Daily Archives: November 6, 2017

Hardware Projects

Wrapping it all up

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Building a video doorbell requires little more than curiosity, a good grasp on software and very basic know-how on hardware.
For example, I did not even have to design or solder a single circuit so far, as the Raspberry PI Zero W allows you to use its internal pull-down or pull-up resistors.

For the past two weeks I have been working on building a Video Doorbell. I build all the pieces, connected the electronic side, and installed OS and software packages. Now we are starting to see results.

Video Doorbell Chassis:

I have finally been able to pack all into one chassis and close it in.

  • Empty chassis
    Empty chassis
    Empty chassis
  • Added electronics and screws
    Added electronics and screws
    Added electronics and screws
  • All enclosed
    All enclosed
    All enclosed

There are still a few items remaining …

  1. Add the microphone ( waiting for delivery )
  2. Properly configure WebRTC to connect from outside the home network.
  3. Write the Android / iOS apps to receive the notifications.
  4. Connecting our current wireless doorbell button to the back of the chassis.
  5. Spray paint the chassis
  6. Connecting the power source to the Video Doorbell
  7. Screwing it to the door.

I have prepared our existing doorbell button by adding two wires to overwrite the push button. These two wires will simply connect to the new button on our Video Doorbell. I will not need to worry about a power supply for this part of the system as it is powered by its own little battery. I will leave that battery in place as is.

The mechanical, and electrical challenges are nearly solved and the most important remaining bits are now in software.

Video Doorbell Software:

I created a placeholder for the required software pieces in GitHub.

Below is a screenshot from the RPI-WebRTC-Streamer web page, connecting to the camera. I have found the connection to be quite unreliable and will have to make sure that there is a much more solid connection rate possible before I go ahead and expose the interface to the outside.

Once you connect you can see that the video is upside-down. That is due to wiring constraints, which forced me to mount the camera upside-down into the chassis. However this will be an easy fix in software.

Fun-fun-fun

Today I have weed my door as the previous wires were cut and left dead. Another unexpected surprise came when I realized that there are no remaining power outlets left in the basement.

So tomorrow I will have shut down the power to our basement, wire a power strip to a power hub and screw it into the wall.