Simple Doorbell Integration

How to Mute, Page or Play a Custom Doorbell Chime when the doorbell is pressed

CasaTunes supports using an external trigger device to initiate muting, paging or playing a custom doorbell chime. Typically, a doorbell is used to initiate a trigger. To detect when a doorbell is pressed, the doorbell must be connected to additional hardware compatible with CasaTunes.

The hardware devices compatible with CasaTunes music servers include various Global Caché devices (the device must support the Global Caché RESTful HTTP API). We recommend using the Global Caché iTach Flex combined with the Link Relay & Sensor Cable option. Other Global Caché products may be used, please check with CasaTunes support.

CasaTunes offers various options for muting, paging or playing a doorbell chime, including; specifying which rooms to include, specifying  individual paging volumes for each room, and in the case of playing a doorbell chime, adding your own custom chimes (chime files are simply music files).

Global Caché Flex and Link Relay and Sensor Cable

The Global Caché Flex device when connected to the Link Relay and Sensor cable provides four sensor inputs (however, only one can be selected for use with CasaTunes) and four relays (which are not used for doorbell integration).

How it works

The sensor input can be used to mute, page, or play a custom doorbell chime in all rooms that are configured for paging. Using CasaSetup, you can select the trigger or sensor on the compatible hardware device to use,  configure whether the input signal goes from low to high, or high to low, and if you are using the trigger or sensor for paging, specify the input source on the CasaTunes 6X6 matrix amplifier to use for the paging audio. You must also connect the audio from your paging hardware to this source.

For simple doorbell integration, simply connect the doorbell to the Global Caché sensor input. Then using CasaSetup, select the sensor input to use and the Doorbell Chime to play.

Enabling and Configuring Muting, Paging, or Custom Chime in CasaSetup

To enable, follow these steps:

1. Open CasaSetup
2. Click on Select Controller menu
3. Select Advanced Settings in the CasaSetup header
4. If the section called CasaTunes Mute, Page and Doorbell Chime Settings is not available, then CasaTunes did not detect the Global Caché device. Make sure the device is on the same network as your CasaTunes music server, and make sure that it is powered on. It usually takes less then a minute after the device is powered on, before it is discovered. You may also need to refresh the browser to check for newly discovered devices.
5. Open the Enable mute, page or doorbell chime when triggered dropdown and select whether you want to use the trigger to mute rooms, page rooms, play a custom chime or disable the trigger
6. Select the Trigger to Use from the dropdown

If you selected mute rooms, then:

• Select whether the Trigger mute, page or chime when the "TRIGGER IN" signal goes from Low to High, or High to Low.

If you selected page rooms, then:

• Select whether the Trigger mute, page or chime when the "TRIGGER IN" signal goes from Low to High, or High to Low.
• Select the Source Input on your CasaTunes 6X6 to use for the page audio.

If you selected play doorbell chime, then:

• Select whether the Trigger mute, page or chime when the "TRIGGER IN" signal goes from Low to High, or High to Low
• Select the custom doorbell chime to play
• CasaTunes will automatically select the CasaTunes Media Player source to use to playback the custom chime. By default it uses a source that is currently not being used. If all sources are in use, then it uses the first available CasaTunes Media Player source.

Configuring the rooms and volume for each room

Once you have enabled muting, paging or playing a custom doorbell chime, then the next step is to configure which rooms should be included (by default all rooms are), and configure the paging volume level for each configured room.

1. Open CasaSetup
2. Select Advanced Settings in the CasaSetup header
3. Select Rooms from the menu
4. Repeat Steps 5-7 for each room (listed in the left hand side)
5. In the <Room Name> Settings section, check the option Enable paging or muting in this room if you want to mute, page or play a custom chime in this room
6. Scroll down to the Volume Settings section
7. Set the Page Volume for the room. This volume is used when paging and playing a custom chime
8. Select Save in the CasaSetup header

Playing custom chimes or audio files

You can add your own custom chimes to play in response to a hardware trigger event, like a doorbell, or you can play a custom chime using an HTTP request. You can use this capability to provide customers with their own unique doorbell rings, or to provide audio notifications in response to various events.

Adding a custom chime (audio file) to play

You can add your own custom doorbell chimes to play. Simply copy your doorbell audio files into the \\CasaServer\CasaData\Chimes folder on your music server.

We recommend you name your audio files with user friendly names, as these will be displayed in CasaSetup in the chimes drop down list for you to select from.

The audio file can be any type that is supported by CasaTunes. This includes files that end in: .wav, .aiff, .aif, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .wma, .ogg, .oga, or .flac

Using the REST APIs

CasaTunes provides a robust set of REST APIs that you can use to control CasaTunes. In fact, these are the same programming interfaces used by our own native Apps. We have added several new REST APIs that will allow you to play a specific audio track in one or more rooms (using room groups). This capability could be tied in to your home automation system to provide audible feedback in response to specific events.

You can test out these REST APIs using our CasaDev tool. This tool provides all the documentation for the REST APIs, as well as providing a sandbox for quick testing of the REST APIs. To start the CasaDev tool, simply enter the following in your browser of choice:

Click on the /System namespace and you will see 4 different doorbell REST APIs available:

• /system/doorbell - This API will play the configured doorbell chime in all rooms that are enabled for paging
• /system/doorbell/chimes/{chime} - This API will play the specified {chime} (audio file) in all rooms that are enabled for paging
• /system/doorbell/zones/{id} - This API will play the configured doorbell chime in the specified room. The specified room can be a room or room group. Simply use the name of the room or room group
• /system/doorbell/zones/{id}/chimes/{chime} - This API will play the specified {chime} (audio file) in the room specified by {id}. The specified room can be a room or room group. Simply use the name of the room or room group

Examples

The following examples assume:

• The name of your music server is CasaServer (default)
• You have copied several audio files in the Chime folder, including SecurityArmed.wav and MyFunkyDoorBell.wav
• You selected MyFunkyDoorBell as the default chime to play when the doorbell is triggered
• You have a room called Master Bedroom

To play your custom doorbell chime (MyFunkyDoorBell) in all rooms where paging is enabled, simply enter the following in your browser:

To provide audio feedback that your security system is now armed in the master bedroom only, simply enter the following in your browser: