Limiting Repetitive Door Chimes (Elk M1)

[tadr]

We use (and appreciate) the voice chime on all of our entry doors and windows (Elk M1 system with speakers behind the keypads).  But when we have a party or people are going in and out to the deck, it gets crazy annozing.
 
I would like to limit the number of times that the chime on any given door can be activated.  For example, limit the door chime on the front door to once in any five minute period.
 
What do people recommend for accomplishing this? If at all possible, I would like to retain the ability to turn off chimes completely using the chime button on the keypad.
 
My initial inclination would be to disable the chime and then create a rule as follows:
 
If (front door is open) and (counter1 > 300 seconds)
  play voice announcement "Front door is open"
  reset counter1
 
But then I lose the ability to disable chimes using the chime button.  As far as I know, there's no way to check if chimes are enabled using Rules, is that correct?
 

 

[Del91574]

Not sure how you are stating "check" via rules...like on a KP? Via idiot lights on a KP? Via direct status?
 
Been quite some time, but I believe you can toggle through the chime modes on the KP (too busy to go play with my bench or home unit at the moment).

 

[alarmguy]

On your keypad use the chime button to toggle Off Beeps Voice

 

[drvnbysound]

I'm thinking the OP wants a way to automate the process, so that he doesn't have to manually toggle the Chime function via the KP....

 

[tadr]

I'm thinking the OP wants a way to automate the process, so that he doesn't have to manually toggle the Chime function via the KP....

 
Correct - I thought that was clear from my original post, but I guess not.
 
 

On your keypad use the chime button to toggle Off Beeps Voice

 
I don't want to toggle it off every time it gets annoying, because (1), that is annoying, and (2) we'll forget to toggle it back on).
 

Not sure how you are stating "check" via rules...like on a KP? Via idiot lights on a KP? Via direct status?
 
Been quite some time, but I believe you can toggle through the chime modes on the KP (too busy to go play with my bench or home unit at the moment).

 
By "check if chimes are enabled using Rules" I meant the ability to check if voice chimes are enabled in the system.  This is indicated and controlled by the "Chime" button on the KP2 keypads that I use.
 
Essentially, I want to limit voice chimes to once every 5 minutes (or other interval) and ALSO retain the ability to turn off chimes completely from the keypads (using the Chime button).
 
I'm surprise this isn't something more people have dealt with.

 

[tmbrown97]

I'd have to open RP which I can't right this second - but I'm in a different camp... I have kids so I DO want to know every time doors are opened, but need to silence them at certain times.  When the kids are in bed we don't want chimes anymore or if my wife is sleeping.  What we've done for years is use a "Quiet Mode" button - a press of that turns off chimes AND non-alarm voices for 4 hours; at the end of that, it turns them back on.  It's a lighted keypad button so we can see when it's on.
 
We also have a new feature I just added so that if any door is open for more than 15 seconds it starts beeping the keypads - this is because I got tired of the kids playing in the doorways or not closing the rear slider - or contractors leaving the front door open (we have indoor-only cats).
 
It's easy enough to set it so that whenever a door is open, an output is turned on that disables chimes during that period - but then you'd have to turn them back on.  This could take a couple rules to do correctly; I haven't tested these personally, but there are some "When" actions for Chimes Enabled, Chimes Disabled and Alert Sounds (during a sound playing, or is this voices? not sure)... with some experimentation you could probably get what you want.  Depending on if you want differentiation between zones - it could be "whenever door 1 becomes un-secure AND chimes are on, turn on output XX;  Whenever Output XX turns on disable chimes; whenever output XX turns off, Enable Chimes".  If you want each door tracked separately it takes an output for each door - otherwise the same output can be used for all of them saving a couple of rules.

 

[drvnbysound]

I understand the desire to want to keep the Chimes enabled, but to limit them as requested above. One scenario that I think of is unloading a lot of groceries from my vehicle in the driveway. I don't leave my house door open when I go back and forth to the car (bugs, HVAC losses). So, I'd have to either listen to the chime over and over as I enter or manually disable them for the 10 minutes. It would be nice to have the option that: Hey, I've just opened this door (MAKE CHIME ANNOUNCEMENT), but I'm 5ft away from the door and when I re-open in 30 seconds (or 2 minutes, or time of my desire) don't chime again (it's still me). 
 
Personally, where I really want to figure something out of this is my lighting. I created a rule that turns on my [interior] foyer light as soon as my front door is opened, and it's dark outside. This is great for when I come home after dinner and no interior lights are on. However, if my son is sleeping (bedroom semi-close to front door) that it would only turn ON the first time (or within X time). Because what I end up doing is manually hitting the button to turn it off again, over and over (see above about groceries).

 

[Del91574]

Hold-off timers are easy enough for conditional items, but the issue with modifying what is already hard coded into the panel for function is going to be the difficult item.
 
The easiest way to accomplish what I'm thinking of for a chime, less a hardware solution, is to link a conditional item (phantom output) and have the zone and the like look at the burg zone and the output before doing XYZ.
 
Downside is the amount of programming and it's going to essentially need to negate any normal usage of the chime functionality of the panel.