Doorbell Switch

[DubG]

After searching a bit, I was unable to find a solution to my problem: I have a toddler and we are expecting our first girl in September and I want to be able to disable the upstairs doorbell (2 story home, 2 doorbells) whenever momma or the kids are sleeping. I thought about using my Elk to completely replace the doorbell as part of the project but decided against it (being a Realtor, I'm always thinking about resale and want the home to be able to stand alone). So I just figured I would wire an Elk-924 relay and activate it through a task appropriately called "Nap Time". My doorbells are wired in series so it took a little extra sweat but it works great. So now, all we have to do is hit a button and the upstairs doorbell is silenced until we hit the button again! I know it's very simple but I figured someone out there could use this information eventually. Happy Father's Day guys, God Bless!

 

[Desert_AIP]

Use a NC relay and turn it "ON" to disable.
The normal state will be "OFF" with the circuit complete through the contacts so you don't need to energize the relay most of the time.

 

[DubG]

Use a NC relay and turn it "ON" to disable.
The normal state will be "OFF" with the circuit complete through the contacts so you don't need to energize the relay most of the time.

Yes, thanks for clarifying Desert, that's what I did and it works great. Elk's 924 has two relays, both with NC or NO options. Now I just have to get in the habit of disabling it after nap time

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

You could start a timer whenever you turn off the doorbell, then after it times out the doorbell will turn on. This would at least provide a fail/safe in case you forgot to turn it back on.

 

[DubG]

You could start a timer whenever you turn off the doorbell, then after it times out the doorbell will turn on. This would at least provide a fail/safe in case you forgot to turn it back on.

Yeah, I thought about that BSR, but in this case I would rather have it stay off than turn back on unexpectedly. With the lack of normal sleep that accompanies a newborn, I would rather just miss someone at the door (99% of the people I care to talk to have my cell anyway) than have to deal with a grumpy, sleep-deprived wife.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Good point!

 

[tmbrown97]

I do something similar... though I do have my doorbell run through the M1... I have a "Quiet Mode" button that turns off non-alarm sounds and kills the speaker in the Master Bedroom (with a relay) unless there's an alarm event of some sort (My wife works nights/sleeps days). Some day I'd like to take this a step further and figure out true occupancy detection for the kids' rooms. In cribs it's easy - if the crib is open, there's no baby - but if the gate is closed, assume there's a baby in there - but as one of my kids will be getting a toddler bed very soon, this don't help long term. The point of this is to have doorbells and door entry sounds disabled near their rooms, but have any security/CO/Smoke alarms clearly audibly to them.

In a half-joking way, I was wondering how hard it would be to incorporate one of these as a doorbell button - http://www.screenkeys.com/prod_TFT128.shtml - with messages that change, like "Do not disturb"; "Press Here"; "Go Away!"; "Come on in!" - but that's taking it a bit far...