Comment on Building DIY a smart doorbell but would appreciate some help with the power and wiring
Limonene@lemmy.world 4 months agoRemember that voltage is measured across a pair of wires, so you can’t power the chime with only a single wire. That’s part of what makes this difficult – these doorbell systems only have the bare minimum of wiring in them. Powering the camera and the chime in series with each other is quite difficult. I think a lot of these things just accept the short circuit, and use a battery to power the camera while the button is being held.
Here is what I was proposing, and I think what ch00f was also proposing. Replace “5VDC power supply” in this diagram with “a full bridge rectifier and a bunch of caps” in their description, and also note that your camera probably requires a well regulated 5VDC supply.
Jimbabwe@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Awesome, thank you both. This is more complicated than I thought, so on the plus side I don’t feel as dumb as before.
Maybe i’ll just ditch the dinky chime I have and setup some alert automations or something. In that case, I could just connect the two chime wires to create a closed loop, then replace the transformer with a 120vac outlet plug, plug in a generic 120va -> 5vdc power supply, chop the two output wires from the power supply and connect them to the existing doorbell wires. And violá, 5vdc delivered right to the front door? Is this plan insane?
Limonene@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Actually, I think that’s a really good idea. Just be aware of possible inductance in the long wires from the transformer area going to the camera. Putting a large electrolytic capacitor next to the camera should fix that.
As for your bell, there are dead simple systems that use a battery-powered stick-on button with a transmitter, and a chime/receiver that plugs into a wall. If you want to be fancy, you could find a way to power the transmitter with that 5VDC, in parallel with the camera… or you could just keep it simple and use the battery that comes with the button. They last near forever.
Jimbabwe@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Awesome. You and @ch00f@lemmy.world are true OGs. Thanks (again)!