How Can I Add A Wireless Doorbell Button To A Wired Sytstem?

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#1

I want to add a simple doorbell button at my garage.

I can't even get to a door of the house because I'm too lazy to shovel yesterday's 28" of snow, so I figure, a button at the garage door would be a good idea, since that area always gets cleared. We have virtually no visitors, but tomorrow a rare package with signature required is to be delivered.

The current system is wired for 2 doors; each with a different tone on a striker type of chime. Nothing fancy, but has a nice tone.

Fishing a wire would be very tedious. Even though the garage is attached, an enclosed breezeway is involved.

I guess I could buy a conventional dumb doorbell switch, route some wires through the wall, and use the ever popular Ecolink contact sensor to activate something like a Zooz ZEN17 hot wired into/at the door bell chime. Even if it would work, it would be clunky looking. Perhaps there's something smaller that would work with 24vac.

I guess I could just make it do Pushover or SendMail notifications, but that's not ideal either. An ordinary dumb doorbell is what I'd like.

I've seen wireless doorbell setups at Home Depot in the past, but I wasn't really looking for anything at the time.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

#2

Do you have a Lutron hub? Remember seeing this a while ago:

#3

or just add this cheaper and easier.. no batteries to worry about..

#4

No, I don't

#5

Isn't that thing's purpose to add smarts to a dumb system? I'd actually be happy if I could just add a new button and make the existing chime go 'ding'. I really don't need to be notified via the hub, just the sweet sound emanating from a vintage doorbell chime. :slight_smile:

#6

The Zooz ZEN53 and Fibaro smart implant are both capable of being powered by 24V DC. Otherwise the MHCOZY zigbee relay could work, but some folks have had issues with long term reliability...

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#7

Update: if those DC-powered options seem worth it, it looks like you could get an AC-DC rectifier for a reasonable cost...

#8

I used the Sage doorbell sensor for a while but it seemed unreliable. It doesn't report battery so it can go dead without any warning. It was worth a try as it was only $4.99 shipped when I bought it.

Eventually I tried a couple different video doorbells that can be integrated (via cloud/Alexa) to Hubitat. Ended up with the Blink as I'm heavy into that ecosystem. Works fine. Given that my doorbell rings about once every six months, I don't mind the cloud dependency.

#9

What kind of crazy talk is this? :slight_smile:

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#10

For today's delivery I came up with the brilliant idea, ha, of the driveway motion detector, which usually only turns on lights at night, turn on a bunch of lights inside the house as well as send a text notification. Hopefully, it'll get my wife's attention. :slight_smile:

I think a ZEN17 would fit the bill. It wouldn't fit inside the chime housing though. Why did they make them grey?

The ZEN17 has two relays that can be contact activated by 12-24 V AC or DC, and can be powered by 12-24 V AC or DC. Activation by a powered wire is attractive because it would allow me to keep the existing buttons lit up. Plus, notice will be given to Hubitat. :slight_smile:

There is indeed 18VAC power at the chime.

So, I'll disconnect the wires from the two terminals on the chime, and connect them to the inputs mentioned above. Then each of the two relays will be connected to the two terminals. On relay would do one type of chime (front door) and the other would do the back door.

Some kind of weather resistant z-wave or zigbee button would power one, or both of the relays. Maybe in some pattern to differentiate it from the other two doors?

I have to come up with the weather proof button though. I have a spare ZEN34 that I could put in a plastic bag, but that wouldn't look too good. And ideas here?

I don't know if I'll get over having the ZEN17, which I'd have to buy, perched on top of the chime.

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#11

ya the one is specified will do the same think for less than 10 bucks.. much cheaper than the zen.. depening on use my battery has lasted for 2 yrs.

#12

You're talking about the Sage, right?
I thought that was just for giving notification to the hub that a doorbell button had been pushed, or am I wrong?
I have to have a way to ring the chime with a new wireless door bell button.

#13

ya thats the same as the zen.. you hook it up to the 24 v on your existing door bell and you can still disconnect the chime and use something like a aeon siren to do the chim from hubitat or anyh sound device you want..

basically its a realy that hooks up to your existing 24v system.. zigbee.

#14

I'd prefer to keep the old style chime. Even though it's not high end, it still has a nice tone.

#15

well if you dont unplug the chime this will work too.. i just dont see how what you are tryingt o do with a zen is any different than the sage? as they are both just relays

#16

Maybe I'm under a misconception on the Sage's capabilities.
I didn't think it had relays that could activate the chimes hammer actuators.
I'll have to read up.

#17

That's my experience as well. Even with a fresh battery, the Sage sensor alerts about 33% of the time, or less, while the wired chime continues to ding nicely. The problem may well be with the 50+ year old chime controller (front & rear doors, different tones) or the 35+ year old transformer...but whatever the cause, I'm looking for an alternative to the SAGE controller myself.

#18

my sage in 2 house has never missed a doorbell and the batteries last 2 yrs.. so must be your setup..

also no the sage doesnt operate the doorbell as you say it just gives a button alert to hubitat via zigbee you leave your existing lite or whatever door bell and chime it just piggy backs off of th e24v existing system to close a circuit and tell you the doorbell was pushed..
if you leve your existing chimes hooked up they will ring if not they wont, either way the 24v still also goes into the sage..

ie..

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#19

It's quite possible that @5fe94872fdbd2dbd06a8 had a weak transformer that was putting out less than 24VAC that contributed to its unreliability. He was suggesting such a possibility. My issues re unreliability was more it dropping out of the mesh despite being 8' from the hub, and that there was no way to determine that it was still working or not since it never reported anything in the absence of a physical push of the doorbell button.

What exactly was said incorrectly about the way the Sage works? As he said, the wired chime dings but the Sage didn't alert sometimes indicates he had the correct understanding. Unless you are taking "alert" to mean create a notification in Hubitat without any rule to link the trigger to an action. [Edit: It wasn't clear to me this wasn't also directed to the same person quoted.]

#20

I think he was talking to me.

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