Blurred line between automation and security regarding doorbell.

[riverhawk]

Just bought an Elk M1 and Insteon/ISY994i. I had a couple choices on how to handle the doorbell. I would like some lighting automation to happen when the doorbell is pressed, but should it go through the Elk->Isy->Lights?
 
I guess what I'm asking do I buy this:
 
http://www.smarthome.com/24950A6/I-O-Linc-INSTEON-Doorbell-and-Telephone-Ring-Alert-Kit/p.aspx
 
OR this:
 
http://www.smarthome.com/1221/Elk-ELK-930-Doorbell-and-Phone-Ring-Detector/p.aspx
 
 

 

[tmbrown97]

It's the same doorbell detector either way - the question is, do you feed it into the Elk, or into Insteon?  Since the Elk has inputs, assuming you're not out of them and can get wire from the doorbell to the Elk, then that's the way I'd go.  The Insteon route adds an extra layer and more hardware so I'd only go that route if there was no good way to get wire from the M1 to the doorbell (FWIW, you could also hook the Elk doorbell detector to a wireless transmitter too if you had a receiver in place).
 
Now - what to do when that's sensed is different - a lot of people like having their rules in the ISY - which can detect what happens on the Elk anyway; though if you're already 100% elk with the detection circuit, you might as well finish things out from the Elk and have a hardware tied bulletproof and fast responding solution.  
 
I'm not sure what you're going to do next, but I wasn't satisfied with the Elk's built-in options, so I originally tied an Elk 124 inline with the Elk's speakers around the house and triggered my own westminister chime (and various other seasonal ones) - I was quite happy with that solution; I just haven't integrated it with this house yet out of pure laziness.

 

[drvnbysound]

In my system, the depressing of the doorbell switch causes an ASCII message to be sent (via XSP) to my TV. This message is to change the input on the TV to Video1 (composite video). I've got my CCTV DVR wired to this input. So, when the TV is on, and the doorbell rings, it automatically changes to show me who is at my front door.
 
I will add in rules to have the front porch light auto turn of (if night) as well, but that switch isn't controllable right now.

 

[riverhawk]

It's the same doorbell detector either way - the question is, do you feed it into the Elk, or into Insteon?  Since the Elk has inputs, assuming you're not out of them and can get wire from the doorbell to the Elk, then that's the way I'd go.  The Insteon route adds an extra layer and more hardware so I'd only go that route if there was no good way to get wire from the M1 to the doorbell (FWIW, you could also hook the Elk doorbell detector to a wireless transmitter too if you had a receiver in place).
 
Now - what to do when that's sensed is different - a lot of people like having their rules in the ISY - which can detect what happens on the Elk anyway; though if you're already 100% elk with the detection circuit, you might as well finish things out from the Elk and have a hardware tied bulletproof and fast responding solution.  
 
I'm not sure what you're going to do next, but I wasn't satisfied with the Elk's built-in options, so I originally tied an Elk 124 inline with the Elk's speakers around the house and triggered my own westminister chime (and various other seasonal ones) - I was quite happy with that solution; I just haven't integrated it with this house yet out of pure laziness.

 
 
I went with the ELK-930. You're right, I can just trigger the ISY to do something...exactly what...I'm sure my ideas will change a lot as my boldness grows. The ELK-124 module looks cool, but I think I'm a little too green for that as this is my first ever security system.
 
 

In my system, the depressing of the doorbell switch causes an ASCII message to be sent (via XSP) to my TV. This message is to change the input on the TV to Video1 (composite video). I've got my CCTV DVR wired to this input. So, when the TV is on, and the doorbell rings, it automatically changes to show me who is at my front door.
 
I will add in rules to have the front porch light auto turn of (if night) as well, but that switch isn't controllable right now.

 
Have time to elaborate on XSP? I hopefully will be running an HDMI matrix to my TVs and using IP security cameras. Do I have any chance of accomplishing something similar? Maybe with a driveway sensor and an ELK rule to only initiate TV input switching late at night?

 

[drvnbysound]

It really depends on your overall setup.
 
In my case, I have the composite output from the DVR directly wired to the TV, so the CCTV signal is always there, and it's just a matter of changing the TVs input. I have LG branded TV's which have a RS-232 serial port, and a published ASCII protocol. I simply send the command to change the input when the doorbell is pressed.
 
If you are using a HDMI matrix to provide signal to your TV's you would need to be able to change the output of the matrix upon the doorbell being pressed. How you do that depends on the options available for control of that matrix switcher. Does it have a RS-232 port? If not, it's likely other method of control is IR. I don't have any experience with IR in terms of automation - just extending IR signaling. So if you need the latter, hopefully someone else can help with that.

 

[tmbrown97]

Eh, the 124 is a piece of cake. Using the supplied ribbon cable it can connect to the voltage only outputs on the M1 that are generally unused (unless hooked to an M1RB) - so it's outputs 7-14 or something like that - turn the output on for one second and that's your trigger. I hooked the speaker outputs in parallel with the M1 so they'd both play over the same speakers then I recorded some custom sounds including the traditional westminister doorbell.

Inside my doorbell I used the same elk930 doorbell detector but removed the strike plate so it would trigger the 930 but not actually make a sound - the doorbell became the westminister chime. It also gets changed seasonally - so for halloween I had screaming sounds... In addition I had a few channels recorded with other spooky sounds like creaking doors and things like that which would play (they'd change based on a counter so it wasn't always the same thing) whenever I opened the door for a trick or treater.

It was loads of fun. I'd also mess with house sitters by triggering the sounds from my phone while away.

 

[BaduFamily]

I know you have a lot of your gear dialed in, but here is how I crossed the line.
 
Our doorbell is an Legrand OnQ Selective Call door unit. ( We have these through the house to reduce yelling for dinner, etc. It gets used a fair amount. ) This device has a relay which closes when the door bell rings.
 
The exterior wall it's mounted on has a KP2 mounted on the inside.
 
I ran some wire from the KP2's bonus contact to the relay on the OnQ unit. This gets the doorbell activity tied into the security system.
 
about 20 feet away I have an Axis camera watching the front door and patio. It's running its motion detection code so it should already be recording, but now I have a timestamp in the elk log that should match up.