Open the Door – Part 1

Since I have yet to be able to recover my lost data from old blog entries I decided to try to re-create this article.

A little over a year ago I received a phone call at work form my mother. She had locked herself out of the house. I had to leave work, and drive the forty minutes home to let her in. Then drive back to work. At the time we were beginning the process of adding an addition onto the house to make entry easier for my wheel chair bound mother. I realized this would be the perfect time to add an electric keyless entry system so that she would never be locked out of the house again.
After deciding that I was going to do this, I began to decide what it was I wanted in the system. I looked though a few catalogs and came up with the following features I felt would be the most beneficial to us.

• Ability to answer the door from anywhere in the house
• Ability to enter the house by using a code
• Ability to assign multiple codes and change them quickly
• Ability to handle both the front and rear doors
• Ability to still enter and exit using keys if the system fails
• System shouldn’t cost a small fortune

After doing more research, I could not find any one system that met with all of my requirements. I did however find two systems that I was certain could be interconnected to do what I needed. I settled on the Doorbell Fon and a keyless entry system from SmartHome. I actually found the Doorbell Fon on EBay new from an electrical contractor for half price. In addition to the the keypad kit, and the Doorbell Fon itself I had to purchase the optional Electric Lock Controller, an Electric Lock, and a 12V DC power transformer. (Had I have really been thinking I could have probably managed just fine with an old AT computer power supply)

Parts List: (Smarthome)

• 5070CW – DOORBELL FON DOOR ANSWERING SYSTEM (DP-28C) -WHITE
• 5070DSW – EXTRA WHITE INTERCOM STATION
• 5070EL – ELECTRIC LOCK CONTROLLER (DP-28SW)
• 519012 – ELECTRIC DOOR STRIKE 12VDC
• 3062 – 12VDC 1.5A POWER SUPPLY

Also needed:

• hook up wire (I used 5 wire thermostat wire from Menards)
• short lengths of Cat5 wire for telephone connections
• wire nuts, various sizes
• Terminal Block for connecting wires and keeping things clean.
• Siding “J-Box” to give a professionally mounted look for the intercom, and the keypad

Part two will include wiring diagrams and more details on the install.

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Bryan Bowers

Saturday night I attended the Bryan Bowers concert at the Folk-Lore Center in Warrenville. My fellow Bounding Maniac Dave joined me for dinner and the show. It was a good show, including a few call and response songs, which I enjoyed. Of course like most shows there’s one song that is stuck in my head and I have yet to find it on any recording. Perhaps it will be on his next album. Come to think of it I haven’t check mudcat, perhaps I can find it there…. Nope, not on mudcat either. I would have to conclude then that it is an original song. I did find a simmilar song, titled Woodland Dream on iTunes, but it is definitly not the same song.