I am thinking for my next automation project, I want to do the front exterior of the house. This would include a Z-wave front door deadbolt, front exterior lights (2), motion sensor and a doorbell kit. This forum has plenty of information regarding the door locks and lighting. However, information regarding the door bells is lacking.
I see a lot of people are using wireless Z-wave door sensors with auxiliary contacts for the door bell. However my house already has a hard wired door sensor, so I do not want to replace this or add a redundant wireless door contact sensor. Scouring the web, I cannot find a doorbell interface that is Z-wave compatible.
What I have found over at Smart home is an Insteon I/O Link for door bells and telephones.
[url=http://www.smarthome.com/24950A6/I-O-Linc-INSTEON-Doorbell-and-Telephone-Ring-Alert-Kit/p.aspx]http://www.smarthome.com/24950A6/I-O-Linc-INSTEON-Doorbell-and-Telephone-Ring-Alert-Kit/p.aspx[/url]
So I am just wondering what the opinions would be on this.
So the plan would be to wire the existing doorbell into this device and have the device trigger my Vera when the door bell is pressed. One trigger may be turn the front doorway light on if it is night time, although I may have a motion sensor do this for me instead. Another one may be to send me a still image of the person who pressed the doorbell. This would be helpful if I am in bed, out in the backyard or even not home. I have not worked out all the details on how I would do this, but this is what I am thinking right now and it looks like the Insteon I/O interface would be a key piece. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks
Chris