Electric Doorbell

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Oubadah

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Ultimate Geek

#87577 1-Aug-2011 20:03

I need a doorbell, what advice can you give me? It needs two buttons (front and back door), and it would be nice if it had two separate chimes as it's a large house, but one will do. I'll consider wired or wireless... I hate the idea of batteries, and the wiring is not impossible, but I guess wireless would be much quicker and possibly cheaper?

Thanks.

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352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#500562 1-Aug-2011 21:06

get one that has a speaker attached and is IP enabled, so when someone rolls up to your door, you can answer the doorbell through your phone, even when you're not at home!

Regs

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Snowflake

#500570 1-Aug-2011 21:16

i remember buying a wireless door chime from DSE a few years back. It contained fewer components, but was twice as expensive as the DVD player on the shelf next to it :P

If you're going to go to the expense of installing a wired doorbell, perhaps it might be worth considering an upgrade to one with a video camera - the kind you can tune your TV set in and see the person standing at the door before you go answer it? I think they're called door phones..

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Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#500578 1-Aug-2011 21:56

Sounds expensive! Should I consider a sensor on the driveway? Some kind of low voltage PIR? That way I could have it operate my outdoor lights via relay as well.

ZollyMonsta

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#500609 1-Aug-2011 23:09

BING BONG!

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

SpookyAwol

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Ultimate Geek

#500634 2-Aug-2011 06:21

Never ask a geek a simple question :-)

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#500787 2-Aug-2011 14:05

What sort of costs would I be looking at for a four camera surveillance system with hard recording?

xpd

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#500789 2-Aug-2011 14:09

$1000 if you go via TradeMe..... probably half that if you setup your own system. We bought a couple of Swann units (DVR and cameras) for around $700 a set from DSE a while back.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#500798 2-Aug-2011 14:26

xpd: $1000 if you go via TradeMe..... probably half that if you setup your own system. We bought a couple of Swann units (DVR and cameras) for around $700 a set from DSE a while back.

Do they actually have some kind of night vision capacity?

Byrned

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Ultimate Geek

#500864 2-Aug-2011 15:53

Jaycar have a unit that includes 4 IR cameras with 500GB PVR with network connectivity on special at the moment for $875.

xpd

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#500895 2-Aug-2011 16:22

Oubadah:
xpd: $1000 if you go via TradeMe..... probably half that if you setup your own system. We bought a couple of Swann units (DVR and cameras) for around $700 a set from DSE a while back.

Do they actually have some kind of night vision capacity?

Dont thgink the ones we got do.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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jonb

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#500905 2-Aug-2011 16:33

I clicked on the random cartoon on xkcd today and saw this one..

http://xkcd.com/309/

This answers to this thread make it real

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#500947 2-Aug-2011 18:14

http://www.elive.co.nz/swann-dvr4-1200-4-cameras-t18529.php

They supposedly work at night.

Regs

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Snowflake

#501084 2-Aug-2011 22:42

ok, does the dvr security system actually function as a "doorbell" though? .... at least my door phone did :)

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Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#501174 3-Aug-2011 09:15

Regs: ok, does the dvr security system actually function as a "doorbell" though? .... at least my door phone did :)

The combination of the 'drivewaybell' sensor and the surveillance system should render the door phone redundant, unless the target happens to enter the property from the bushes or over a fence. :D

Seriously though, I'm interested in a 'local' motion sensor that I can position on a post at the end of the driveway to alert me to traffic coming into the property. It would be ~30m from the house, so the underground wiring would have to be low voltage. I just want it to be able to activate a beeper/flasher, and hopefully trigger a relay to initiate my outdoor lighting (that would kill two birds with one stone; I've had it with these house mounted security lights and sensors - none of them have the range I require). Does anyone know of anything like that?

richms

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#501462 3-Aug-2011 16:10

Go check out deal extreme - the cameras are only aboout US$20 for a cheap one with IR lighting - I spent more on the wire than the cameras.

Recording is a PCI card in a junk old computer (P4 2.something) with XP on it. The ugly software only works at 1024x768 so it looks pretty bad on a widescreen TFT but it "works"

Ex lease junk computers are $20-30 on trademe typically, just watch that it has satas in it so you can put a proper sized HDD on it for recordings.

Richard rich.ms

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