Note

Hello, welcome to the SunFounder Raspberry Pi & Arduino & ESP32 Enthusiasts Community on Facebook! Dive deeper into Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and ESP32 with fellow enthusiasts.

Why Join?

• Expert Support: Solve post-sale issues and technical challenges with help from our community and team.

• Learn & Share: Exchange tips and tutorials to enhance your skills.

• Exclusive Previews: Get early access to new product announcements and sneak peeks.

• Special Discounts: Enjoy exclusive discounts on our newest products.

• Festive Promotions and Giveaways: Take part in giveaways and holiday promotions.

👉 Ready to explore and create with us? Click [here] and join today!

4.1.5 Intelligent Visual Doorbell

Introduction

In this project, let’s make a DIY intelligent visual doorbell.

Required Components

In this project, we need the following components.

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name	ITEMS IN THIS KIT	LINK
Raphael Kit	337	Raphael Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

COMPONENT INTRODUCTION	PURCHASE LINK
GPIO Extension Board	BUY
Breadboard	BUY
Jumper Wires	BUY
Resistor	BUY
Button	BUY
Audio Module and Speaker	-
Camera Module	BUY

Schematic Diagram

T-Board Name	physical	wiringPi	BCM
GPIO27	Pin 13	2	27

Experimental Procedures

Step 1: Build the circuit.

Before this project, you need to make sure you complete 3.1.3 Audio Module & 3.1.2 Video Module.

Step 2: Get into the folder of the code.

cd ~/raphael-kit/python/

Step 3: Run.

python3 4.1.5_DoorBell.py

After the code runs:

• The program waits for the doorbell button to be pressed.

• When pressed, a doorbell sound plays and a 5-second video is recorded.

• The video is saved as visitor.mp4 in the user’s home directory.

• The system then returns to standby until the next button press.

• Press Ctrl+C to exit and clean up resources.

Code

Note

You can Modify/Reset/Copy/Run/Stop the code below. But before that, you need to go to source code path like raphael-kit/python. After modifying the code, you can run it directly to see the effect.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import time
import os
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from pygame import mixer
from picamera2 import Picamera2, Preview
from picamera2.encoders import H264Encoder
from picamera2.outputs import FfmpegOutput

# --------------------------------------------------
# USER DIRECTORY
# --------------------------------------------------
user = os.getlogin()
user_home = os.path.expanduser(f"~{user}")

# --------------------------------------------------
# CAMERA SETUP (Picamera2)
# --------------------------------------------------
camera = Picamera2()

# Create a video configuration WITHOUT the deprecated "video=" argument
video_config = camera.create_video_configuration(
    main={"size": (1280, 720), "format": "XBGR8888"}
)
camera.configure(video_config)

# Create H264 encoder (10 Mbps is good quality for doorbell)
encoder = H264Encoder(bitrate=10_000_000)

# --------------------------------------------------
# GPIO SETUP
# --------------------------------------------------
BtnPin = 18
status = False

def setup():
    GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
    GPIO.setup(BtnPin, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
    mixer.init()

def button_pressed(pin):
    """Button callback"""
    global status
    status = True

# --------------------------------------------------
# MAIN LOOP
# --------------------------------------------------
def main():
    global status
    GPIO.add_event_detect(BtnPin, GPIO.FALLING,
                        callback=button_pressed, bouncetime=250)

    print("Doorbell system running... Press the button to record.")

    while True:
        if status:
            print("Visitor detected!")

            # Play doorbell sound
            mixer.music.load(f"{user_home}/raphael-kit/music/doorbell.wav")
            mixer.music.set_volume(0.7)
            mixer.music.play()

            # Use QTGL preview
            camera.start_preview(Preview.QTGL)

            # Output file
            output_path = f"{user_home}/visitor.mp4"
            output = FfmpegOutput(output_path)

            # Start recording
            camera.start_recording(encoder, output)
            print(f"Recording video to {output_path}")

            time.sleep(5)  # Record for 5 seconds

            # Stop everything
            mixer.music.stop()
            camera.stop_recording()
            camera.stop_preview()

            print("Recording finished.\n")

            status = False

        time.sleep(0.05)

# --------------------------------------------------
# CLEAN EXIT
# --------------------------------------------------
def destroy():
    print("\nExiting...")

    mixer.quit()
    GPIO.cleanup()
    camera.close()

    print("Program exited cleanly.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    setup()
    try:
        main()
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        destroy()

Code Explanation

1. Retrieves the current user’s home directory to store the recorded video.

   user = os.getlogin()
   user_home = os.path.expanduser(f"~{user}")
   

2. Creates a Picamera2 instance and configures it for video recording.

   camera = Picamera2()
   video_config = camera.create_video_configuration(
       main={"size": (1280, 720), "format": "XBGR8888"}
   )
   camera.configure(video_config)
   

3. Sets up the GPIO button on GPIO18 as an input with a pull-up resistor.

   GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
   GPIO.setup(BtnPin, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
   

4. Loads and initializes the audio mixer used to play the doorbell sound.

   mixer.init()
   

5. Registers a callback that sets status to True when the button is pressed.

   GPIO.add_event_detect(BtnPin, GPIO.FALLING,
                         callback=button_pressed, bouncetime=250)
   

6. Plays the doorbell sound, starts the preview window, and begins video recording.

   mixer.music.load(f"{user_home}/raphael-kit/music/doorbell.wav")
   mixer.music.play()
   camera.start_preview(Preview.QTGL)
   camera.start_recording(encoder, output)
   

7. Records a 5-second video and saves it as visitor.mp4.

   time.sleep(5)
   camera.stop_recording()
   camera.stop_preview()
   

8. Cleans up all resources when the program is stopped with Ctrl+C.

   mixer.quit()
   GPIO.cleanup()
   camera.close()
   

Phenomenon Picture