use of a Pi 3 or 4,
however for my utilization the 2B was completely positive – you simply have to take a look at the
full release list
and search for the “rpi2” picture – they’re nonetheless producing them for the most recent releases
(v9 at time of writing, and v10 beta has rpi2 pictures too).
You may observe the Dwelling Assistant set up precisely because the docs say (barring downloading
the appropriate picture). All I’d advise is that after beginning it up, go away it a great
half-hour not less than, linked to the Web. Plainly HA downloads extra
information on first startup and the system received’t be out there for some time; initially it’ll
simply reply to pings and nothing else, after which later you’ll get a “please wait”
display screen. Simply give it some time.
Optionally, after set up you would possibly need to reserve an IP deal with for the
Dwelling Assistant system. It responds on homeassistant.native, but it surely’s good to know
the IP received’t transfer about in any respect, IMO.
Zigbee
Zigbee is nice little community protocol that’s native and low energy,
relaying mesh-network model through different units if wanted to attain the vary. For a button that’s
going to be idle more often than not, it’s good – a full WiFi connection would
each improve the price of the system, and its energy draw, wheras Zigbee buttons
are low cost and final for ages on a coin battery.
Zigbee might be going to get replaced by Matter
ultimately, but it surely works proper and is properly understood so it’s the best way I went.
Including Zigbee to Dwelling Assistant
In an effort to use zigbee units, we want a coordinator, or hub. Dwelling Assistant
can do that, however we want a Zigbee interface – based mostly on what I learn on-line,
I went for the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus.
I plugged this into one of many Raspberry Pi USB sockets and Dwelling Assistant picked
it up instantly. Good!
Including a button
Apparently IKEA do good cheap Zigbee buttons,
however I don’t have quick access to a type of so I purchased one other button I’d seen
really useful: the Aqara Mini Switch.
These buttons inform you that it is advisable purchase an Aqara Hub, however we’re utilizing our
personal hub so it’s positive. We simply have to pair the button. Sadly, this will
be a bit of error-prone as a course of.
- In Dwelling Assistant, go to Settings > Gadgets
- On the Sonoff system, click on “Configure”, then “Add Gadget”
- Maintain down the pairing button on the Aqara button for a number of seconds till the blue mild begins flashing, then launch it
- Each 2-3 seconds, briefly press the pairing button once more
- Hopefully you’ll get a “Gadget Discovered”, “Beginning Interview” field arising
- Preserve short-pressing the pairing button each 2-3 seconds
- Ultimately a inexperienced profitable pairing field ought to come up, and you’ll title the button
It took me a number of makes an attempt to get this to work. It looks like the Aqara change
doesn’t keep “awake” lengthy sufficient after the preliminary connection to be correctly
“interviewed” except you retain short-pressing the pairing button each few seconds.
Failing to do that may end up in the button being paired however not triggering occasions,
or getting caught within the “Beginning Interview” state without end.
If it doesn’t work, simply hold attempting. Should you get into the state I did when it
was paired, however occasions weren’t being triggered, it appeared to assist to take away the
system, take away the battery from the button for some time, then repeat the repairing.
As soon as it’s paired it appears positive (to this point). To see it, go to Settings, Gadgets, and
within the “Sonoff” badge space, click on the “2 units” hyperlink (or extra when you’ve got extra buttons).
The battery standing could say “Unknown” for fairly some time, simply give it an hour or two.
Should you click on on the button system, you will get extra data about it, and likewise on
the appropriate hand aspect you may see when it was final pressed. Press it now to check
that it’s working!
These buttons are technically not waterproof, and listed “for indoor use”,
however individuals have reported them to be positive as doorbell buttons as long as
they’re in a sheltered spot, akin to in a porch. I determine they’re low cost sufficient
that it’s positive to take the chance.
The Cellphone App
We’ll want one thing on our telephones to obtain the notifications,
so now we obtain the Home Assistant app.
It is advisable to create person accounts for each person, and get everybody to
set it up not less than as soon as. It ought to discover the Dwelling Assistant occasion on the community
routinely.
Personally I opted out of well being and placement information assortment
throughout this setup as a result of well being is simply bizarre, and residential assistant isn’t seen outdoors my community anyway
so location is pointless. However you will need to permit Crucial Notifications.
We’ll use these to ensure the doorbell goes even when the telephone is on silent
(chances are you’ll desire to not permit this).
Configuring the automation
Subsequent we need to create an automation connecting the button to sending telephone notifications.
In Dwelling Assistant we go to Settings > Automation, and create a brand new one.
Triggers
Triggers are issues that begin the automated course of, so on this case we would like the
button press. Nevertheless, this button can ship a number of occasions relying on whether or not
it’s a brief/lengthy press, or double-click. I simply made all of them set off the identical
factor, however if you happen to needed you might let choose associates know to double-press or
long-press the button to provide the “secret sign” 😅
Circumstances
You may add circumstances to the button press, however I didn’t try this. I think about
some individuals would possibly need to add quiet instances or different constraints.
Actions
Lastly, you want a number of actions, which in my case is sending a telephone
notification. To do that we
- Click on Add Motion
- Decide “Name Service”
- Because the service, seek for “mobile_app” and decide the telephone you need to ping
- In “Message”, set “Doorbell” or comparable
It will increase a default notification on the telephone in query (you may add one per telephone,
or begin getting extra intelligent with teams and different issues). Nevertheless, in case your
telephone has its quantity turned down, or you may have numerous different notification, you
won’t discover it. So let’s repair that.
Crucial Notifications, Quantity, Sounds
When establishing the telephone apps, we allowed Crucial Notifications for a motive.
These notifications are all the time on high, and you’ll override the telephone quantity
settings to ensure the sound is heard. We in all probability additionally need to use a non-default
sound to distinguish the doorbell from different notifications.
Within the motion settings, we will add additional information to do that. On the backside of the motion
settings, examine the “Information” field and enter one thing like:
push:
sound:
title: News_Flash.caf
important: 1
quantity: 0.9
It seems to be like this:
The title: area refers on this case to an iOS system sound, which must
be imported within the Dwelling Assistant telephone app, see the
notification sounds
part of the docs.
important: 1 makes this a important notification, which pushes it on high of
all the pieces else in your telephone.
quantity: 0.9 units the quantity of this notification to 90% whatever the telephone
settings. I do that in case our telephone volumes are low and also you in any other case won’t
hear the doorbell sound.
Conclusion
Other than a little bit of trouble with pairing the Aqara button, the entire course of was
not too unhealthy! I imagined after I envisaged this undertaking that I’d have to get
a soldering iron out and do one thing far more drastic, however this entire factor
solely price me simply over £30 (plus the Raspberry Pi I already had) and some hours on
a Sunday afternoon.
Fingers crossed it retains working, and that Harry doesn’t start to assume
that the telephone notifications are one thing to set off his nervousness 😿. No less than it’s a lot
extra localised so he’s much less more likely to hear it.