Hello, thank you for all the work you do!
I am a total noob at this, I have next to zero programming background, I am a mechanical engineer who is trying to self teach this stuff & so please bear with programming ignorance!
I have been trying to read the posts on the siren & doorbell you have created & they are very informative to the point of my information overload, I am looking basically for a system that I can use a speaker of some description to notify every time a door is opened. I have door sensors already installed & sending push notifications to my phone, but I want an audible beep (not the siren screaming!) whenever a door is opened.
2 questions:
Is the siren or the doorbell the better (easier) one to do this with - I have no need for a doorbell function
As a programming luddite, can you help point me gently to how I can start to integrate all of this? mechanical concepts are simple for me, software, not so much.
With all of my siren/chime DTHs you can use Smart Home Monitor and/or Speaker Notify with Sound to play different tones based on events like doors opening so no custom programming is necessary.
The Aeon Siren doesn’t have a built in beep feature so I don’t recommend getting it unless you plan on using it as a siren. I’ve built a beep feature into the DTH, but it’s not completely reliable.
The Aeon Doorbell plays mp3s so you can use it to play all sorts of tones and messages, but there’s often a couple of second delay before the mp3 starts playing.
The Zooz Smart Chime is probably your best option if you primarily want to use it to play beeps. It’s battery operated so it doesn’t act as a repeater, but the batteries last a long time and since it doesn’t have to be plugged in you can put it anywhere you want.
Kevin, thank you for this. I think I am going to try to be a little ambitious & go for the Aeon solution. They look like they have pushed up the price recently compared to what it used to be, so I am waiting to see if it will drop down to a more (historically) reasonable level before I jump on it. This way I have future expansion built into my solution
I see that speaker notify with sound is going to removed - my understanding is on July 4.
The replacement is speaker companion.
Has this device type been tested with the speaker companion app and does it work similar to the app it is ‘replacing’?
"Speaker Notify with Sound"
You can setup a Custom Message action and specify the command to execute in the “Play this message” field
I’m thinking of buying the Aeon Labs doorbell.
Can I use this Siren in stead off the Aeon Labs speaker for the doorbell?
I don’t want to use 2 speakers (siren and the speaker)
With this DTH you can get doorbell-like functionality out of your siren but keep in mind a few things.
It’s louder than the doorbell
The doorbell comes with a button
The doorbell plays MP3 files that you can customize, the siren can only beep (though with this handler you can tweak the duration/frequency of the beeps)
So it depends what you’re looking for. I have both devices and that was the right decision for me.
Yup, siren is a single device with speaker. It’s loud and makes a beeping noise (which can be customized with this DTH). My siren goes off when an intrusion occurs while SHM is armed. I actually don’t have much of a need for the custom features of this handler.
Doorbell is two devices, a button and speaker. Speaker isn’t as loud as the siren, it can be customized to make whatever noise you want if you upload the right MP3. It can also be set to make different noises in response to various triggers. One thing I love about @krlaframboise’s doorbell handler is it exposes the commands for volume, so I automated mine to make a “ding dong” noise + push notification when the button is pushed during the day, but in the evening when my kids are asleep the speaker is muted so I get just a push notification (I used rule machine, which isn’t available anymore but WebCoRE can do the same thing).
So in my case I have reasons for both devices (because the two speakers function very differently). But it all depends what you want to do.
I am not sure if other notice just after the firmware update for the V2 smartthings hub seems this DTH cannot make any sound to the siren I tried to zwave exclude, reset siren and still it is the same, when I revert it back to the standard DTH it could make some sound, kind of weird, I am not sure if smartthings update broke things or it is just me not sure if @krlaframboise has any clue
It is really weired I have tried again same result i almost thought my siren was faulty until I switched back to the standard DTH, my siren is a European version but I assume it should not matter
Open live logging in the IDE, go into the device and set the logging option to trace and try turning it on and off. Then change the setting to debug and try turning it on and off and then post the live logging output.
You might be able to enable debug and trace logging at the same time in iOS, but there’s been a bug in the Android app for 6+ months that prevents it from from saving multiple items selected.