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Smart intercom (Monkey on Kickstarter)

A project I have backed on Kickstarter, called Monkey: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/getmonkeynow/monkey-the-smart-key-for-your-main-entrance-door
They are creating a chip to place in your intercom, so when you live in an appartment you can open the door with your smartphone.

My own thoughts on this: http://www.domotica.center/monkey-maak-je-intercom-smart/ (in Dutch)

It would be kinda cool if we could reroute the signal from the intercom/Monkey chip to Homey, so Homey also knows when the intercom is 'calling'. And we could say "Hey Homey, open the door please" :)

Although the project has just started, the goal is already reached. The Monkey will be available in the summer of 2016 if all goes well. There might be some more people here interested in this project, so I thought I'd share it.

Comments

  • Thanks for sharing! Exactly what I was looking for. Backed!

  • Shouldn't be very difficult to make, all it does is circumvent the switch in your intercom system.. Just to see I just removed the cover of my intercom and a simple relays does the trick! Could be used in combination with the wireless modules for homey.

  • I created a simular solution with the Fibaro Universal Sensor (zwave) and a relay.

  • JaapPeltJaapPelt Member
    edited October 2015

    Very interesting concept. I'm considering backing this one, but I don't know for sure if my intercom with audio and video is supported. My apartment is sharing the same cable with the apartments above and below me. If nobody calls, I can't open the door by pressing the button. Perhaps if I skip all my circuitry and connect 2 pins directly it might work, but I'm a bit doubtful. The description suggest all intercoms are supported...

    If someone with a similar intercom can help with the electronics (based on a raspberry pi or arduino), I'll write and maintain a homey driver for it.

  • It might be not so hard to create yourself if you know what to do, but I am not that technical to try stuff with the intercom myself.... mostly because I don't want to mess up the intercom system for the complete building ;)

    This Monkey thing can be tried for 30 days and if you don't like it, they say you can return it and get your money back. But ofcourse I hope it does work!

  • Hi Jorden! thanks for sharing! Just backed it, it was just what I needed, hah.

  • JaapPelt said:
    (...) but I don't know for sure if my intercom with audio and video is supported. My apartment is sharing the same cable with the apartments above and below me. If nobody calls, I can't open the door by pressing the button. Perhaps if I skip all my circuitry and connect 2 pins directly it might work, but I'm a bit doubtful. The description suggest all intercoms are supported...

    If someone with a similar intercom can help with the electronics (based on a raspberry pi or arduino), I'll write and maintain a homey driver for it.

    Do you know what type of intercom and door driver you have installed? The fact that you can't open the door when nobody calls makes me a bit sceptical if this works.

  • €69 for something like this isn't too terrible, thanks for bringing it up! Pledged! I agree that telling Homey to open the front door would be awesome!
    I actually bought a WeMo maker to do exactly this, since I have an analogue system I thought there shouldn't be a problem... I ended up doing something (till now I don't know what) and I killed the whole system, now the buzzer doesn't work and I had to exchange the electric buzzer... guess i'll have to wait till June :)

  • JaapPeltJaapPelt Member
    edited October 2015

    DieterKoblenz said:
    Do you know what type of intercom and door driver you have installed? The fact that you can't open the door when nobody calls makes me a bit sceptical if this works.

    An urmet:
    https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs129/1102159038997/img/373.jpg
    The image is grainy, black and white and fishy eyed, no colorful smiles...

  • Just received a mail yesterday, Monkey has reached their $100.000 stretch goal which means:
    integration with Apple HomeKit, Nest, Smartthings, IFTTT, Wink and Homey.

    Awesome!

  • jorden said:
    Just received a mail yesterday, Monkey has reached their $100.000 stretch goal which means:
    integration with Apple HomeKit, Nest, Smartthings, IFTTT, Wink and Homey.

    Awesome!

    Damn you! Now I HAVE to back it...

  • Hi all, some of you already saw it, but we wanted to do a little more 'official' post on Monkey, so herewith we confirm that Homey will indeed, as stated above, support Monkey! So if any of you are living in an apartment building, you know what to get ;)

    Best,

    Stefan

    Announcement:
    Opening the door of your apartment building is now also possible via Homey! Our friends at LocumiLabs have created a cool little device called monkey that does just that, and of course it talks with Homey! They are currently running a Kickstarter for the project, so if you are living in an apartment building, be sure to check our their campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/getmonkeynow/monkey-the-smart-key-for-your-main-entrance-door

  • Awesome +1 :)

  • I live in a city. Not sure if I like all some of the potential security implications.
    I also have an Urmet, but a different version. Although I don't see issues with the video as some neighbors don't have the video option and can still control the door..
    I see the same challenge however with Urmet that you can only open the door when someone rings it... but I guess that's a good security feature... else any less security conscious neighbor could by accident keep the door open permanently. With more neighbor's than you like that not what you want.
    With Urmet you can as long as you ring the door yourself (no main door key with you) use the app to open the door... two-step approach and with a dependency of having an internet signal while ringing the door-bell this could be a workaround. Now I can stay on my balcony etc. and open the door.
    The other problem I see is another a security 'feature' I don't like is the fact that you don't know for who you're opening the door, audio/video integration would be nice, I'll see if I can post my suggestions @MonKEY.

  • Love this product! Unfortunately I've got no intercom in my appartement. I've only got a switch (like a lightswitch) to unlock the entrance door.
    Is there any possibility that i could control this via Z-Wave? Maybe with another solution?
  • There are switches which van do that.
    Most switches for garage doors or blinds have relais separate from their own power, so they can act like a switch for a wire with no current on it.
    http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/nl/producten-1/amu-501/ for example. 
  • Whats your address? maybe I could shout "homey open the door please" from the outside :smiley: 
    Think its a bit risky to make opening your front door via voice commands.
  • Devices linked to 'security' are locked out of being voice controlled according to Emile :smile: 
  • By default locked out from being voice controlled, ofcourse you can create your own app (and hazard :))
  • PeaoPeao Member
    edited February 2016
    Peao said:
    Love this product! Unfortunately I've got no intercom in my appartement. I've only got a switch (like a lightswitch) to unlock the entrance door.
    Is there any possibility that i could control this via Z-Wave? Maybe with another solution?
    JaapPelt said:
    There are switches which van do that.
    Most switches for garage doors or blinds have relais separate from their own power, so they can act like a switch for a wire with no current on it.
    http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/nl/producten-1/amu-501/ for example. 
    I am now looking for the z-wave product (by fibaro) to get my door to the stairway z-wave'able 
    Its opened by a "electric strike", so if I hold a button in my flat it triggers the doorlock so you could open it. So it only has 2 states pressed and not pressed.
    What fibaro module do I need for this?

    http://fibarozwaveshop.com/product/relay-switch-2x15kw-fgs-221/

    or

    http://fibarozwaveshop.com/product/roller-shutter-2-fgrm-222/

    Thanks in advance!
  • i think the relay switch wil be fine.
    flow will be like: 
    close switch relay and after 10 sec then switch back to open. (like a 10 sec press on a button)
  • You can also config a timer in the fibaro relay module, so it allways goes to off after 5 seconds on. 
  • Perfect, thank you guys!
  • jordenjorden Member
    Monkey is now called Nello and they are shipping out the units of their intercom chip now.

    However, I got a mail that my intercom is not currently supported. Really sad because I was really looking forward to automating this. So no Nello app is coming from me anytime soon :(
  • AppieAppie Member
    Same here, did the refund option. Will be something like doorbird icw Nuki 
  • jordenjorden Member
    Yeah that's no option here because I live in an appartment complex with a shared building front door.
  • I also got the mail that my intercom is not yet supported, but they are rechecking it. Also, I have not heard a thing about Homey support which was promised. I volunteered as a beta tester for it, but I think they did not get to it yet.

    A shared front door should not be a problem. I'm planning to use mine with a shared front door as well.
  • jordenjorden Member
    @JaapPelt Yeah but Doorbird is not an option, because that means you have to replace your existing doorbell. I cannot do that at the shared frontdoor of the appartment complex :)
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