Many traditional alarm systems have a feature that makes a beep or chime every time a door is opened. Often this sound is generated by a small piezo buzzer in the keypad. New in September 2017: all Konnected complete alarm system kits will come with a small piezo buzzer that enables you to recreate the door chime feature. Customers who purchased kits earlier can use promo code FREEBEEP at the Konnected Store for up to 2 free piezo sounders, just pay $4 shipping.
If you want more than just a “beep” sound, Konnected can be used to switch nearly any electronic device. 12V doorbells work nicely because we already have a 12v power source.
Configuring the Door Chime in SmartThings
It’s easy to set up a door open notification in SmartThings using the Smart Lighting app. The Konnected switch and beep devices will be available as lights/switches for any automations. Create a new Smart Lighting automation that “turns on” the switch or beep device when your desired doors are open.
Wiring a Piezo Buzzer/Sounder
The piezo buzzer that comes with your Konnected kit can be wired directly to the Konnected NodeMCU board with two female-to-female
jumper wires. One of sides of the piezo buzzer will have a + marking on it. Connect a jumper to the pin directly
beneath that marking, and connect the other end to any output pin on the Konnected board. Connect a wire
from the other pin to GND.
Sound Sample
Click play below to hear what it sounds like:
The number of beeps, beep duration, and pause duration between beeps are all customizable.
You can re-use the wiring in your keypad to mount the piezo sounder on the wall in your home where the keypad used to be. Most alarm system keypads have four wires running to them. Remove the keypad itself from the wall, and disconnect the wires. The red and black wires will carry power from the alarm panel, so make sure you disconnect the other end from the alarm panel. Now you can re-use this pair of wires to wire the buzzer to the outside of the wall, and mount it with a face plate:
Using a Wired Doorbell as a Door Chime
For a more pleasant sounding door chime, a wired 12V doorbell can be used with Konnected. You can mount the doorbell where your keypad is mounted and re-use the wiring from your keypad!
Sound Sample
Click play below to hear what the doorbell sounds like
Wiring the door chime is easy. Remove you alarm system keypad from the wall. The red and black wires will carry 12V power from the alarm panel aux out. Connect these two wires to the red and black wires on the back of the doorbell. Now, connect the green wire from the wall to the green wire on the doorbell. The yellow wire is not used.
Back at your alarm panel, remove the green wire that’s leading to the keypad from your alarm panel keypad terminal, and connect it using a jumper to any available output pin on the Konnected board. Set up this pin as a Momentary Switch in the app.
Hacking a Wireless Doorbell for 50+ Sounds and Musical Tones
One creative Konnected user @vseven figured out how to hack a $18 wireless doorbell with Konnected and a relay module. This gives you 50 different sounds or chimes and adjustable volume! Read his detailed Konnected writeup with a Wireless Doorbell on the SmartThings Community
Output Pins
Any of the following pins can be used for a relay, doorbell or piezo buzzer:
D1D2D5D6D7D8- High level trigger devices only. Don’t use with low level trigger relays.
For most applications it’s recommended to use pin D8 for output because it cannot be used as an input.