ACNC Doorbell Fon question

Pros:

1. Simple 2-wire installation that can usually replace a standard doorbell button without running new wires to the door.
2. Every phone (including cordless) can answer the front door -- handy if you're out in the back yard, etc.
3. Inexpensive.

Cons:

1. Maximum configuration is 2 doors so it's mainly a residential unit.

Good question. I believe the system gives you the same "call waiting" tone that it generates if someone presses the doorbell while you're on a phone call. Usually conversations to the door stations only last a few seconds so this shouldn't be a problem.

The primary add-ons are in-bound and out-bound relays.

1. In-bound relays can trigger a regular doorbell or trigger an event on a home automation system when someone pushes a button.
2. Out-bound relays are good for releasing a door strike, triggering an HA event, etc, when you press the assigned touch-tone key on your telephone.

I sell Doorbell Fon online in case you're interested.

I'm just worried that someone at the front door could manage to lock up the phone line. Not a good security situation but probably a built-in peril with a device that mixes phone lines with external access points. Probably not anything to really worry about, but stuff happens! :-)

I think it's finally worth having wireless access to the front and side doors via cordless phone and this looks like an easy (and portable) way to do that.

Thanks for the prompt answer.

-- Bobby G.

The unit can't actually lock up the phone line. It doesn't make or receive calls. It synthesizes a different ring signal to the inside phones. You can always make or take phone calls. Also, if you have a security system it would be wired to the phone lines ahead of the Doorbell Fon. The connection order should be as follows: [incoming line] ... [alarm system] ... [Doorbell Fon] ... [ house phones].

While the alarm is using the phone to report an emergency it kills the connection to the Doorbell Fon unit and phones.

NP.

Great! That answers some of my other questions, too.

I'll bet I am borderline with the number of phones since I have problems with the CID signal strength reaching all CID capable phones. If I understand the manual correctly, the unit must be attached to the phone line just after it enters the house and ahead of all other telephone devices. Does your setup also include a phone dialer for your alarm system? I assume, as RLB discussed, the DoorFon must be installed downstream of a line seizure type alarm autodialer.

Good to know that they are reliable. These are the details that make newsgroups invaluable.

Simple to repair is good.

Gonna go cheap the first time around. Might look at the brass boxes later. I'd probably spray them with some sort of clear coating to inhibit corrosion.

Thanks for checking into that for me. It sounded as if that was the behavior to be expected, but it's nice to know for sure.

Neat. Any ETA? As the landline charges continued to mount, I'm more and more tempted to go totally wireless and switch to a cellphone that allows me to connect it the whole house phone system when I am home. Ideally, I'd like to have multiline phones at home and to set up one line as the cellphone. The problem is that the place I'd like to set up the cradle has a very weak signal

That's good to know. Once you've becoming used to full duplex operation, it's hard to go back to the more primitive. I make a lot of calls to Oz and every once in a while I get a connection where I can hear my own voice about

1 or 2 seconds after I've said something. It's almost impossible to concentrate on what you are saying if you hear your own voice echoing back on a time delay.

I can live with those features, I think. While I figure I could cobble something like DoorFon together with HomeSeer and some old intercom parts, it would take way too long and probably not work as reliably as the DoorFon. It also looks like something that would be easy to "undo" if I move.

One more question, if I may. Any ideas how long it will run on a 12V 20AH gel cell? We're approaching spring storm season around here, and that sometimes means the power goes out for four days or more, depending on the severity of the storm. In our area, the power company has decided to shift tree trimming costs to the local government, who in turn has tried to "shed" the cost onto local residents. The end result is that far fewer trees than should be are trimmed, and when there's a bad storm, those untrimmed trees drag down the powerlines.

Thanks for the report, Bruce. I really appreciate it!

-- Bobby G.

I'm just afraid of Mr. Murphy and his law. I'm sure the designers did not intend any accidental cross-connections to occur, but I'm also sure the guys who designed those hanging walkways for the Hyatt Regency didn't intend for them to collapse when people decided to dance on them!

That's good. From what I've read each of the two door inputs generates a different ring tone to indicate which door is "ringing" the phone. I hope the tones are different than the special tones I have for my anonymous call rejection package.

I'm always just a little bit leery of automatic line seizure devices. I was in a situation once where I was talking to emergency services on the phone when the alarm system decided to seize the line and disconnect us. It was not a pleasant experience. I have two lines now, but it's still not a good thing to have happen. I suppose it's too much to ask of a line seizure device to check and see if a 911 call is already in progress and not to interrupt it if it is.

-- Bobby G.

I use the DoorbellFon at both my homes and on other jobs. At one house I have 2 doors plus a front gate covered. The front gate uses one ring and the 2 doors share the other ring. I have two gate controllers hooked up to the front gate input. '#' operates the motor gate and '*' operates the pedestrian gate. I also have the dry contact module installed to interface to the Stargate. At my other house I just have one door and no modules. At the larger home I have about 20 phones and I found that the DoorbellFon unit didn't have enough juice to ring all those phones. I solved that by adding a Viking Ring Booster to the output which solved the problem. I had to do the same thing at another home that has about

10 phones but NOT at my other house that has 12! So, depending on how many and what type of phones you have, you might need the booster if you have a lot of phones. The units are reliable and the owner, Paul, is very helpful and accommodating in dealing with any special requests. One unit that was located in a hot Houston attic failed but was promptly replaced under warranty. The new unit was installed in a closet where the temperature is more moderate. On the door units themselves I've had no problem with the ones in plastic housings. The two I have that are brass flushmounts tarnished badly but they now ship an upgraded anodized finish which, after a year by the ocean, still looks like new. On the flushmount that's exposed with no overhang to protect it, I did have a microphone go bad. I bought a replacement mike at Radio Shack for about $2 and used a piece of Saran Wrap to waterproof it. Sound is still fine and no problem after a year. If you buy a flushmont from Mike Sandman it'll have a standard mechanical doorbell button which you will have to replace from time to time. All other dealers sell it with the factory standard electronic touch button that is waterproof and has no moving parts. When I replaced the tarnished plates I got the touch buttons too and have been very pleased with them. I never got an outside call while on a doorbell call so I just tried it and found that indeed, there is a call waiting beep to let you know a call is coming in. If you are on an outside call when the doorbell rings you get a call waiting tone as well. While it's been delayed, Paul is working on an add-on unit that will transfer doorbell calls to your cellphone when you're not home. They used to have one but withdrew it for redesign. Touch 'n Talk has that feature but I don't like the fact that their product ins simplex rather than full duplex like the DoorbellFon. In fact, the full duplex operation is probably the most important feature. It's difficult to converse without repeating yourself without it.

Summation:

Pros: Full Duplex operation Uses existing doorbell wiring for easy retrofits Simple installation with good instructions Variety of add-on modules for gate control and other uses Excellent support Very reasonable pricing

Cons: Ring Booster required for larger installations

From:Robert Green ROBERT snipped-for-privacy@YAH00.COM

Darn, I thought sure I saw/assumed/hallucinated what I thought was 12VDC input in one of the wiring diagrams I saw. This changes the plans a bit. I'll clearly get more runtime per gel cell with a straight-thru 12VDC connection and a float charger, and at a lower cost than a UPS, but an off-the-shelf UPS might be a cleaner, more "movable when you leave" solution. Any idea what the unit draws on standby?

Here's another question: How do you wire HA stuff into a house in a way that it clearly "does not convey" short of labeling each control unit with the buyer-unfriendly "Not Included?" I could see someone not wanting the HA per se, but wanting to make an issue of it being partially removed by closing.

-- Bobby G.

It wasn't the dancing that did them in. The supports were "re-engineered" by the construction company. The original engineering would have held just fine. It was a PITA trying to assemble long, threaded support rods through the multi-tiered walkways. Someone decided to change the design to make it easier to assemble. The rest is history.

Without hearing your unit I couldn't tell you. If you want, try one out on the bench for a week or two without actually installing it. If it doesn't meet your needs I'll take it back.

That would make an interesting project. It's certainly doable but nothing currently on the market that I know of can do it. Some alarms can be programmed to terminate communications and release the line if a valid user code is entered at the keypad. Also, modern alarm reporting formats are much faster than what we had to deal with a few years ago so interference with voice calls is less of a problem. It's still a valid concern but just not as bad as it used to be.

Re: Alarm dialer - right, keep it downstream of the dialer. Re: Brass boxes. The new ones are actually anodized gold colored plates rather than real brass so there's no need to clearcoat and they don't tarnish. Wish he had a PVD PB finish like doorlocks and faucets now use. Re: ETA on dial-out device, they've had some problems perfecting it and it's about a year behind schedule. Re: Operation on a 12v gel cel. The unit would need to be plugged into a UPS as it's 110 vac powered. Size of UPS will determine length as well as how many people drop by and press the button.

From:Robert Green ROBERT snipped-for-privacy@YAH00.COM

As listed on their site, it draws 0.1amps at 117vac. IOW, it doesn't use much power. As far as taking installed HA things with me if I sell my home, I really don't care. The time it takes to remove something and put in something else - be it a switch or a doorbell - makes it hardly worth the trouble. I'd rather just get new/better stuff for a new house. With prices as high as they are for homes today the cost of replacing the HA stuff with new is generally less than 1% of the price. But, if you do want to take something, just be clear in the listing and the counteroffer as to what's in/excluded.

From:Robert Green ROBERT snipped-for-privacy@YAH00.COM

If a custom ring cadence or a longer ring time is required, contact Paul at the factory. They have chips available for around $5 that do that.

From:Robert L. Bass snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net