Door and Window Sensor Notification via Audible Tone and iOS

[maxtmon]

I've had my Almond 2015 for about 6 months and just getting familiar with adding sensors. I'm testing different sensors and just dawned on me that I don't have a device to give me an audible notification of a door or window opening or closing. I've read thru the posts and found a few but non answer the needs I have.

First, if matters, the current sensor I'm using is the NYCE NCZ-3011-HA ZigBee Door/Window Sensor. I had no issues getting them to connect. However, I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm reading up on how to setup the Scenes and Rules. Eventually, I'd like a simple notification to be sent to an audible device during specific hours and a notification to be sent to my iOS devices always.

What I need for now is any known audible devices that can used to chime when doors and windows are opened. And a way to receive a notification type on my iOS devices.

I'll update this post as I learn more, but this is a slow learning process as I have a lot of other things going on. Eventually, if I get familiar enough with the features of what the Almond offers, I will upgrade to the Almond+.

Thanks for the help... 

[ajplante]

You can get notification for any sensor via the IOS app. Just tap the gear next to the sensor in the IOS app and select the field that says notification then you can choose when to be notified. What model Almond do you have? One of them has a built in siren that you can set a rule for in the rules tab. Just set the rule to be activated when the door opens. If not you can buy a third party siren and set that to chime whenever a door opens.

[Ck32250]

I have the same question as the original poster. Is there a solution? Thanks

[fillibar]

As ajplante mentioned you can set when you are notified about activity on your smartphone app. Choices are Never, Always or When I'm Away (which only notifies when the Almond is in Away mode). How much noise, or what that triggers is dependent on your smartphone's settings.
As for a noise or siren in the house, there are siren devices out there (or doorbells) that can be triggered by creating a rule that checks the status of the door sensor. If opened, turn on siren.

[Ck32250]

I have the almond plus and have pre-ordered the almond 3. I have a number of door and other sensors around the house and would like to have a way to have an audible alert- either a tone or announcement of the sensors being active. A "front door" voice announcement would be ideal. Do any such devices exist?
Thanks.

[fillibar]

The Aeon Labs doorbell device can have additional sounds uploaded to it.
mparadis was looking into one here:
https://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,4372.0.html

The siren could be used as an alert, but keep in mind it is a siren. Not sure if the volume will be controllable, but it will sound like an alarm every time.

[Ck32250]

OK, thanks for the reply. I may try the doorbell- but without any solid feedback on the post that was referenced I don't have a great feeling about it. Especially if i'm wanting to eventually have a custom announcement for different sensors.

My primary use is to be audibly notified in the home when one of the kids opens a door- much more useful to have a announcement than a phone notification. At this point I may settle for a generic tone, but was hoping for more capabilities such as "front door" "back door" etc.

Any additional feedback on this doorbell device or other device is appreciated. 

[fillibar]

I asked mparadis if he could update (he posted in a different area for beta use so I did not want to copy it). But basically he did not have good luck although it may be his unit is a lemon. I would say hold off on that one. It definitely gives me pause and I was interested in that and their new garage door device.

[mparadis]

My Aeon Labs Doorbell does not work well but have not tested it extensively since firmwares were updated. I will be trying to upload additional tones to it as some point. I have checked and can supposedly active it as the "then" portion of a rule but doesn't seem like I can change which tone it uses. I didn't test yet to see how well that works as I was away for a few weeks. As a doorbell, it seems to be a bust, as it is currently working but you must push and hold the button for around 1 or 2 full seconds to trigger it, which is a bit much for a doorbell...

[Ck32250]

mparadis- thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to any additional discoveries if you decide to test it further.

I'm surprised that the feature of having a sensor announcement doesn't seem to be stronger topic. I'm almost tempted to resurrect my old conventional alarm system just to get the "bing bong" tone. However, having a smart system would be much better being able to set the timing, volume, and custom tone. Like someone else mentioned a "you got mail" for your mailbox sensor would be nice. Overall having the feature just seems like it would be a nice enhancement to home automation.

[fillibar]

The topic had me thinking. There are a many ways to DIY it also (just a couple below):
1) Power on a project that makes the noise. So you use one of those simple recording/sound playback kits (or any more complicated one) and have it play the desired sound when powered on. Just have the outlet or plug controlled and trigger it as needed.
2) A similar project but one with inputs that could be triggered using a relay or such. So the sound making thing is always on, just triggered to play when the relay closes. Possibly handle that with something like a Z-Wave dual relay from Monoprice. That gets you two separate "inputs" to trigger it (or one power so it is not always on, and one input). Add more relays for more inputs.

Those are both very much cludges. A more specific device would be preferable.

A third alternative would be to have something like a RasPi running. It could watch statuses via the Web Sockets and trigger almost anything. If someone was REALLY fancy with it they could hook the HDMI up also. Ex: RasPi notices it is YOU that comes home. (I know Almond already has that). However it expands on it by displaying on your TV (which Almond turned on when you walked in the door) your custom news and status webpage, as well as plays a greeting noise (which could be done using the TV actually). This method has all sorts of options, basically the sky is the limit but it is far more complicated.

[Ck32250]

The topic had me thinking. There are a many ways to DIY it also (just a couple below):
1) Power on a project that makes the noise. So you use one of those simple recording/sound playback kits (or any more complicated one) and have it play the desired sound when powered on. Just have the outlet or plug controlled and trigger it as needed.

I tried doing this for fun via the peanut, the only device that I had to make noise when powered was an old record player. The kids would just leave the door open to play the music. Did not prove to be effective . Plus when the record was done... no sound.

[mparadis]

For those wondering I did update my testing for the Doorbell. It is on the Aeon Labs post in this forum. Also, I contacted Aeon Labs, they believe my unit is defective and are replacing it. Will update again after that.