Continuing with the theme of setting up a smarter doorbell, let’s take a look at programming the ISY-994i to send a text message and/or email when the doorbell rings, so that we are aware of package deliveries or other visitors when we’re not necessarily within earshot of the chime.
The first thing we need to do is set up the Emails/Notifications section in the ISY-994i. We need to tell it how to send emails, who to send emails to, what the content of those messages should be, and when to send them.
How to send emails. In the ISY-994i admin interface, go to the “Configuration” tab, then “Emails/Notifications”, and define the values for your mail server under the “Settings/Groups” tab. For example, if you have a Gmail account, you’ll use smtp.gmail.com for the “SMTP Server” value and 587 for the “SMTP Port”. Your “User ID” and “Password” will be your full Gmail address and password (or, if you’re using the 2-factor authentication, which you should, it will be the “Application-Specific Password” – learn more about this here). Also check the “Use TLS” box.
Who to send emails to. Next, you define “Recipients” by clicking “Add” at the bottom of the screen. Here, if you want to receive a text message and you’re on AT&T, just enter {10-digit phone number}@txt.att.net (other carrier suffixes can be found here). You can also receive regular email, and if you’d like a notification to go to two different addresses, separate them by a comma. For example:
1234567890@txt.att.net,mymail@gmail.com
is a great product that allows you to do just that – hit a button on your keychain from a couple feet away and the door magically unlocks – no keys necessary. Installation is very simple and well-documented; you just replace the current deadbolt with the Morning model. From the outside, the deadbolt looks like pretty much any other – with the addition of a red and green LEDs that light up when the deadbolt is locking or unlocking:
and the motor mechanism to throw the latch, as well as the traditional deadbolt latch you use to manually throw the lock:
) are simple and reasonably reliable, although I find the range relatively short (about 5 feet), and one of the batteries were dead in the package I received.
to shave 1/8″ off the bottom of my deadbolt plate to make the bolt slide in smoothly.
, which I got after my old 
finally gave up the ghost. (It looks like there are newer 
and 
models, but I haven’t been in the market for a while).
as well as the new 
transmitter. Fortunately for me, my doorbell wires landed in my 1980’s intercom system so I had easy access to the leads as well as power when I replaced the old system with my 
.
. For these instances you’ll find that one option is the 
, 
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, and 
.
, and have been very happy with it. Whether there is a brown-out, black-out, or I’m doing some wiring that requires me to 
sucks up a ton of power, and in the event of a blackout I get more than twice the battery length for the rest of my electronic gear if I turn it off (about 33 minutes with the monitor on and 77 with it off):
. This device is about as simple as they come: it’s a magnetic sensor that reports its open-closed status to your Insteon network via 
