Alright, found some weekend time and finished a big chunk of this project albeit ugly.
Found a way to open door without ringing my house from outside. There are three steps:
- Pick up phone (activate circuit)
- Press Monitor button (activates phone with outside system including audio and video in)
- press open door button. (Opens the door after step 1 and 2)
So since i had trouble finding zwave telays where i live i bought a three dry contact relays that use RF (i used broadlink rmpro to control them with Hubitat). Thr three dry contact relays successfully simulated the above steps through rule machine and a virtual switch.
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Thats the progress so far with some soldering and cleaning up. Next steps and issues:
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Replace RF wireless relays with zwave dry contact switch/relay because current ones do not have a status to HE which risks the fact that a button may be pressed and not unpressed with the relays i have.
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Still cannot detect if someone is calling me from building door or if security guard calls me (different tone audio and voltage on control line). For this I plan to use a potentiometer on thr control line to hook it up to an arduino or raspberry pi to detect the change in voltage and detect if someone or security guard desk is ringing the house. Not sure if thats the best idea but if anybody knows some good sketch for arduino or some python in rasoberry pi that can help me a bunch.
Update on #2. I may go the Voltage divider to Arduino with a cheap part like the below link. I should be able to tell the drop from 12V to 9V (if security) and to 6V (someone ringing outside) with this piece:
1Pce Voltage Detection Module Voltage Divider For Arduino With Data Line-in Integrated Circuits from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
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Last is most difficult I think. I was hoping to use an old android phone to hook up to the intercom handset and use the android phone as a speakerphone when activated (simulated pick up handset). However finding cables or a device that can do that seems difficult. Most devices on the market are for connecting to your landline (not to the handset RF9 cable.). Also difficult to use headset jack on the android phone at the same time as using the speaker and microphone of the android phone. Hoping someone has a better idea for that part.
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Tapping into the coaxial video input to snap a shot when someone rings and send to my phone. No clue what to use yet.
Excuse the noobness on hacking an old device but it is a learning experience.
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Sounds like you have committed yourself to living there for a while. Thanks for the updates.
Lol, trying to keep it removable. If they like it they can use it. Otherwise easy to snip snip and back to original
Uh, yeah. You need to make damn sure the landlord/owner/manager doesn't find out about this. I was a landlord once. Never again. The amount of crap people did to MY property with their DIY projects and caused damage was insane. Replacing expensive Kohler faucets with cheap crap, painting 90 year old beautiful quarter sawn woodwork with cheap Behr paint, painting kitchen cabinets, etc. Frankly, if I was wearing my landlord hat, I'd evict a renter for doing what you're doing. Also, if they know what you did, and this system dies for any reason, they are going to place all the blame on you and I can pretty much guarantee that any judge is going to side with the landlord on this one.
But, I'm not wearing my landlord hat, I'm wearing my automation hat, and this project is pretty neat. 
Just make sure they do not find out you messed with it.
@signal15, yea, every story has a background. I completely understand your fear with the landlord hat on of the renter doing changes/damage and I'm definitely not trying to encourage renters to risk anything permanent like that without landlord knowledge.
In my case, at the beginning, i did notify landlord a lot about change requests such as new cable routing for higher speed internet rather than the ADSL ancient lines that existed and he was good with that. Then after some years I changed his ancient light switches to zwave switches and on renewal time he came and I showed he got excited and wants to keep them if I leave.
Since then, we have a good relationship and he trusts my judgement on house improvements. Really depends on your relationship with the landlord over time.
That said, everything I do I make it reversable and don't throw away anything. I also never drill any holes in walls or put up something that could cause damage. If I do find myself at fault for breaking an existing device, I have no issue to replace it on my dime but that covers more than smarthome things. I also keep in mind if there are any antiques or valuables and avoid those but in my case, theres nothing like that here.
As an illustration of the light switches change, he had very old common switches οΌfor Twn) that you can buy in any local shop for a buck or two:
And I ran new neutral wires to each switch (they didnt have) and switched to zwave coolcam switches. He was in love.
All good and same with this project. I'm only tapping into the telecom and doing my due diligence to avoid any damage or altercations to the existing unit function. If anything goes wrong, solar flare hits me while working on it or something, im ok to pay for it as its pretty cheap as well (due diligence and research first).
Glad you like the project :). Hope to complete when more time rolls around.
