EZVIZ DB1 to swtich relay?

[SB1]

Hi all,

I’ve spent days trying to figure this out, much of which was spent poring through the many pages of useful information on this forum, and I think it’s time I asked for help.

I want to have my EZVIZ DB1 throw a relay switch when the bell button is pushed, so I tried several things;

• 24VAC supply with a 24VAC relay in series with the DB1, and the power kit in parallel with the relay.
  
  When the 24VAC power is applied, the DB1 powers up and the relay latches on immediately. The DB1 boots fine, blue light etc, but pressing the doorbell does nothing to the relay – it’s still latched on.
  
  
• 24VAC supply with a 24VAC relay in series with the DB1, without the power kit
  
  Same as 1) with the power kit, the relay latches on and nothing happens when the bell button is pushed.
  
  
• 12VDC supply with a 12VDC relay in series with the DB1, and the power kit in parallel with the relay.
  
  This time, the DB1 powers up fine as with the AC, but the relay does not latch on. Pressing the bell button also does nothing to the relay.
  
  
• 12VDC supply with a 12VDC relay in series with the DB1, without the power kit
  
  Nothing happens except red flashing lights on the DB1.

The 24VAC and 12VDC relays work fine by themselves without the DB1 connected. I've also had the DB1 powered by itself on both 24VAC and 12VDC, works fine on both and I get the live view and alerts just fine.

What am I doing wrong? Could my DB1 or power kit be faulty?

Thanks for your time!

 

[David L]

Hi all,

I’ve spent days trying to figure this out, much of which was spent poring through the many pages of useful information on this forum, and I think it’s time I asked for help.

I want to have my EZVIZ DB1 throw a relay switch when the bell button is pushed, so I tried several things;

• 24VAC supply with a 24VAC relay in series with the DB1, and the power kit in parallel with the relay.
  
  When the 24VAC power is applied, the DB1 powers up and the relay latches on immediately. The DB1 boots fine, blue light etc, but pressing the doorbell does nothing to the relay – it’s still latched on.
  
  
• 24VAC supply with a 24VAC relay in series with the DB1, without the power kit
  
  Same as 1) with the power kit, the relay latches on and nothing happens when the bell button is pushed.
  
  
• 12VDC supply with a 12VDC relay in series with the DB1, and the power kit in parallel with the relay.
  
  This time, the DB1 powers up fine as with the AC, but the relay does not latch on. Pressing the bell button also does nothing to the relay.
  
  
• 12VDC supply with a 12VDC relay in series with the DB1, without the power kit
  
  Nothing happens except red flashing lights on the DB1.

The 24VAC and 12VDC relays work fine by themselves without the DB1 connected. I've also had the DB1 powered by itself on both 24VAC and 12VDC, works fine on both and I get the live view and alerts just fine.

What am I doing wrong? Could my DB1 or power kit be faulty?

Thanks for your time!

See our Doorbell 101:

 

[tommyd75]

I just installed one of these to mine and it works great. It basically is a current sensor. You just separate one of the leads going to the doorbell and run it through this. It has a N/O contact on it.
You can adjust the sensitivity with the little adjustment screw on top. I had to take some 18 gauge wire and wrap it around a few times like a coil and then made the connection to the doorbell.

Current Sensing Switch, Normally Open Current Sensing Relay Adjustable AC 0.2A -30A (SZC23-NO-AL-CH Model) Current Sensing Switch, Normally Open Current Sensing Relay Adjustable AC 0.2A -30A (SZC23-NO-AL-CH Model): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


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[David L]

I just installed one of these to mine and it works great. It basically is a current sensor. You just separate one of the leads going to the doorbell and run it through this. It has a N/O contact on it.
You can adjust the sensitivity with the little adjustment screw on top. I had to take some 18 gauge wire and wrap it around a few times like a coil and then made the connection to the doorbell.

Current Sensing Switch, Normally Open Current Sensing Relay Adjustable AC 0.2A -30A (SZC23-NO-AL-CH Model) Current Sensing Switch, Normally Open Current Sensing Relay Adjustable AC 0.2A -30A (SZC23-NO-AL-CH Model): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


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Very impressive, would you mine sharing this in our Thread, I would like to add it to our Doorbell 101.

This would be great to add to my Konnected Alarm System and get event/triggers sent to me. I know I already get notifications of motion, and calls when door button is pressed from the Doorbell, guess adding another alert won't hurt...

Thank You...

 

[tommyd75]

Actually I can’t take credit for it I found the idea looking for a solution to activate a relay once the button has been pressed and found myself on a konnected forum. Here’s the post.

Wired Doorbell - Connection to Konnect

I connected my traditional wired AC powered doorbell to my Konnect system through a circuit that creates a 3.3V DC signal. I will attach a picture of my circuit and setup. Right now I only have the front door doorbell connected. My question has to do with selecting the best type of zone...

help.konnected.io

From the post “Sam” drew a nice simple diagram and attached photos of it as well. I can confirm this setup works with the video doorbell.
Just have to adjust the little screw so it’s sensitive enough when you press the button but not too sensitive that it goes off randomly.

Again, these are not my photos. Just attaching them from the Konnected forum post that “Sam” posted there.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tommyd75]

Actually I can’t take credit for it I found the idea looking for a solution to activate a relay once the button has been pressed and found myself on a konnected forum. Here’s the post.

Wired Doorbell - Connection to Konnect

I connected my traditional wired AC powered doorbell to my Konnect system through a circuit that creates a 3.3V DC signal. I will attach a picture of my circuit and setup. Right now I only have the front door doorbell connected. My question has to do with selecting the best type of zone...

help.konnected.io

From the post “Sam” drew a nice simple diagram and attached photos of it as well. I can confirm this setup works with the video doorbell.
Just have to adjust the little screw so it’s sensitive enough when you press the button but not too sensitive that it goes off randomly.

Again, these are not my photos. Just attaching them from the Konnected forum post that “Sam” posted there.

View attachment 77382


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[David L]

Actually I can’t take credit for it I found the idea looking for a solution to activate a relay once the button has been pressed and found myself on a konnected forum. Here’s the post.

Wired Doorbell - Connection to Konnect

I connected my traditional wired AC powered doorbell to my Konnect system through a circuit that creates a 3.3V DC signal. I will attach a picture of my circuit and setup. Right now I only have the front door doorbell connected. My question has to do with selecting the best type of zone...

help.konnected.io

From the post “Sam” drew a nice simple diagram and attached photos of it as well. I can confirm this setup works with the video doorbell.
Just have to adjust the little screw so it’s sensitive enough when you press the button but not too sensitive that it goes off randomly.

Again, these are not my photos. Just attaching them from the Konnected forum post that “Sam” posted there.

View attachment 77382


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really kewl. I like the Konnected Community, just like here, a lot of DIYers...
Funny, but he is also adding his mailbox to Konnected , so when it opens and his gets mail he gets a notification....Haha, the things people think of. Need a NO/NC contact on my wife LOL Actually no I don't, I know when the contact is Open

Thank you for your install picture and sharing...Going to add this to our 101.

 

[Ar-i]

@tommyd75 in your setup, do you have the DB1 doorbell powered directly by the 24VAC and you just installed the current sensor, without using the power kit nor a mechanical chime?
or do you have a mechanical chime as well in your setup?

In my case I don't have a mechanical chime and I am trying to get an on/off electrical switch that follows the button press in the db1 (e.g. the NO switch lined above), that I will feed into a zwave device (Zoos Zen16) so I can have a reliable "doorbell rang" event in my home automation system.

I am really hopping this setup could work (no mechanical chime, no power kit) as I have thrown away the power kit by mistake... and I have no mechanical chime either. However I wonder why would there be any significant current variation that the current sensor would pick up, if there is no physical bell in the system

 

[sebastiantombs]

I'd say you'd need a load to emulate a doorbell coil. A 10 ohm, 10 watt, resistor should do the trick. The power kit won't be needed since that is designed to eliminate the mechanical chime from producing a hum as a result of the current draw of the DB!, or any other video doorbell.

 

[Ar-i]

Thanks @sebastiantombs !
Dusting off my ohm's law from a few decades ago... I have a current-limited transfomer/VAC supply that gives 20VAC with 500mA max (I need to test that it's limiting properly though).
I've read that when set to mechanical mode, the DV1 (Hikvision DS-HD1 in my case) shorts itself (and somehow keeps getting power) momentarily when ringing, I assume it does this for very short periods of time as it needs to keep power for itself while it's doing this.

P = I^2*R = 0.5^2*10 = 2.5W so 10 ohms/10W should be fine.

Now my plan is to use the switch input of the Zen16 relay to capture the "shorting" event and notify Home Assistant via zwave and trigger some actions there. It will be my first time using a relay since my school days a long time ago , Zen16 is supposed to be a "dry contact" relay meaning the switch input is isolated.

Do you think the current sensor approach described above in this thread could work for this? I wonder what happens for example when the DV1 turns on the IR LEDs (and I've observed that it runs very hot) so I wonder if the current difference between non-ning status and ring status would be large enough so I can avoid false rings. Has anyone tried this? just wondering

 

[David L]

Thanks @sebastiantombs !
Dusting off my ohm's law from a few decades ago... I have a current-limited transfomer/VAC supply that gives 20VAC with 500mA max (I need to test that it's limiting properly though).
I've read that when set to mechanical mode, the DV1 (Hikvision DS-HD1 in my case) shorts itself (and somehow keeps getting power) momentarily when ringing, I assume it does this for very short periods of time as it needs to keep power for itself while it's doing this.

P = I^2*R = 0.5^2*10 = 2.5W so 10 ohms/10W should be fine.

Now my plan is to use the switch entry of the Zen16 relay to capture the "shorting" event and notify Home Assistant via zwave and trigger some actions there. It will be my first time using a relay since my school days a long time ago , Zen16 is supposed to be a "dry contact" relay meaning the switch input is isolated.

Do you think the current sensor approach described above in this thread could work for this? I wonder what happens for example when the DV1 turns on the IR LEDs (and I've observed that it runs very hot) so I wonder if the current difference between non-ning status and ring status would be large enough so I can avoid false rings. Has anyone tried this? just wondering

Other options to consider from our 101:

OTHER HARDWARE TO CONSIDER:
⦁ FRENCK (USA) Relay (Works with Home Assistant)
⦁ Xiaomi Aqara Door Window Sensor Zigbee Wireless Connection (Works with Home Assistant) - Olddawg
⦁ Finder (EUR) Relay, 344Mhz Transmitter - KlaverBoer, KlaverBoer / Finder (EUR) Relay, 344Mhz Transmitter - Jack007
⦁ uxcell (BC) Ice Cube Relay - Ford
⦁ Doorbell Monernizer (EUR) - Fietspomp
⦁ Sage Sensor - TechBill - alexdelprete - TechBill - Techbill's Forum/Thread (Sage with SmartThings)
⦁ ELK-960 Delay Timer, ELK930 Doorbell Detector - pete_c
⦁ ELV Homematic (EUR) Doorbell Sensor (Works with Homematic Hub/Bridge) - Riza-Aslan
⦁ Current Sensing Switch Z-Wave Plus (SZC23-NO-AL-CH Model) - tommyd75, tommyd75, tommyd75 - planetix - Konnected Alarm Forum - pete_c
⦁ In Addition to the above Current Sensor Switch and for those without a Smart Alarm System like Konnected - Zooz Z-Wave Plus S2 MultiRelay (ZEN16) - phatboyj

 

[Ar-i]

Thanks @David, I borrowed the idea of using a zwave relay from your 101 , what maybe a bit unique in my case is the absence of a physical chime device in the circuit.
I went ahead and ordered the current sensor and the 10W resistor, and the relay.

Up to now I was using the "android app approach" to detect push-button events using Tasker in an android phone, to trigger a REST API call to home assistant, the problem with this approach is that the app in the phone is very unreliable. It regularly misses 50% of the push button events, the phone never rings in those cases. Curiously the PIR event notifications do seem reliable, the problem with the app is the Call events, I set this up in two devices and both miss a lot of Call events, so it's unusable.

 

[sebastiantombs]

The best solution is the one you like

 

[Ar-i]

Implemented the solution, using the 10ohm/10W resistor, current sensor, and zen16 relay used only to sense the state of the current sensor. Hikvision DS-HD1 switched to "mechanical chime" - when doing this, with every button press it shorts itself for about half a second, enough for the sensor to pick up the current increase when properly calibrated. See below.

It seems to work very well. The advise above of using 3 loops around the sensor is important. Initially I had two loops and this makes it more difficult to calibrate, I ended up adding one more loop.
Another important lesson learned is to calibrate at night, when the cam switched the infrared lights on. With the lights on, the cam's average consumption increased significantly, and in my case that was enough trip the sensor.

Something I would do differently is the resistor sizing. I would go with a 15W or 20W one. During the day, the resistor gets quite warm but still OK; at night though it gets hotter (increased cam's consumption), almost too much to touch.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Since you're in "Antarctica" you can put the resistor outside to keep it cool

 

[Ar-i]

@sebastiantombs the hot resistor is a threat to my igloo, it melted the door already.

Kidding aside, I realized that my AC/AC adaptor, this one: OhmKat Video Doorbell Power Supply- Compatible with Nest Hello - No Existing Wiring Required - Transformer Adapter Power Kit & Supply All in One (Black) : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement, already supports "short protection" and specifically lists "no need of a separate resistor" as a feature. I removed the resistor and tested extensively, this setup works fine and it's easier to calibrate as well; the doorbell consumption increase at night is no longer tripping the sensor. The AC/AC adaptor works cold, and the camera "shorts" with every pushbutton last for less than a second.

 

[MAC1973]

@sebastiantombs the hot resistor is a threat to my igloo, it melted the door already.

Kidding aside, I realized that my AC/AC adaptor, this one: OhmKat Video Doorbell Power Supply- Compatible with Nest Hello - No Existing Wiring Required - Transformer Adapter Power Kit & Supply All in One (Black) : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement, already supports "short protection" and specifically lists "no need of a separate resistor" as a feature. I removed the resistor and tested extensively, this setup works fine and it's easier to calibrate as well; the doorbell consumption increase at night is no longer tripping the sensor. The AC/AC adaptor works cold, and the camera "shorts" with every pushbutton last for less than a second.

@Ar-i do you mind showing a picture of your setup? I have the exact same scenario as you. Thank you!

 

[Ar-i]

@MAC1973 that's the picture I attached in my July/18 post above, minus the resistor which I removed (and literally soldered the cables together).
I powered the zwave relay switch from the same transformer that powers the doorbell, that in my case is installed inside my electrical panel. There is a cable from the panel that goes to the front door that was meant to be used for some old-school door sensor that I reused to carry power to the camera.

This setup has been working perfectly for a few months now, not a single issue since I installed it. I no longer use the hikvision app and blocked the cam's internet access - I use this setup with home assistant and when a doorbell/zwave event is triggered I send an announcement and ring to an amazon echo, via homeassistant's "echo media player" integration. I use the Cam's PIR to turn on ligths when it's dark as well, and to play another announcement in Echo. The only issue I still need to solve is that the PIR in this cam is too sensitive to passing cars at night, when I have time I need to add more tilt to it to hopefully solve this. It's not too bad as it is though.