Posts from April 2017

Home Brew Z-Wave Wireless Door Bell

In case you haven’t gathered from previous posts, I’m quite into Z-Wave and Home Automation right now. Our existing wireless doorbell gave up the ghost a little while ago and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get a Z-Wave doorbell so that I could integrate it into some areas of the house instead of just a dumb chime unit nowhere near the living areas where we stand a chance of hearing it.

I used the article Do You Sell a Z-Wave Doorbell over at my favourite Z-Wave UK reseller, Vesternet for a little inspiration but since the article was written things have moved on a little.

If you have a wired doorbell running on mains voltage then this is actually a bit easier to accomplish as you can use the Fibaro Binary Sensor however I don’t have an existing wired doorbell as there is no wiring to support one so it’s wireless all the way. Since speaking to Vesternet about the project originally, Fibaro have released the new Universal Door and Windows Sensor which is a Generation 5 Z-Wave device meaning longer range and improved battery life so this is obviously the device I purchased for the project. It also has some differences from the previous model.

Follow me beyond the fold for the what parts I used and how I bond them all together.

Read more…