Motorola Minitor V - Custom Alerting System?

[ZachSmith]

I've been looking for something to use with my setup similar to the following:
Minitor 2 3 4 5 II, III, IV, V Pager Alerting System 4 - eBay (item 330340810798 end time Mar-24-10 20:28:57 PDT)

that will let me hookup my pager/docking station to some type of strobe or notification device as well as with the tones. I'm not as considered with bells and whistles going off, but more just a strobe so that I can leave the tones turned down some, but then also have the light flash when paged.

Is there anyway I can make something along these lines without shelling out the $$$ they want on eBay? Thanks for any help.

 

[ramal121]

Sure, piece of cake. The Minitor charger has an accessory relay output that closes on alert and holds until the reset is pressed. Don't remember which pin numbers are used off the top of my head but if you get stuck, cry uncle and somebody will help.

All you need to do is route power for a strobe through this relay to have it turn on for an alert. I would use a 12 volt strobe. Running 110 volt through a charger base is kinda scary. The limit on the relay I think is 1 amp. Most small 12 volt strobes pull about a third of an amp. A quick look at Graingers has them for around $75 to $100. Maybe a cheaper one could be had.

If you want to go crazy and turn on multiple items (dorm lights, PA speakers, doors, stove shut off) then you will have to think about other control relays and timers and such because you can't run them all through the charger base, but it can be done.