Triggerlinc and Doorbell interfacing

[kirving1]

Hi,

Does anyone know if its possible to interface the triggerlinc with a doorbell. It accepts external open and close sensors. Something similar is being done in the x10 world see this post. I did find this but the board is almost $50 dollars and I would also like to avoid the i/o linc for this setup since it needs to be plugged into an AC outlet.

Thanks

[pbibm]

Hi Kevin
Page 3 of the link you posted from insteon says yes you can. You need to have a dual band PLM or other device that does dual band within the range if the triggerlinc. Something has to pick up its transmission when the button is pressed.

You have options of operating insteon devices directly from the triggerlinc, or you can receive its signals from HS (through a dualband device) and have homseer take actions as well.

Paul

[kirving1]

Thanks Paul.

Yes I have triggerlincs working with my Access Point currently, but I'm unsure how I would wire this to my door bell and if any other parts are needed.

Any ideas?

[pbibm]

Kris,

A little further down on page 5, there is a picture of the triggerlinc with the cover off. There are two terminals a the bottom. Find where your doorbell button wires run to, even at the doorbell itself. take the leads from the doorbell switch and wire them to the terminals on the triggerlinc. You should be in business. Page 9 gives more details, I don't think these will affect you.

8 and 9 also talk about how you to decide to use the triggerlinc with other insteon devices in group or in an on command. You will want to think through what you want it to do with insteon / homeseer ahead of time so you can configure the triggerlinc properly

Paul

[kirving1]

Thanks Paul.

I will give that a shot much of my confusion came from the fact that there is low voltage running to the doorbell, I still want to utilize my normail doorbell chime and didn't know if pigtailing the wires at the chime would cause issues or not (burn out the triggerlinc). I saw some people using the electromagnet to trigger the device.

[pbibm]

I see. I would call / chat with smarthome. They fast with these kind of things

[heatvent]

See this thread on how it's done with a X10 sensor. You can probably just mount the triggerlinc in the doorbell housing next to the magnet.

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread...t=x10+doorbell

[kirving1]

Yup this is the thread i referenced above, i'm going to give this a shot this weekend. I will report back on my findings.

Thanks

[kirving1]

I was able to get this going partially using a 12v relay. To make sure everything worked i set up an event that would email me when the triggerlinc status changed. The first test worked, but after that they all failed (no email). I have the relay wired to the N/O side of the relay and when I press the set button on the triggerlinc it send the emails. I can also see the light on the triggerlinc flash green when i press the button but no emails are sent.

Any one have any ideas? Am i setting the correct event trigger? I'm using device status change.

Thanks

[jbbtex]

I have two door bell chimes in the house. They operate on 24VAC. I disconnected one and wired a small 24VAC relay in its place and connected the normally open and common to the Triggerlinc. Created an event in HS to make an announcement when the Triggerlinc fires. Works great.

I trigger mine on Device Status Change On.

[kirving1]

@jbbtex

I have mine connected in parallel with the doorbell chime in order to still use it as normal. I have a pair of wires running to the doorbell coil and connecting to the coil on the relay, while another pair of wires run from the triggerlinc to the N/O and com contacts on the relay.

Can you provide a little more detail on your wiring?

[jbbtex]

@kirving1

I must apologize. I now recall that I tried to use a Togglelinc but, like you could not get it to work consistently. I changed it for a X10rf door/window sensor. I do have Togglelincs on some doors which work fine.

I think the problem is that since the doorbell is only momentary, the Togglelinc goes from closed to open and back to closed too quickly.

Something like this http://www.seco-larm.com/MiniTimer.htm between the relay contacts and the Togglelinc may do the trick.

Again, I'm sorry for my mistake.

[kirving1]

No problem

What are you using as a receiver for your x10 device. WGL800?

[heatvent]

I kind of thought you could just put the triggerlinc unit itself right next to the coil. I have a radio shack X10 door sensor from a security kit they used to sell. The design is similar to that of the triggerlinc (body with transmitter and a separate magnet, no wires). I just put the transmitter in the doorbell housing right next to the coil. If I remember correctly, it shows in alert status all the time. When the doorbell rings, it thinks the magnet is there and registers as closed. Could you just put the triggerlinc next to the coil instead of wiring to a relay?

[kirving1]

That may be possible if i shave some of the plastic down. Does the sensor have to touch the coil?