The advent of affordable computing over the last few decades has certainly been a boon for many people with disabilities, making it easier to access things like text-to-speech technology, automation, or mobility devices, and even going as far as making it easier to work in general by making remote work possible. Some things still lag behind, though, like user interfaces that don’t take the colorblind into account, or appliances that only use an audio cue to signal to their users. This doorbell, for example, is one such device and [ydiaeresis] is adding features to it to help their mother with some hearing issues.

The first thing up for this off-the-shelf remote doorbell is a “brain transplant” since the built-in microcontroller couldn’t be identified. There are only a few signals on this board though so an ATtiny412 made for a suitable replacement. A logic analyzer was able to decode the signals being fed to the original microcontroller, and with that the push of the doorbell can be programmed to do whatever one likes, including integrating it with home automation systems or other assistive technology. In [ydiaeresis]’s case there’s an existing LED lighting system that illuminates whenever the phone rings.

Although it would be nice if these inexpensive electronics came with the adaptive features everyone might need from them, it’s often not too hard to add it in as was the case with this set of digital calipers. To go even further, some other common technology can be used to help those with disabilities like this hoverboard modified to help those with mobility issues.

Thanks to [buttim] for the tip!

Today in the it’s-surprising-that-it-works department we have a ding dong doorbell extension from [Ajoy Raman].

What [Ajoy] wanted to do was to extend the range of his existing doorbell so that he could hear it in his workshop. His plan of attack was to buy a new wireless doorbell and then interface its transmitter with his existing doorbell. But his approach is something others might not have considered if they had have been tasked with this job, and it’s surprising to learn that it works!

What he’s done is wrap a new coil around the ding dong doorbell’s solenoid. When the solenoid activates, a small voltage is induced into the coil. This then gets run into the wireless doorbell transmitter power supply (instead of its battery) via a rectifier diode and a filter capacitor. The wireless doorbell transmitter — having also had its push-button shorted out — operates for long enough from this induced electrical pulse to transmit the signal to the receiver. To be clear: the wireless transmitter is fully powered by the pulse from the coil around the solenoid. Brilliant! Nice hack!

We weren’t sure how reliable the transmitter would be when taken out of the lab and installed in the house so we checked in with [Ajoy] to find out. It’s in production now and operating well at a distance of around 50 feet!

Of course we’ve published heaps of doorbell hacks here on Hackaday before, such as this Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) doorbell and this light-flashing doorbell. Have you hacked your own doorbell? Let us know on the tips line!