Ancient doorbell -- interfacing X10 / Homeseer ?

[DR4296]

Greetings All !

I have a 1905 house. Not sure how old this doorbell is, but the WIRING, at least, looks ancient!:


Here is the main set of wires coming from the doorbell itself. This is in the basement:
http://www.davidraasch.com/images/doorbell/2.jpg

Now, here is where those wires run... to this junction box, which appears to have power wires from a nearby electrical junction box routed into it:
http://www.davidraasch.com/images/doorbell/1.jpg


Then, from that junction box, you can see wires running to the left. Those lead across the basement and up the side of a stairwell, where eventually, they come out to connect to this doorbell.:
http://www.davidraasch.com/images/doorbell/3.jpg

Here's a close-up of the bell unit itself.
http://www.davidraasch.com/images/doorbell/5.jpg


Now, my wife has a hearing issue... one she's had for decades and stubbornly refuses to see a doctor again about (out of fear regarding surgery). But her hearing is starting to get WORSE. She almost NEVER hears the doorbell.

So, I thought maybe I could come up with some way for my Homeseer system (which mostly is using X10 stuff) to detect the ringing of this old doorbell and then run an event off of that. (I have most-of-the-house audio rigged up through Homeseer, so I could rig up a louder audio alert.)

Any idea how I might do that, especially considering these photos? I'm not really sure what I'm looking at with regards to that ancient junction box.

But then, maybe I could just attach something off of the presumably lower-voltage wires that run to the bell / near the bell itself.

Thanks!

-= Dave =-

[zimmer62]

If you have the ability to use DS10a (door / window sensors) I would try using one part of that near the electromagnet on the bell itself to trigger a homeseer event.

However there are lots of way to rig up the doorbell to homeseer, and most of them require wiring.

That junction box is a transformer, that's stepping down the voltage to the bell. You could measure the voltage off the transformer and use a relay of sorts if you'd like to get a clean connection when the button is being pressed. There are several ways to wire this up.

I use wires to my door bell button, to trigger a homeseer event which in turn trips a relay to ring the physical bell, this way I can have quiet hours as well.

[Rupp]

You may be able to do what I did here:
http://board.homeseer.com/showthread...or+bell&page=2

Post #4 but to be honest I would by a new wireless door bell (after seeing this) and interface this somehow.

[outbackrob]

Similar situation years ago....

I had a 40's built house with the hook and knob wiring and a transformer that looked very similar to the one in your picture. I tried rewiring, relays, and new buttons. It worked, but it was a kluge of a system that didn't have to be. Once i found Bill Brower's post and the associated replies, it became simple.

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread...ight=door+bell

This will take you longer to configure the DS10A than it will to set it up. You don't even have a cover to remove! If you don't have the setup to use a DS10A, then this is the PERFECT opportunity to get it!

Once you have it set up, the number of ways you can signal that the doorbell has been rung is limited only by your imagination. We have ours set up do to MANY different things dependent on many variables.

Rob