EZVIZ DB1

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n3wb
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Picked up an Ezviz DB1 for my home so I could see when packages were delivered. Also so I could talk to people at the door when they rang. I've got some wonky little digital chime that's not powering the DB1 (as expected) so I just threw in the fuse and figured phone notifications would be fine for now.

I was wondering if it's possible to design a circuit that would power the doorbell, and handle ringing the chime. My idea was to put in a 10W resistor, a 3.5A fuse (why not be safe?) and an AC current sensor like an ACS712 or something to measure when the current spikes like it was ringing the bell. Pair that with an ESP32 (powered off of the 18V with a 3.3v regulator) to monitor the current (voltage out from the ACS712 ).

From that it would be easy to drive some relays that would trigger whatever chime I wanted, or a sound chip to play prerecorded sounds, send network events, etc. I'm just wondering if perhaps anyone has already done something like this, and had any kind of results?

Also I've run the DB1 off my bench power supply, it seems to be happy at 7.5V DC on up, so it could also rectify the voltage and provide say 12V out to the doorbell.
 

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n3wb
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You know, I went ant took a shower, and I had one of those "Ohhhhhh." moments. What's a normal doorbell chime? An electromagnet, and the DB1 can draw enough current through that coil to power itself. Well, what else is an electromagnetic coil? Relays or Reed Relays ... I wonder if I can use the 18VDC to power the DB1 through a relay, and when it closes have that be the "push button" to the chime. Off to read that post you linked, maybe they've got something more in there! Thanks for the link
 

The Automation Guy

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The camera should have come with a chime device which is designed to be used with analog chimes. Have you studied it to see if you could use it with your digital chime? I believe it is some sort of relay unit.
 

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n3wb
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So I bought a few parts, 12Vac relay, 10ohm resistor, current sensors, to experiment with being able to detect the press of the dorobell. So far no luck, but I'm wondering if my power source might be the issue. I'm using a DC bench power supply, it seems happy running from 7V to 16V, but when it triggers the doorbell to rung, it never un-presses the button. I'm wondering if there's a triac in there they're using to complete the circuit, and because of that I need an AC power source to use for when ringing the doorbell.

What I've tried so far :
12v -> DB1 ->12vac relay -> GND This never closes the relay.
12v -> DB1 ->10ohm resistor -> GND The doorbell closes the circuit, the resistor heats up, but the doorbell never powers back on after.
(both with and without the chime power module in place)

I was hoping one of these two would work and I could use either the relay, or a volt meter across the resistor to detect when the doorbell closed the circuit. II'll try a few more things, any ideas are appreciated.
 

sebastiantombs

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The current draw, and current passing capabilities, of a relay are far lower than a doorbell coil. You're also using a DC supply on something, the DB1, that is looking for AC. Also the current capability of the power supply can be a problem, IE not high enough, but I wouldn't use a DC supply for an AC device.
 

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n3wb
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My guess is it's the DC supply, If they're using a triac to short the wire, then it needs the zero crossing to disengage. I'll see if I can scavenge up something AC
 
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