How do I set up a rule to use the chimes on my dome siren?

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
23

So I don’t really have anything to compare it for loudness. I mounted it upstairs and when I open my garage door that’s downstairs if I listen I can hear it ok. It has 3 loudness options I believe 95, 100 and then 105 dB. With the siren mounted outside my bedroom in the hallway I think that the alarm on high would wake me up, lol…that’s the hope at least.

It has 10 sounds preloaded but I think there is more I found with the device handler installed. 5 alarm type sounds that wouldn’t be very comfortable if someone range your doorbell. 3 chimes that make “beep” sounds that I actually use for when my doors open and then something like 4-6 musical tones that are like your old fashioned melodies some clocks or doorbells would have.

As far as quality the sound isn’t very good quality. Sometimes there is a crackle or distorted noise on the end but I noticed that every sound is a little different at a different volume.

For your use it could probably be loud enough for a doorbell but there is no “ding ding” sound. For me it covers what I got it for but I wish it was slightly larger to help the quality. Also sometimes it plays the sound more than once but that could be a ST’s error and not the Dome.

I’d rate it 7/10.

24

In most US jurisdictions, doorbells are restricted to being no louder than 85 dB unless you get a special license. That’s because it soon as you go above that, you do risk hearing loss if the sound is played frequently.

Smoke detector sirens and other residential safety sirens are generally allowed to go to 110 dB, but the expectation is you won’t there’s more than once or year as a test, and then only for a very brief moment.

So you aren’t going to find your bills that are as loud as the sirens. And you don’t really want to, or you do risk hearing damage. :sunglasses:

If you’re not able to hear your doorbell, then you need to start getting creative. Some people combine them with the blinking light or colored light strip. Phone or watch notifications are popular. Some have the doorbell trigger an alarm clock with an increasing sound, which is sometimes more recognizable. Many people find that a true chime sound it gets their attention the best, particularly if it’s in a two note or three note pattern, like a classic doorbell. :musical_note:

At our house, as I’ve mentioned, when my housemate is playing video games he doesn’t hear anything. Not the doorbell, not his phone, not me yelling, nothing. But what does work for us is to have a Hue light strip slightly offset from his TV. If it turns blue, he knows he needs to come help me (I’m quadriparetic).

So different things work for different people, but again you may have to get creative.

You may want to consider the Aeon doorbell ($49) instead of the dome, because it allows you to upload as many as 99 custom sounds. ( note that it has to be the “doorbell” model, not the “siren” model if you want to use custom sounds.)

That way not only do you have more choices, but you can find the exact ones that work best for you. This is a very popular device for that reason. :sunglasses:

25

Thanks for the information! I actually do have the Aeon doorbell, but it’s very quiet (and only rings about 75% of the time when the remote button is pressed, even when I moved the chime close to the door). I don’t really want a 110 dB doorbell, but something I could hear more or less as well as my old mechanical chime would be nice. My 85 dB siren is already too loud, and I’ve read unofficially that the Aeon chime is rated at 80 dB, but there’s no way that is near correct–and I do have the volume turned all the way up, both on the device itself and in the DTH. If that were the case, I’m sure it would be perfect!

I’ve tried using WebCoRE to toggle the lights in my most popular rooms a couple times in addition to the chime and LANnouncer, but sometimes it seems to get stuck and leave them in the opposite state from how they started. I’d rather not have my lights randomly left on when someone rings my doorbell, and I’d rather not have to buy (and stare at) a separate bulb or light strip for this purpose, either.

What I’d really want is for Amazon Echo/Alexa to be able to play sounds “on demand” from approved applications. I can hear the Echo from anywhere in my house, and half the time Echo playing music would be the reason I can’t hear anything else, so that would be perfect. :slight_smile: Maybe some day…

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26

Have you tried uploading your own custom chime file to the Aeon to see if it’s any louder?

27

The device comes with sounds that are low volume for some reason, but if you add your own the device can be a lot louder. I have a bunch of sounds in my Resources GitHub repository if you want to test some. It’s no where near loud enough to be a siren, but mine talks to me and I can hear it on another floor through a closed door. The device is great for audio notifications, but useless as a doorbell because the button is completely unreliable.

The Dome Siren is louder than the doorbell, but I’m not sure if it’s loud enough to make a good siren.

The Zipato Siren has a beep beep sound which is really loud and a typical ding dong sound which isn’t as loud. It also has some siren sounds which are extremely loud.

The only downside is that if it goes off and ST is down, it’s difficult to turn it off manually, but from a security standpoint I guess being difficult to disable manually could be a good thing.

If you want a really loud strobe and siren that can be used independently then you may want to look at the Vision/Linear/GoControl device, but it doesn’t have any type of beep feature built in and the response time is really inconsistent so my built in one is usually too unreliable to use as a door chime.

The Aeon Siren isn’t bad as a beep device and siren, but a lot of users have reported a hissing sound coming from it and the beep feature I built in is rock solid for some users and unreliable for others.

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28

I didn’t try uploading my own sounds, but perhaps that would have helped (I guess I don’t know if the included ones were using the full “gamut” of dynamic range available). Anyway, too late now–I’ve returned the device to Amazon and am going to stick to LANnoncer (with a regular button, a Xiaomi in my case) and hope it’s loud enough for me to hear in most cases. (And I’m sure the button will be more reliable than Aeon’s!)

If it’s not actually loud enough, I might look into just supplementing it with another device in a different room (another LANnouncer or maybe a Dome Siren?). Thanks for the opinion and experience with the other devices. There really doesn’t seem to be any great option here.

29

Thanks JDRoberts for the wrap up and thanks to Kevin for the handler.

Just in case this is useful to someone, here are the mappings I got between the “audio notification” section and the Dome Siren:

Default message - Bell 1 (2 tones)
Custom message - Bell 1 (2 tones)
Bell 1 - Bell 1 (2 tones)
Bell 2 - Bell 2 (carillon)
Dogs Barking - Bell 1 (2 tones)
Fire Alarm - Siren 1 (police car siren)
The mail has arrived - Chime 1 (4 tones)
A door opened - Chime 2 (2 beeps)
There is motion - Chime 3 (1 beep)
Detected flood - Siren 2 (Emergency/fire siren)
Detected smoke - Siren 1 (police car)
Someone is arriving - Chime 1 (4 tones)
Piano - Bell 3 (Fur Elise)
Lightsaber - 6 chimes (Bell 1 x3?)

A quick description of the Dome Siren tiles:
Siren 1 - Police car
Siren 2 - Emergency / fire siren
Chime 1 - 4 tones
Chime 2 - 2 flat beeps
Chime 3 - 1 beep
Bell 1 - 2 tones
Bell 2 - Carillon
Bell 3 - Fur Elise
Bell 4 - Rodeo
Bell 5 - Menuet

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