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The world of smart home technologies is developing rapidly, and more and more households are opting to make their apartments and houses smarter and more connected. A central component of every smart home is a smart doorbell. Not only does it make it possible to see who is at the door without getting up, but also to communicate with visitors, make security recordings and much more. But does such technology have to be expensive? In this article, I'll show you how you can buy your smart doorbell for just 15 euros and integrate it seamlessly with Home Assistant.
A little information in advance: the solution shown here does not use a smart doorbell with camera or intercom system. Other solutions or devices are required for this.
What is Home Assistant?
Home Assistant is an open source platform for home automation that aims to connect and centrally control all devices in the home. It is designed to provide a unified user interface and simple, flexible control for a variety of smart home devices from different ecosystems. Here are some points in favor of Home Assistant:
- CompatibilityHome Assistant supports thousands of devices and services from various manufacturers, including lighting, air conditioning, heating, cameras, weather sensors, voice assistants and more.
- Local controlUnlike many commercial smart home platforms that rely on cloud services, Home Assistant runs locally on your network. This means increased privacy and reliability, as your smart home devices work even without an active internet connection.
- Automation and scenesOne of the main features of Home Assistant is the ability to create complex automations and scenarios. For example, you can have lights switch on automatically when it gets dark or turn on the heating when the temperature falls below a certain level.
- Simple user interfaceHome Assistant offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to monitor and control devices. This interface is fully customizable.
- Integration with voice assistantsHome Assistant can be integrated with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to enable voice-controlled control of your smart home devices.
- Open source and community-drivenSince Home Assistant is open source, it is supported by an active community that is constantly developing new integrations and improving existing ones.
- Data protection and securityAs a locally running platform, Home Assistant has the advantage that the data remains within its own network. This protects privacy and increases security compared to cloud-based solutions.
In summary, Home Assistant is a powerful and flexible solution for those who want to design their own smart home and control their devices centrally, regardless of the manufacturer or ecosystem.
Vibration sensor as a bell
Turning a vibration sensor into a smart doorbell is a creative and cost-effective solution that takes your smart home experience to the next level. With a simple vibration sensor attached to your doorbell, you can create a DIY smart doorbell that notifies you as soon as someone rings.
The key lies in the sensitivity of the sensor, which reacts to the slightest vibrations and sends a signal via a microcontroller board such as the Arduino or ESP8266 connected to your home network, for example. However, we can also use any commercially available vibration sensor on the market. Of course, it makes sense to use a sensor that integrates well into the existing doorbell and is as small as possible.
This signal can then be integrated into Home Assistant or another smart home control center to trigger a notification on your smartphone, activate light scenes or even start a camera recording. This approach not only offers a customized solution for your needs, but also opens up the possibility of experimenting with additional sensors and automation rules to make your home even smarter.
ZigBee devices are preferable
ZigBee is particularly advantageous for use in China sensors and other smart home devices, as it offers another key benefit in addition to its universal compatibility, low energy consumption and secure communication: Sensor communication takes place exclusively within the local home network, without data being sent to the outside, especially to the manufacturer or via the internet.
This significantly increases data protection and security standards, as no personal information or usage data can be collected and passed on to third parties. ZigBee is therefore an ideal technology choice for users who value their privacy and have concerns about their data being passed on to manufacturers, especially for products from China. The ability to build a versatile and secure smart home system without compromising your own data makes affordable ZigBee-based China sensors an attractive option for conscious consumers.
All you need is a ZigBee bridge, which is ideally manufacturer-independent, i.e. not a Philips Hue or IKEA Tradfri, but a ZigBee USB stick such as the Phoscon ConBee III or the SkyConnect home assistant, which already supports Matter, the new and future smart home wireless standard.
Requirements
- Home Assistant (already set up)
- Vibration sensor (preferred: ZigBee protocol)
- ZigBee Bridge (ideally a ZigBee USB stick)
- Optional:
- Lights
- Smartphones
- Cameras
Practical use cases
With your smart doorbell integrated into Home Assistant, there are numerous possibilities for automating and improving the security of your home. Some examples of this are:
- Automatic lighting control: Lights switch on automatically when the doorbell rings.
- NotificationsGet instant notifications on your smartphone when someone rings the doorbell, even if you're not at home.
- Security recordingsAutomatically record videos or pictures when the doorbell is triggered.
Automation
Step 1: Attaching the vibration sensor to the doorbell
First of all, we need to attach the vibration sensor directly to the doorbell. The adhesive pad supplied is usually sufficient for this.
Step 2: Set up the vibration sensor
First, the vibration sensor must be integrated into ZigBee2MQTT in order to gain access to the device in Home Assistant. A Philips Hue Bridge does not work here, as Hue does not manufacture a vibration sensor and does not support third-party manufacturers.
Step 3: Create automation
alias: Monitor - Doorbell
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.vibration_sensor_vibration
to: "on"
from: "off"
condition: []
action:
- service: notify.smartphones
data:
title: Doorbell
message: The doorbell has rung!
data:
notification_icon: mdi:bell-ring-outline
channel: Emergency
importance: max
car_ui: true
priority: high
ttl: 0
color: magenta
icon_url: >-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Home_Assistant_Logo.svg/2048px-Home_Assistant_Logo.svg.png
timeout: 64800
- service: scene.create
data:
snapshot_entities:
- light.cone_lamp
scene_id: before
- service: light.turn_on
data:
flash: long
target:
entity_id: light.cone_lamp
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 2
milliseconds: 0
- service: scene.turn_on
data: {}
target:
entity_id: scene.before
- if:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.android_tts_alarm
state: "on"
then:
- alias: TTS warning (Android)
service: notify.mobile_app_sm_g990b
data:
message: TTS
data:
ttl: 0
priority: high
media_stream: alarm_stream_max
tts_text: The doorbell rang!
mode: single
This automation in Home Assistant, named "Monitor - Doorbell", performs a series of actions when the state of a vibration sensor (labeled as binary_sensor.vibrationssensor_vibration) changes from "off" to "on". This indicates that the sensor has detected vibrations that typically occur when the doorbell rings. Here is a detailed explanation of the automation:
- TriggerAutomation is triggered when the vibration sensor is activated, indicating that the doorbell has rung.
- Actions:
- Send notificationA notification is sent to the "smartphones" group. This notification contains the title "Doorbell" and the message "The doorbell rang!" as well as additional data to customize the notification (such as notification icon, channel, importance, auto-interface option, priority, lifetime, color, icon URL and a timeout).
- Create scene: A scene is created that shows the current state of certain entities (here:
light.cone lamp) before further actions are carried out. This scene is saved with the ID "before" so that the original status can be restored later. - Switch on the light: The light (
light.cone lamp) is switched on and flashed for a longer period of time to draw attention to the ringing. - DelayA short delay of 2 seconds follows.
- Restore sceneThe originally created scene is activated to reset the lights to their previous state.
- Conditional TTS warning: If the switch
input_boolean.android_tts_alarmis set to "on", a text-to-speech (TTS) alert is sent to a specific Android device that reads "The doorbell rang!". This alert uses the maximum alert stream to ensure that it is clearly audible.
ModeThe automation is executed in "single" mode, which means that it is not restarted as long as it is already running.
This automation creates an intelligent doorbell notification system that includes both visual and audible signals to ensure that residents are informed immediately, regardless of where they are in the house.
YouTube video implementation
Conclusion
A smart doorbell for just €15 is a cost-effective way to make your home safer and smarter. By integrating with Home Assistant, you can unlock the full potential of your smart doorbell and enjoy seamless, centralized control over your smart home devices. With a little research and patience, you can find a solution that suits both your budget and your requirements. Take the first step towards a more connected and secure home today!
This blog post only provides a starting point. The possibilities of home automation are almost limitless, so feel free to experiment and create your own unique scenarios! If you need help, don't hesitate to contact me.
1 Comment
Bernd · 2. May 2024 at 19:54
Hi and thanks for the contribution!
In my setup, I initially tried using a vibration sensor that I still had lying around here. But somehow the result was not very reliable for me (i.e. the sensor was online according to ZigBee2MQTT, but the ringing was not recognized). It was probably due to my doorbell type, whose "vibration" was not sufficient. I then fixed it using these instructions here https://smarterkram.de/2833/ with a window sensor, which has worked quite reliably so far.
I just wanted to leave the tip about the window sensor here for a moment!
Thank you very much and keep up the good work - always very informative!