Detect old doorbell presses and open the door remotely

I have an apartment available in AirBnb and I would like to have a solution to open the building door remotely or automatically. I want to do this without changing anything in the building so my only option is to play with my old doorbell system (Contera Starbell 1000).

I already found https://www.nello.io that does what I want: detect someone ringing the doorbell so I can open it remotely. It has the bonus of being able to create rules like “if someone rings between 10pm and 11pm open automatically”.

But I wanted to have SmartThings solution because it is more versatile and after buying the hub I can easily add other sensors to the apartment.

I’m a programmer but I’m not good at electronics so please be patient. From what I read so far, I need a relay to trigger the opening remotely and something else to detect the doorbell being ringed.

I’m the process of finding how the doorbell is powered because it seems that will influence the relay I buy.

So my questions are:
what do I need to buy for this? A single relay? What are the keywords I’m missing to search for them?

If you can suggest specific models or types of hardware it would help a lot.
I want to do a step by step of this afterwards :slight_smile:

thanks in advance

What country are you in? The device selection does vary quite a bit. :sunglasses:

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In Portugal, so it easy to order anything from Europe and China. EUA is normally harder.

Do you have a lock that can be operated remotely (Z-Wave or ZigBee)? Are you looking to only detect when someone pressed your bell then you’ll need a sound detection sensor which aren’t as reliable since it can be false triggered. You could just buy a Z-Wave or ZigBee button and place that on your front door and then use a simple app like this to trigger notifications to you or you can use something like CoRE or WebCoRE to create more complex rules like you mentioned to automate your setup.

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I don’t have such lock.

My goal is to detect the bell is pressed (should be easy since it makes a circuit close so that should be detectable by installing something).
Then I would get a notification through z-wave or zigbee (or wifi) and trigger a second circuit to close, which would simulate the button that opens the door.

thanks for the help!

Hmm not many devices that can detect closure per se. Check out the Monoprice 15260 model, it has an external N/C and N/O contact sensor which potentially can be wired to your door bell. I’m not sure about the voltage requirement. Usually it’s a no voltage scenario but maybe you can wire it to use no
Voltage and then trigger a separate door bell and chime it: [RELEASE] Monoprice Door Window Mailbox Z-Wave Plus Sensor (Recessed/Mounted - 15268/15270/24259) with External Trigger Option and Tamper Device Handler (Official)

For a list of potential relays to trigger secondary devicessee the second post on this topic: [RELEASE] Virtual Garage Door Opener/Controller with Relays and Contact/Tilt/Door Sensors