Auto-Phone dialer for alarm security system

Description: The circuit consists of a small PIC microcontroller, assembly program, and a few other parts to detect a switch closure from an open door, window, or manual push button and then dial the cell phone number, and transmit a steady tone to indicate the source of the call. The circuit uses the pulse dialing system to interrupt the line connection a number of times to indicate each digit. Pulse dialing (the oldest form of dialing) works by actually disconnecting or "hanging up" the phone line a number of times to indicate each digit. For example, the digit "5" would be dialed by disconnecting and reconnecting the line 5 times in short intervals of about 100mS. There is about a 1 second pause (with the line connected) between each digit. The timing is not critical and I was able to dial 411 and connect to the local information service just using a momentary push button switch in series with the phone line.

In operation, the switch closure is detected on pin 7 of the processor which activates the reed relay and takes the line off-hook for 3 seconds to establish the dial tone. The processor then dials the number by opening and closing the relay a number of times for each digit. When dialing is complete, the processor waits 3 seconds and then transmits a steady tone of about 300Hz for 30 seconds through the modem transformer. The call is then terminated and the processor waits for the switch to open before resetting.

Design Considerations:

The PIC16F628 (18 pin) processor was selected because I had a few on hand and my homemade hardware programmer only accepts 18 pin devices. A smaller 8 pin device could have been used since only three I/O lines are needed, but the difference in cost is only about $1.50. One of the I/O lines (RA5) is used for programming and is always an input, but can used as a functional input so the switch closure could be detected on this line thus eliminating the need for one pullup resistor. But I elected to use 3 consecutive I/O pins (7,8,9) of the 8 bit port B and leave RA5 pulled up with a extra 10K resistor. The output pins (8,9) that drive the relay and transformer are limited to 25mA of current each, so an extra transistor (2N2222A) was needed to supply additional current to the relay coil. The transformer resistance is around 100 ohms, so an additional 330 ohm resistor was added in series with pin 9 to limit the transformer current to around 10mA. An LED indicator and 330 ohm resistor were used on pin 8 to observe the dialing activity and indicate the line status. Several of the parts (relay, transformer and blocking capacitor) were obtained from an old 56K modem card. The schematic shows a 47uF / 50 volt non-polarized capacitor used to block DC current to the transformer, however a regular polarized 50uF cap could be used if correct phone line polarity is observed. The modem was probably designed to work with unknown polarities at different locations, so a non-polarized cap was used. It's possible the cap and 470 ohm resistor can be replaced with a single resistor in series with the line to set the "off hook" line current to around 20mA. This may cause partial saturation of the transformer and reduced audio level, but might work well enough. The power supply voltage is not critical and a 4.5 volt supply from three AA batteries should work. Or a switching type regulated 5 volt wall transformer can be used. The problem is ensuring the relay gets enough voltage to operate. The rest of the circuit should run on reduced voltage. A 4.2 volt cell phone charger was used successfully.

Software:

The program is written in PIC assembly language which can be edited and compiled using Microchip's development software (MPLAB) available from www.microchip.com. The development software will generate a compiled HEX file to be loaded into the processor. A hardware programmer is needed to download the HEX file into the PIC processor. A homemade programmer and DOS software by David Tait is available from http://www.nomad.ee/PIC/. The only program changes needed are the entries for the phone number and the total digits to use. The assembly code phone number table represents a dummy number of 656-7459. Note the digits are in reverse order (top to bottom).The circuit consists of a small PIC microcontroller, assembly program, and a few other parts to detect a switch closure from an open door, window, or manual push button and then dial the cell phone number, and transmit a steady tone to indicate the source of the call. The circuit uses the pulse dialing system to interrupt the line connection a number of times to indicate each digit.

Pulse dialing (the oldest form of dialing) works by actually disconnecting or "hanging up" the phone line a number of times to indicate each digit. For example, the digit "5" would be dialed by disconnecting and reconnecting the line 5 times in short intervals of about 100mS.

There is about a 1 second pause (with the line connected) between each digit. The timing is not critical and I was able to dial 411 and connect to the local information service just using a momentary push button switch in series with the phone line. In operation, the switch closure is detected on pin 7 of the processor which activates the reed relay and takes the line off-hook for 3 seconds to establish the dial tone.

The processor then dials the number by opening and closing the relay a number of times for each digit. When dialing is complete, the processor waits 3 seconds and then transmits a steady tone of about 300Hz for 30 seconds through the modem transformer.

The call is then terminated and the processor waits for the switch to open before resetting. Design Considerations: The PIC16F628 (18 pin) processor was selected because I had a few on hand and my homemade hardware programmer only accepts 18 pin devices. A smaller 8 pin device could have been used since only three I/O lines are needed, but the difference in cost is only about $1.50.

One of the I/O lines (RA5) is used for programming and is always an input, but can used as a functional input so the switch closure could be detected on this line thus eliminating the need for one pullup resistor. But I elected to use 3 consecutive I/O pins (7,8,9) of the 8 bit port B and leave RA5 pulled up with a extra 10K resistor.

The output pins (8,9) that drive the relay and transformer are limited to 25mA of current each, so an extra transistor (2N2222A) was needed to supply additional current to the relay coil. The transformer resistance is around 100 ohms, so an additional 330 ohm resistor was added in series with pin 9 to limit the transformer current to around 10mA.

An LED indicator and 330 ohm resistor were used on pin 8 to observe the dialing activity and indicate the line status. Several of the parts (relay, transformer and blocking capacitor) were obtained from an old 56K modem card.

The schematic shows a 47uF / 50 volt non-polarized capacitor used to block DC current to the transformer, however a regular polarized 50uF cap could be used if correct phone line polarity is observed. The modem was probably designed to work with unknown polarities at different locations, so a non-polarized cap was used.

It's possible the cap and 470 ohm resistor can be replaced with a single resistor in series with the line to set the "off hook" line current to around 20mA. This may cause partial saturation of the transformer and reduced audio level, but might work well enough.

The power supply voltage is not critical and a 4.5 volt supply from three AA batteries should work. Or a switching type regulated 5 volt wall transformer can be used. The problem is insuring the relay gets enough voltage to operate. The rest of the circuit should run on reduced voltage. I used a 4.2 volt cell phone charger that worked well. Software: The program (listed at bottom of page) is written in PIC assembly language which can be edited and compiled using Microchip's development software (MPLAB) available from www.microchip.com. The development software will generate a compiled HEX file to be loaded into the processor. Also needed is a hardware programmer to download the HEX file into the PIC processor. I used a homemade programmer and DOS software by David Tait available from http://www.nomad.ee/PIC/.

Filename (PIC84V05.ZIP). The only program changes needed are the entries for the phone number and the total digits to use. The assembly code phone number table looks like this which represents a dummy number of 656-7459. Note the digits are in reverse order (top to bottom).