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Home Automation Modifications - DS10A with Delay

Back in December of 2009 there was a discussion about making a better doorbell called Footprints in the Snow over on the HomeSeer forums. From this discussion came a great little delay circuit created by Steve Q.

This is the delay circuit he designed:

From this discussion I started playing around with cap sizes and found one that worked for me, delaying about 5 seconds. Since that time I've found another that lasts about 12 seconds. This is the one I use in most of my applications.

At this point I started making the circuit using an IC board like Steve Q did. I put this into a project box with the battery, the DS10A was outside of the box.

Revision 1:

This worked fine for under a kitchen chair that nobody would see. But for places where the devices would be seen, this would not pass the WAF. So I started to tinker with putting the circuit inside the DS10A! It didn't take much time to see that this was indeed possible. I was able to put everything inside the DS10A except the 9V battery that I was using to power the device.

After making a few, I wanted to make this smaller and with less bulk. I just hated that 9V battery sitting on top on the DS10A! After more discussion on the HomeSeer Forums, Steve Q stated that it could also be powered by a 23A battery! That was all I needed to hear, back to Radio Shack.

I simply replaced the 9V batter clip and holder with the one for a 'N' type battery. Glued it to the side and we have a much better looking device!

Revision 3:

So that's it! This DS10A with 12 second delay has been born.

Have Fun!