Contact closure notification system

[apu]

I'm in need of something that can have a number of switches connected to it and, when a switch is closed, a phone call is made.
 
I don't need any message played or data relayed through the call (the ringing phone and Caller ID will be enough) though, locally, I would want to know which switch was closed. (Nice option to get the "zone" info in an e-mail but not critical.) Very similar to a residential alarm system, but not exactly (no sirens, no central station, etc.).
 
I'm already familiar with the Elk M1G so I'm tempted to just use that but it's worth asking if anyone has other ideas.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

In order to pin down the many ways there are to do this you may want to include the following details:
 
1. You mentioned "phone call".  I take it you need a 'voice' notification and not page/text/email. what type of phone line is available?
2. How critical is the notification?  In other words, is action towards a notification mandatory/critical?  Would you want a call rotor list where the device will call a list of numbers (and repeat as often as you set it) until 'someone' acknowledges the notification?
3. How many contact closures do you need to monitor?
4. What is an approximate budget for this project?

 

[cobra]

For simple monitoring with an available land line, there are some products made by sensaphone that are fairly inexpensive, something like: https://www.amazon.com/PHONETICS-SENSAPHONE-REMOTE-ENVIRONMENTAL-MONITORING/dp/B010NZGQWC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1526942246&sr=8-15&keywords=sensaphone
 
I like the Visonic PowerMax Pro series for more elaborate reporting, but it's a full alarm system and will run you $400-$1000 depending on what you need it to do.  It can do text/phone call with a gsm module and will give you zone status in a text or call (with synthetic voice reporting.)  One downside, I'm not sure their gsm module is newer than 2G, so check your local providers for continuing support.

 

[apu]

Thanks, BraveSirRobbin and Cobra.
 
I actually need nothing more than the ringing of the phone line for notification. No voice announcement or data needs to be transmitted as long as someone could later go to the alarm panel (or whatever) and find out which exactly contact was closed. Just need to know some switch was closed.
 
We'll call a dedicated extension on a IP PBX (asterisk) and the fact that extension Y is getting a call from Caller ID Z is all I need. It could be a SIP or analog connection to the phone system; both are easy to arrange. Later actions are already accomplished for human-made calls; I just need a simple switch to initiate the same actions from places that don't have/need a phone.
 
Notification is critical in the sense that it should be reliably trigger the phone call (I wouldn't want to kludge together something with untested knock-off relays from eBay) but the remote end isn't going to acknowledge the call in anyway so we don't have to call a bunch of contacts or redial if we don't get a response or anything like that.
 
I'm estimating eight switches right now but that could change in the future so some expandability is good. Money is a factor or we'd hire some contractor who'll probably come up with a worse solution anyway but there's money to do the "right thing" if that means spending a few hundred dollars more. The labor & cable to the switches will be far more expensive, even if it is just in terms of "free time" not spent doing other things.
 
(The Sensaphone actually looks pretty good - thanks for the suggestion! -- but is pretty much the same cost as an alarm panel based on some quick Google searches. Maybe its cheaper if I find an actual dealer.)

 

[RAL]

(The Sensaphone actually looks pretty good - thanks for the suggestion! -- but is pretty much the same cost as an alarm panel based on some quick Google searches. Maybe its cheaper if I find an actual dealer.)

 
 
The Sensaphone price of $99 is pretty cheap.  List price is something around $350 for the current model (Sensaphone 400).  There is also a Sensaphone 800 (or the older 1108) that has 8 inputs.   You can usually find used ones on eBay at reasonable prices.

 

[cobra]

Yeah, I haven’t thought of Sensaphone in many years. Long time ago I interviewed with them... Their website seems to have gone much higher end and commercial, but they started with those smaller $50-200 boxes for simple phone notification.

 

[smithassignment1]

hello thanks for the information