justin.cool Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 All, I believe this is the right category in the forum for this....if not let me know and I will repost. I am looking for an ISY-99 controlled / activitated device (eg Insteon compatible) that can generate selected tones. In other words, remote plug in devices that I can put around the house and on the patio that I can program to generate various selectable tones, gongs, or ring tones for a particular condition, for example: * Doorbell * Bedtime for the kids * Car in the driveway * Phone ringing * Freezer / reefer left open * Garage door left open after 10PM I have seen specific devices, for the doorbell, or car in the driveway or phone. And I know how to generate the trigger to the ISY for these events, but flashing lights (as I currently do for some of these conditions) and Switchlinc beeps are only so effective. A pleasant "gong" or ring tone that could be uniquely programmed for each condition would be ideal. Or take it a step further, a pleasant computer voice (if one actually exists) that says: "Garage door is open". (Imagine Hal's voice from 2001 Space Odyssey). Ideally, a small plug in module that could be discretely put in places all over the house and outdoors, that was programmable for the: tone / gong / voice volume range or volume ramp duration of the tone Does anyone out there have a clever way of doing this short of a whole bunch of unique (and expensive) devices??? Link to comment
apostolakisl Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Do you have an intercom system in your house with a line-in? Do you have an Elk m1G? Do you have a computer that runs all the time? Link to comment
justin.cool Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Dear apostolakisl, No, unfortunately I do not have any of the three. No intercom, no computer on all the time except the ISY-99, and really don't want to invest in a ELK, as it appears to be overkill big time. Justin Link to comment
matapan Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Here's an idea I haven't tried myself yet, but I'm sure it should work. No computer is needed. Just an IO Linc and some type of audio device. By "audio device", I'm talking about something that generates the sound you want. It could be a pleasant chime from an existing doorbell ringer you have lying around. Or perhaps a toy with a cute sound bite it produces when pressed. All of these sources generally have a momentary contact button that will generate the sound when contact closure is made. Just take the device apart and find the switch, wire it up to an IOLinc, and presto, you have a pleasant sounding notification device. If you had an internet connected computer, there are sites like Google Translate that will generate natural sounding voices generated from text input. It "reads' what you type and speaks it. You call the URL using a network resource. The output from your computer is directed to the appropriate speaker. Just a few ideas.... Link to comment
apostolakisl Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Here's an idea I haven't tried myself yet, but I'm sure it should work. If you had an internet connected computer, there are sites like Google Translate that will generate natural sounding voices generated from text input. It "reads' what you type and speaks it. You call the URL using a network resource. The output from your computer is directed to the appropriate speaker. Just a few ideas.... That is what I was thinking with the "is you computer always on" question. But it still also needs an intercom unless you have a small house and can crank up the volume on your computer speaker. Link to comment
justin.cool Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 Thanks for the ideas. Since I posted I have done a little research on wireless, and corded, inexpensive doorbells. Some as low as $4, with multi tune / voice recording ones for as little as $15. Where the "bell" unit just plugs into any outlet where you want to hear the tone / song / voice recording. The switch is a battery driven wireless pico sized unit. What would be really slick would be to have an Insteon compatible RF transmitter for these wireless units. Or an IR wireless doorbell unit that I could program with the ISY-99IR. I will keep researching......... Google the Uxcell company. Cheap outfit in Hong Kong or China.....but they have interesting doorbells at very reasonable prices, available through Amazon. Justin Link to comment
apostolakisl Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Thanks for the ideas. Since I posted I have done a little research on wireless, and corded, inexpensive doorbells. Some as low as $4, with multi tune / voice recording ones for as little as $15. Where the "bell" unit just plugs into any outlet where you want to hear the tone / song / voice recording. The switch is a battery driven wireless pico sized unit. What would be really slick would be to have an Insteon compatible RF transmitter for these wireless units. Or an IR wireless doorbell unit that I could program with the ISY-99IR. I will keep researching......... Google the Uxcell company. Cheap outfit in Hong Kong or China.....but they have interesting doorbells at very reasonable prices, available through Amazon. Justin You would be very limited with those. They typically are capable of multiple tones but the user needs to select one of them at the base station. You could use an Insteon relay device and "hot wire" it to the doorbell button allowing ISY to "ring the bell", but that would be just one tone. If you bought 8 of them and selected different tones for each one, it might work, but you would probably find that they all shared the same frequency and thus all would go off every time one of them was triggered. Maybe you can find a hardwired version and thus be able to keep them separate. My doughter has one like that she put on her bedroom door, but it just does a little chime, no voices or anything. Link to comment
Hurting2Ride Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 You might be able to find Ipods on ebay in working condition for $<75. If they can be controlled through the network module or an ipod app that would give you an unlimited number of tones, plus the benefit of having them around for music. Link to comment
justin.cool Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Hurting2Ride Now that is the beginning of an interesting concept!!! Something like an old "cheap" iPod Touch or iPhone, used as an iPod touch, it can be "ON" all the time, and can play through airtunes (using airport express) to selfpowered speakers that I already have around the house. Through an app I should be able to have it play ring tones, songs, gongs, voice, etc etc. And if it can be queued / controlled over the network via the ISY-99?? Is the network module part of the ISY? Thanks, great idea!! Justin Link to comment
Hurting2Ride Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Justin, The later touch ipods (and iPhones) have a built in speaker so if you prefer to only turn on your external speakers for when you play music you should be able to play "tones" 24/7. As far as controlling them, I have not looked in to that yet. I know that you can use an one ipod to control another but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Some of the guys on this board who have a lot more experience with the ISY network module may have played around with something like this or could provide answers. Or perhaps some of the people already building iPod/iPhone apps could add this ability. ...now I've got my own interest up as well. Make sure to let me know if you find a way to do this. H2R Link to comment
justin.cool Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 hurting2ride, Thanks for the input......I have come across some other ideas I am exploring. Including implementation via a Sonos system that I will be getting at the end of the year. Bottom line: The ideal solution would be an Insteon plug in module, with a form factor of an Icon relay or dual band dimmer module, that could play selected tunes/tones/gongs and even have a low level flashing light. It could be fully controlled via the ISY or as part of a scene. And therefore could be used as a remote door bell, telephone ringer, alarm for doors, car in driveway warning, low or high temperature thresholds, etc etc. However, I fear that the business case may not justify what it would take to make this happen at Smarthome. Link to comment
sperok Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I've got a 5 zone Sonos system and have created network resources that let me pause and play specific zones from the ISY using techniques learned on this forum. The trick here is that network resources are one-way, "send and pray". As long as you don't mind that the system has certain failure modes, it can get the job done. You should be able to: - Select the clip to be played - Set the volume - Play the clip - Pause the player The biggest problem you will have is if you care to save the current state of the Sonos player and then resume it when your clip is done. I think that will be very difficult if implemented strictly using network resources because you have no way, AFIK, of discovering what is playing. It can be done, but requires a program that can interact bi-directionally with Sonos external to the ISY. Link to comment
justin.cool Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 sperok, Thanks very much! Great insight. I can certainly see where not being able to pick up where the Sonos player left off would be an issue. I will have to think about this one. Justin Link to comment
matapan Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 If you're going the AirPlay route, note that there is an app called Airfoil that can take input from things beyond iTunes and distribute the audio via Airplay. So, in the example cited previously using Google Translate, you could use Airfoil to distribute the audio wirelessly to any part of the home near an Airport Express connected to a powered speaker. The other advantage of using Airfoil is that it is Applescript-friendly - easier to manage Airplay output sources using this application than iTunes. Link to comment
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