Randall's Blog

I recently bought a DoorBird video doorbell. The contenders were Ring and DoorBird, and I chose DoorBird because of its explicit support for SIP. I already have an Asterisk PBX rasPBX and was excited about the potential to integrate the doorbell with my PBX. The scenario I had in mind was that all phones in the house would ring with a distinctive ring when the doorbell button was pressed. In addition, DoorBird has support for ONVIF and reportedly integrates well with a number of home automation systems. If that wasn't enough, it has really good app support for both Android and iPhone.

After physically installing the doorbell using 2 existing wires for power and wifi for communication, then configuring it with the Android app, I set out to setup SIP communication with Asterisk. I scoured the web, looked through the documentation, and fiddled with the apps SIP settings. Late that evening, after several hours of frustration, I discovered the solution. In addition to the typical asterisk settings, there are three sections in the DoorBird settings that have to be configured.

First, the SIP section. Set this up as you would for any SIP client and the DoorBird will register with asterisk. Second is the SIP call list. This is a list of SIP peers to call when the doorbell is pressed. I setup a ring group and added that extension to the list. Finally is the schedule. This is what had be stumped. There's a drop-down menu for the schedule and, gasp, SIP is an option and empty by default.

Next up, I need a nice doorbell sound in the house. Maybe trigger a system call in asterisk or use the http interface of the DoorBird. Fun Times!