Blinking Lights with Doorbell Ring - Smart Home Automation
Automating Lights with Your Smart Doorbell
Professional home automation systems offer the convenience of linking your lighting to your doorbell. However, a comparable effect can be achieved utilizing existing smart devices.
Specifically, you can integrate a smart video doorbell, such as those from Ring or SkyBell HD, with Philips Hue bulbs.
Setting Up the Integration
This integration allows your lights to flash whenever someone activates your doorbell. The following steps detail the setup process.
The functionality provides an immediate visual alert, supplementing the audio notification from the doorbell.
Further Information: A guide on maintaining your Ring Doorbell's power is available when the battery level is depleted.
The Benefits of a Doorbell Light Integration
A common application for integrating a doorbell with a lighting system is to assist individuals who are deaf or have a hearing impairment. This setup provides a visual notification when someone is at the door, circumventing the need to rely on auditory cues.
Beyond accessibility, this integration offers convenience for all residents. It's particularly useful in larger homes or when individuals are located in areas distant from the doorbell chime.
Enhanced Awareness
Even those with normal hearing can benefit from this system. If you're in a remote part of the house, blinking lights serve as a clear indicator that a visitor has arrived.
This ensures you won't miss a visitor simply because the doorbell chime wasn't audible in your current location.
- Increased Accessibility: Provides a vital alert system for those with hearing loss.
- Extended Range: Notifies you of visitors regardless of distance from the chime.
- Peace of Mind: Ensures you're always aware of who is at your door.
Ultimately, connecting your doorbell to your lights enhances home awareness and provides a valuable safety and convenience feature.
Establishing the Connection
This process utilizes IFTTT, a platform enabling connections between diverse products and services that are typically incompatible. If you are new to IFTTT, a beginner’s guide detailing account creation, app linking, and recipe building is available for your reference.
To simplify the setup, we have pre-configured a recipe, utilizing a Ring Doorbell as the smart video doorbell. For those proficient with IFTTT, simply click the “Add” button below to implement it. Ensure the Philips Hue and Ring channels are connected beforehand.
Should customization be desired – particularly if you possess different smarthome devices – the following steps outline the recipe’s creation. Begin by navigating to IFTTT’s homepage and selecting “My Recipes” at the page’s top. Confirm you are logged into your account.
Subsequently, click the “Create a Recipe” option.
Select the blue-highlighted “this” link.
Enter “Ring” into the search field, or locate it within the grid of available products and services. Click on it once found.
On the “Choose a Trigger” screen, select “New Ring Detected”.
The following screen presents a drop-down menu; choose your Ring Doorbell from the list. Typically, only one option will be available. After selecting your device, click “Create Trigger”.
Now, click on the blue-highlighted “that”.
Type “Philips Hue” into the search box, or find it within the product grid. Click on it when located.
You will now define the action your lights will perform upon a doorbell ring. Selecting “Blink lights” is recommended for this purpose.
Next, specify the lights to be affected. Due to limitations within IFTTT’s Philips Hue integration, you can only choose to control all Philips Hue bulbs or a single bulb.
After selecting the desired light, click “Create Action”.
On the subsequent page, assign a custom title to your recipe, if desired, and then click “Create Recipe”. The recipe is now active; your light(s) will blink whenever someone presses your doorbell.
