Quick Projects

Making My Own Ring Camera Doorbell With A Raspberry Pi Zero

Last Edited: 2021-05-26 02:42:57

For a few years now I've seen the explosion of IoT (internet of things) devices in the world. I do love technology and these devices that make life easier, but I don't like the underlying connectivity of them. I'm only partially paranoid. I don't really think that anyone would hack into my doorbell, and even if they did they'd probably be pretty bored.

In the process, I did find this article about how, firstly when Ring came out there was a bug that would leak your wifi username and password. And then, evidently, Ring will allow access to your camera for surveillance purposes. I think that's great, I'm on board with that, but if there is access, then there could be an exploit.

My wife was interested in having a wireless doorbell for when she's in the back of the house. I think it would be great if we had a doorbell that could see the front door. I figured I can make an ad hoc Ring doorbell out of a Raspberry Pi and a 3D printed case.

Planning

I figured a standard house door bell was a pretty simple thing. Turns out it's a little more complex than I thought. Quick story, there the 110 that goes to a transformer that makes it about 11 volts AC. That runs to the hallway where the bell is. Then a wire continues out to the doorbell. Looks like the Ring doorbell uses the 16 to 14 volts AC for power. I don't really want to buy anything else for this project and have a Raspberry Pi sitting around so I decided to hijack the existing wires and replace 5 volts DC where the 11 volts AC goes out. This will stop the original bell from ringing but I have an idea for that.