Museum wireless doorbell thingamajig
I'm looking for an innovative (read: simple and cheap) way for museum visitors to press a button in order to alert our docents who may be elsewhere, such as working in the warehouse or visiting other InfoAge exhibits. There are video doorbell products from Ring.com and others ranging from $120-$300. These have cameras connecting to smartphone apps. That way range isn't an issue and you can have video conversations. These products are awesome but expensive. What's a cheaper solution? There is no easy way to run a wire from our museum to the warehouse. Video is not necessary, but a simple "house phone" approach would work (such as in an office building or hotel) or even just a buzzer. Or maybe some kind of pager. This is a project I'd like to get done very soon, not just someday. Most of all, if people have proposals that require engineering, then we need to see "I'll do it" not "Here's what someone should do".
I have a wireless door bell at my home. The button has a double A battery, and the "bell" is plugged into an AC outlet. Not sure of the range, though I'm sure you could string several together using the same frequency and have them ring simultaneously. Chris cgioconda@gmail.com On Dec 28, 2016 6:22 PM, "Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
I'm looking for an innovative (read: simple and cheap) way for museum visitors to press a button in order to alert our docents who may be elsewhere, such as working in the warehouse or visiting other InfoAge exhibits.
There are video doorbell products from Ring.com and others ranging from $120-$300. These have cameras connecting to smartphone apps. That way range isn't an issue and you can have video conversations. These products are awesome but expensive.
What's a cheaper solution?
There is no easy way to run a wire from our museum to the warehouse.
Video is not necessary, but a simple "house phone" approach would work (such as in an office building or hotel) or even just a buzzer. Or maybe some kind of pager.
This is a project I'd like to get done very soon, not just someday.
Most of all, if people have proposals that require engineering, then we need to see "I'll do it" not "Here's what someone should do".
I have a wireless door bell at my home
On second thought, a wireless intercom would be a better choice, especially in the winter. We don't want to bundle up and walk back to the museum only to find some kid was whacking the button or someone wasn't that interested or whatever. Whereas an intercom would let us talk to them before schlepping over there.
Good point. I'd check Office Depot/Staples/whatever they are called now, or Amazon. On Dec 28, 2016 6:41 PM, "Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
I have a wireless door bell at my home
On second thought, a wireless intercom would be a better choice, especially in the winter. We don't want to bundle up and walk back to the museum only to find some kid was whacking the button or someone wasn't that interested or whatever. Whereas an intercom would let us talk to them before schlepping over there.
On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 06:17:12PM -0500, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'm looking for an innovative (read: simple and cheap) way for museum visitors to press a button in order to alert our docents who may be elsewhere
Can you assume visitors and docents have cell phones? The cheapest is just have a sign our docent is elswhere on campus, call xxx for a tour. If docents have cell phones but you don't want to require visitors to have one you were talking about getting some cheap tablets. There are various messaging apps you may be able to use. Not sure if you can lock them down to prevent abuse. I haven't done android development to know how hard making something simple is.
There are various messaging apps you may be able to use. Not sure if you can lock them down to prevent abuse.
I like this idea a lot! We're going to put an Android kiosk up front anyhow. It would probably be simple(ish) to add a "page the docent" icon. A couple of weeks ago I tried a dozen-plus applications for locking down tablets. Settled on an app called Fully Web Browser. It does everything we need, it's cheap, and it's easy to use.
Evan, In the box & ready for pickup: Waveware SPS-5 transmitter with 4 pagers. Talk to it via serial port to send alphanumeric messages to the docents. Pagers are just retro enough to fit into the museum. Martin On 12/28/2016 6:17 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'm looking for an innovative (read: simple and cheap) way for museum visitors to press a button in order to alert our docents who may be elsewhere, such as working in the warehouse or visiting other InfoAge exhibits.
There are video doorbell products from Ring.com and others ranging from $120-$300. These have cameras connecting to smartphone apps. That way range isn't an issue and you can have video conversations. These products are awesome but expensive.
What's a cheaper solution?
There is no easy way to run a wire from our museum to the warehouse.
Video is not necessary, but a simple "house phone" approach would work (such as in an office building or hotel) or even just a buzzer. Or maybe some kind of pager.
This is a project I'd like to get done very soon, not just someday.
Most of all, if people have proposals that require engineering, then we need to see "I'll do it" not "Here's what someone should do".
participants (4)
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Christopher Gioconda -
David Gesswein -
Evan Koblentz -
Martin A Flynn