Wireless doorbell

[Mrs Pingu]

A reliable one please?
I was all set to purchase a Honeywell one but there's a lot of complaints on Amazon about a long lag before the chime, it being very specific about batteries and other grumbles.
Looking for one with a battery operated chime, not a wired in or plug in unit.

[andrewc]

https://www.connevans.co.uk/product/5984688/42GWF04/Kingshield-portable-flashing-very-loud-doorbell-doorchime-from-GreenBrook


I got 2 of these for my hard of hearing parents.  Not elegant or melodic, but they seem to do the job.

[Kim]

It's usually a choice between wireless or reliable...

I believe barakta used to have one of those Kingshield ones for her office door, back when she had an office.  Seemed to work.


(Anything that doesn't use those expensive 12V batteries for the bell push gets my vote.  Those things are a work of Stan.)

[aidan.f]

Byron BY206 works well for  us - good range  batteries last for evah Lithium coin + C cells. Seems to be limited availability so I'm not posting a link

[Pickled Onion]

It's usually a choice between wireless or reliable...

The one I bought from Amazon has *no* batteries at the bell push end and despite working by voodoo/fairy dust has been 100% reliable for A Several of years. No use for the OP though as the other end plugs in but there are two other ends one in the kitchen and the other in the room of the family member who wears headphones all day.

Ironically, it doesn’t work for Amazon deliverers as they seem to be allergic to doorbells and tap meekly on the door before running away.

[Kim]

It's usually a choice between wireless or reliable...

The one I bought from Amazon has *no* batteries at the bell push end and despite working by voodoo/fairy dust has been 100% reliable for A Several of years.

How does that work?  Some sort of piezo-electric wossname?

Eliminating a constant DC voltage at the bell-push can only be a win for reliability.


(My own wired doorbell is guilty of this, as it illuminates some LEDs in the bell-push.  This seems moderately successful at persuading Shite Couriers that it's connected to something that might usefully augment their meek tapping, while making it a prime target for Knock Down Ginger^[1] amongst pissed-up students.)


_{[1] Other regional terms for ringing on the bell and then running away are available.}

[grams]

How does that work?  Some sort of piezo-electric wossname?

Bike-hating Clive had a look at a wireless light switch like that. IIRC an electromagnetic coil and a bridge rectifier.

[barakta]

https://www.connevans.co.uk/product/5984688/42GWF04/Kingshield-portable-flashing-very-loud-doorbell-doorchime-from-GreenBrook


I got 2 of these for my hard of hearing parents.  Not elegant or melodic, but they seem to do the job.

Mine still works. I've had it since 2009. It was in regular use between 2009 and about 2016. It's sitting in a bag ready for taking to my new office if/when we ever return.

I reckon the batteries lasted ages, I think maybe they got replaced every 2yrs or so and it was used 4 days a week several times.

[Pedal Castro]

Byron BY206 works well for  us - good range  batteries last for evah Lithium coin + C cells. Seems to be limited availability so I'm not posting a link

BY101 works well for me

Byron 101

[ian]

Ours works, unless it rains, in which case it sometimes rings itself. It can generally be ignored, couriers rarely seem to bother, preferring the stealth doormat drops.

It can be entertaining though, the other weekend I was all alone watching a horror movie at 3am, hiding behind my safety cushion, and as the scary climax was reached DING DONG!

[Jaded]

We have a Friedland, that works well, until someone says "your doorbell isn't working", and we change the batteries.

[T42]

We have a hard-wired one on a transformer from the mains, but it's not loud enough to be heard throughout the house.  I'd like to jimmy a wireless one to be triggered by it but I haven't got the electronics nous.  Wireless ones don't have enough power for me to mount the bell-push directly by the front gate.

[robgul]

At our previous house we had a 3 bell set-up which had a plug-in the mains unit on each floor (3 storey townhouse) thus the only failure would be the battery in the bell push on the front door frame

When we moved, 2 storey house, we inherited a 1 plug-in and 1 battery chime unit - and again bell push battery was the weak link.   It came from B&Q and has the most hideous chime (and only one, no option to select from a range)   It will be changed in due course.

My recommendation would be to buy from Amazon, if it's no good/fails sending it back for a refund is easy!

[Beardy]

I want a doorbell that alerts me via my phone but does not need to use someoneelsescomputer™ (Aka ‘THE CLOD). I suspect that the only way I’m going to achieve this doorbell Navana is via self molishing.

[Ham]

We have a hard-wired one on a transformer from the mains, but it's not loud enough to be heard throughout the house.  I'd like to jimmy a wireless one to be triggered by it but I haven't got the electronics nous.  Wireless ones don't have enough power for me to mount the bell-push directly by the front gate.

It's actually not a complicated hack, and has been working for me for around 15 years. I started with something like this. The hack is simply to wire the bell push in parallel, so when you press the push it shorts the contacts of the "remote" bell push. That sits under our stairs next to the transformer, occasionally every three years or so, I have to change the battery in the wireless bell push which is no longer in a case, but wrapped up with masking tape. The ringer itself is not fixed anywhere, rather it sits by the back door and can be taken into the garden.

[Regulator]

We have a Ring (Mr R loves all things geeky).  It does work well and the 'Chime' can be heard over a significant area - and can be moved around the house.

[Kim]

We have a hard-wired one on a transformer from the mains, but it's not loud enough to be heard throughout the house.  I'd like to jimmy a wireless one to be triggered by it but I haven't got the electronics nous.  Wireless ones don't have enough power for me to mount the bell-push directly by the front gate.

It's actually not a complicated hack, and has been working for me for around 15 years. I started with something like this. The hack is simply to wire the bell push in parallel, so when you press the push it shorts the contacts of the "remote" bell push. That sits under our stairs next to the transformer, occasionally every three years or so, I have to change the battery in the wireless bell push which is no longer in a case, but wrapped up with masking tape. The ringer itself is not fixed anywhere, rather it sits by the back door and can be taken into the garden.

That's putting your 6V AC (or whatever) across the input of the bell push chip, thobut, which it may or may not tolerate (yours evidently does).

When I had to solve this problem in our London flat, I just connected a relay across the bell (via a bridge rectifier, but you could probably find a relay that was happy with AC on the coil to keep things simple- I just used the components I had to hand), and used the relay contacts to trigger the alerting system interface.

[ian]

Just stop answering the door. Nothing good comes of it.

[Kim]

We have a Ring (Mr R loves all things geeky).

No self-respecting geek would trust those EvilCorp spy devices.  They'd either have an entirely self-built system that they just barely trust or are sufficiently paranoid that they play it safe with a mechanical door knocker.

[Kim]

Ours works, unless it rains, in which case it sometimes rings itself. It can generally be ignored, couriers rarely seem to bother, preferring the stealth doormat drops.

It can be entertaining though, the other weekend I was all alone watching a horror movie at 3am, hiding behind my safety cushion, and as the scary climax was reached DING DONG!

Our cheap shitty wired wireless^[1] doorbell that we had in Sheffield once took a burst of RFI from the adjacent boiler that caused it to spontaneously play Big Ben.  There was no Big Ben option on the chime selection wossname.


_{[1] A true worst-of-both-worlds implementation: We needed the wireless bell push because landlords, but I'd hacked the receiver to provide a TTL output to trigger the alerting system.}

[T42]

We have a hard-wired one on a transformer from the mains, but it's not loud enough to be heard throughout the house.  I'd like to jimmy a wireless one to be triggered by it but I haven't got the electronics nous.  Wireless ones don't have enough power for me to mount the bell-push directly by the front gate.

It's actually not a complicated hack, and has been working for me for around 15 years. I started with something like this. The hack is simply to wire the bell push in parallel, so when you press the push it shorts the contacts of the "remote" bell push. That sits under our stairs next to the transformer, occasionally every three years or so, I have to change the battery in the wireless bell push which is no longer in a case, but wrapped up with masking tape. The ringer itself is not fixed anywhere, rather it sits by the back door and can be taken into the garden.

That's putting your 6V AC (or whatever) across the input of the bell push chip, thobut, which it may or may not tolerate (yours evidently does).

When I had to solve this problem in our London flat, I just connected a relay across the bell (via a bridge rectifier, but you could probably find a relay that was happy with AC on the coil to keep things simple- I just used the components I had to hand), and used the relay contacts to trigger the alerting system interface.

I suppose a judicious poke with a volemeter across the bell-push would tell all.

During the Inlaw Paw's last years on Earth I Sugru'd a bell-push onto a cord for him to wear round his neck in case he needed us in a hurry. The units are still functional. If I do get it set up to work with the doorbell it's going to be a bit spooky for a while.

[MikeFromLFE]

We have a Ring (Mr R loves all things geeky).  It does work well and the 'Chime' can be heard over a significant area - and can be moved around the house.

We ended up with a Ring doorbell. The local plod (longer story) and I were agreeing yesterday that they are excellent and frustrating in equal measure.
Mine has lost connection with the separate, optional, chime - will it recognise it? Will it F. I've acquired an unwanted Echo Dot that now serves duty as the remote chime (and does it much better).

Evil Corp. now knows what time the postman comes each day. Good luck to them.

[Ham]

We have a hard-wired one on a transformer from the mains, but it's not loud enough to be heard throughout the house.  I'd like to jimmy a wireless one to be triggered by it but I haven't got the electronics nous.  Wireless ones don't have enough power for me to mount the bell-push directly by the front gate.

It's actually not a complicated hack, and has been working for me for around 15 years. I started with something like this. The hack is simply to wire the bell push in parallel, so when you press the push it shorts the contacts of the "remote" bell push. That sits under our stairs next to the transformer, occasionally every three years or so, I have to change the battery in the wireless bell push which is no longer in a case, but wrapped up with masking tape. The ringer itself is not fixed anywhere, rather it sits by the back door and can be taken into the garden.

That's putting your 6V AC (or whatever) across the input of the bell push chip, thobut, which it may or may not tolerate (yours evidently does).

When I had to solve this problem in our London flat, I just connected a relay across the bell (via a bridge rectifier, but you could probably find a relay that was happy with AC on the coil to keep things simple- I just used the components I had to hand), and used the relay contacts to trigger the alerting system interface.

I wondered about that before I started, but actually, when you fink about it, you aren't applying the voltage to the circuit, as much as implicated in it, only becoming part of it at all when there's a 0-Ohm bridge, and then only over the contacts

Code: [Select]


                      \
                       \ bell push on door
~ L -----------------   \-----------------
                   |              |      | 
                   | bell push    |      | 
                      wireless           | 
                   !             !       | 
                   !             !       | 
        wireless conroller ------!       | 
         circuit                         | 
                                         | 
                                         | 
                                         | 
                                         | 
                                        Bell 
                                         | 
                                         | 
~ N -------------------------------------






[Kim]

Sure, there's a bell in series, which will limit the current (and/or do horrible inductive things), but the AC voltage is across the switch when it's open.  It has to be: That's how the bell circuit works.

Thought experiment 1: What happens if you remove the switch from the circuit?  (A: Nothing, because an open switch has no effect.)

Thought experiment 2: What happens if you replace the bell with a resistor?  (A: Not a lot, as negligible current is flowing through the wireless controller circuit.)

Thought experiment 3: What happens if you replace the resistor with a 0-ohm wire?  (A: Not a lot, as negligible current is flowing through the wireless controller circuit.)

At which point you've now got your wireless controller circuit connected to your bell power supply.


If you still don't believe me, prod it with a volemeter.

[Ham]

Sure, there's a bell in series, which will limit the current (and/or do horrible inductive things), but the AC voltage is across the switch when it's open.  It has to be: That's how the bell circuit works.

Thought experiment 1: What happens if you remove the switch from the circuit?  (A: Nothing, because an open switch has no effect.)

Thought experiment 2: What happens if you replace the bell with a resistor?  (A: Not a lot, as negligible current is flowing through the wireless controller circuit.)

Thought experiment 3: What happens if you replace the resistor with a 0-ohm wire?  (A: Not a lot, as negligible current is flowing through the wireless controller circuit.)

At which point you've now got your wireless controller circuit connected to your bell power supply.


If you still don't believe me, prod it with a volemeter.

s'not that I don't believe you, it's just that while the push button is open circuit (and therefore, as you say, the controller forms part of it), the bell coil is in series and is 1.4MOhm (verily prodded). With 6v AC coming out of the transformer, that makes .....oooooh.... not very much left to bugger up the circuit. When you press the button (and induction comes into play) the wireless circuit is shorted out. Anyhow, it has worked reliably.