Apologies if someone is offended by the following. It’s not meant as an offense, but a professional opinion about design and Implementation.
This is a really good example of absolutely not keeping it simple and utilizing so many dependencies you’d need to monitor to be sure your solution works that the overall design is just plain bad.
If you ever implement something and get caught in so many things, take a step back and think about how your goal could be achieved in a much simpler way or even if your requirements are that important in the first place.
Anyhow. 5c from a tech guy.
My doorbell is a button that completes a circuit. Still works.
OP’s purpose was video security, not doorbells. People pushing the button instead of knocking was an unintentional consequence.
Your 70s doorbell is not helpful.
Thankfully, it takes still zero cloud services to make my breakfast, ride my bike, and open my door.
And you can bet on that I’ll keep it that way.
My doorbell is a raspberry pi that uses webhooks to send me messages on my privately hosted chat server and also rings a physical bell built in 1900. Do I win for the most simple high tech doorbell?
So instead of the video doorbell, use a simple camera. Then people knock on the door and you still have security footage without all the nonsense.
There are downsides to consider…
- Most people aren’t really phased by doorbell cameras…but everyone feels a security camera pointed at them
- The angle is generally worse for this purpose
- Unlike a doorbell, there is likely no existing data line or even power
- No way to sugarcoat it, security cameras kind of looks like shit. The best you can hope for is one that doesn’t stick out too bad
There’s options for decent-looking doorbell cameras without all the fuss. I use Amcrest, I know a lot of others use Reolink
I have a wireless doorbell with a speaker that plugs in to an outlet.
I’d much like to replace it with a zigbee-button, but I’ve had issues finding a foolproof (wife-approved) zigbee thing to make the ding-dong-noise.
I was tempted to run PoE to the other side of the wall where my server is. A doorbell that could do it all locally on my server.
Then I thought “fuck it” and bolted an antique brass bell there instead. At least you know it’s working.
Reolink for the win in my opinion.
Of course a nice brass bell as indicated would work too.
What should really be the case is that the ring doorbell has a contact switch that works like a regular doorbell. When the doorbell is pressed it triggers the exact same thing a plain old doorbell used to do. Now all the other electronic and cloud functions are neat features and if they go down it’s no big deal.
