Home 9000 - The ULTIMATE Doorbell

I just purchased a house in Las Vegas, and, being a long time tinkerer (and instructable maker / sharer), I decided that before I move in, and as long as I have the opportunity to break open walls and run any wire I wanted, I would geek out this house in a big way.

Of course that meant running network connections to all my rooms, as well as to the pool and the garage. I also wired my house for home automation and security.  But being that I live in two houses for the present (one in NYC and one in Las Vegas) until I make the move to Vegas officially towards the end of the year, I needed a way to "live" in the house, or better "occupy" the house virtually, while still working and living in NYC.

This is the result of that idea.

Check out the video on the next page!

Step 1:

Comments

[k24tea]

Another of those 3 non-geeks here, at least as far as this smart-phone and Arduino stuff goes. My electronics skills are from the Dark Ages and I now live low-tech by current standards, but I still love this stuff and if I had the $$ and time it would be fun to do this whether I need it or not. Hiding it in the doorbell would be a good mod for the extra "stealthy viewing" factor, but your design is brilliant just as it is.

[macgeek]

Thank you for the kind words!

Of my 23 instructables, I feel this is my best

I enjoy thinking outside that box, and coming up with fun things to do with the string!

Jonathan

[supreme creator]

now that doorbell is not just a doorbell its a boss doorbell thanks macgeek

[sunshiine]

This is so neat! Thanks for sharing you hard work!
sunshiine

[mammasboy]

good gracious, this is by far one of the awsomest things i have ever seen, what i wouldn't give to have the technological capabilities to do something like this, more to the point the money to supply the resources required xD

[tdahsu]

How does this tie into the garage door opening? Did I miss something? Also, step 1 is blank?

[Tachyon]

Very cool project. Though I'd say using what you know made it cost more than it needs to.
Eliminate the Mac and Facetime and replace it with something like a RasPi, webcam, and GTalk and you've trimmed $500+ dollars off the project.
That said you've given a great starting point for someone with a more modest budget.
Thanks for sharing.

[jsiminoff]

Awesome hack. We put together something very similar but maybe a little more mainstream, https://secure.christiestreet.com/products/doorbot.

[nicholas1951]

Geek love at first sight! I got so excited about this that my teeth started to sweat! My imagination is now off and running.

[chakra]

mister, you are A-W-E-S-O-M-E..!!
U CAN'T GET GEEKIER THAN THIS! OR CAN YOU??!

[NinjaMidget]

This is pure geeky awesomeness! Ferris Bueller would be proud :)

[miguipda]

Hi,

as explained before by using this SEEU CU60G it will already do a part of what we need :
http://www.seeuworld.com/Digital-Peephole-Viewer2F-Visual-Monitoring-Doorbell2FSynchronous-wileless-data-backup-136.html

But indeed the best tool could be this Doorbot used with the Lockitron and arduino sensor (to check if somebody knock on the door or try to enter by forcing the door :
https://secure.christiestreet.com/products/doorbot
https://lockitron.com/preorder
http://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Knock-Detecting-Door-Lock/?ALLSTEPS

Last but not least by motion detection we could automatically take picture/video and also play a random mp3 file barking like a dog to simulate a presence of dangerous dog at home.
http://www.instructables.com/id/PIR-Motion-Sensor-Tutorial/?ALLSTEPS

[miguipda]

Hi,

you made a part of what I also need.
For this reason I though to use this base model actions :
http://www.seeuworld.com/Digital-Peephole-Viewer2F-Visual-Monitoring-Doorbell2FSynchronous-wileless-data-backup-136.html

Three point must be important for me in this intelligent doorbell :
1) motion detection = register photo and/or video when somebody has been detected
2) take phot and/or video when somebody bell at door
3) simulate presence = answer from anywhere all around the world
4) synchronise the events on a central HDD

It could be interesting to have your solution for android, windows, linux and not only for Mac. Thanks for your understanding ;-)

[Honda Enoch]

Just an idea. if you had a decorative door knocker that had a peep hole it could be used to hide the mic.

[MiKOTRON]

Wow! This is great. I'm going to try to build one of these. One thing though and I'll try to address it when I build mine is, what if the person knocks? Humph, I suppose if they stand there long enough they'll use the bell but if there was a knock trigger too, then the person at the door really wouldn't know that you're not home.

[macgeek]

I actually toyed with the idea of a knock sensor using a alarm "glass break" sensor, that would trip on a loud noise (which a knock would produce) - I was also thinking of adding a relay trigger of a dog barking if the sensor was tripped (by knocking or ringing the bell) but I never went any further then thinking about it

;)

Jonathan

[josiahblack]

can you email me all of the codes or are these the exact codes?
[e-mail]

[josiahblack]

what kind of relay did you use?

[hrd2rchme]

I like what you did here! I love how you tied everything together. I am couriuos however, how you tied into the doorbell and the type of relay you used. I know most doorbells use between 15-24v AC. How did you tie in the garage door? Is there another app you are using on your phone for it like MyDoorOpener or such? Do you have more pictures or perhaps hand drawn sketches of the layout? I think I may make something similar with a few added changes :-) Another task for my Mac Mini Server ;-) Really great idea you had here! Thanks so much for sharing!!

[jsorce]

Any chance I can pay you to build me one of these babies? Wow...that's no joke, I'm not kidding!! If your up for it, E mail me back!

[kyleslab]

That is totally awesome! Loved the movie too!

[bricabracwizard]

Your system is such a great idea, this is something I definitely want to do, and you're right being able to tell a delivery guy to leave it on the doorstep is priceless! I've rated you five stars for bringing this to our attention, by the way I'm one of the three non-geeks!