And gardeners. :-)
And gardeners. :-)
Mostly because other factors come into play rather than just price of electricity.
Well, not completely. It would cost me a *lot* of time, trouble and money to get mains supply to my front door bell. As has been mentioned, a transformer is using power all the time and if you can do without an illuminated bell push, that's power that you don't need to waste.
Lastly, as I mentioned before, our doorbell was powered by a couple of HP2 batteries that I reckon must have been at least 20 years old. That seems like a reasonable battery life to me.
Tim
The bell at our main entrance has what I'd regard as a fairly normal bell transformer and I've just metered it at 3W. At the other door is a battery-operated bell which needs two D cells about every ten years. So obviously batteries win on cost grounds but I regard the illumination of the main door bell push, and the reassurance it offers when pressed, to be worth the small amount I pay.
The battery-operated bell is a rather old-fashioned brrrrrring! type rather than a xylophone or a bleeper. This has the advantage that declining batteries are obvious every time it rings and they can be replaced in good time.
Whenever I approach a door and see an obviously cordless bell push, I treat it with the greatest suspicion.
The point is that a battery only has current significant drawn for a couple of minutes total every year. Whereas there is a significant constant "standby loss" with a transformer.
No, that's a legitimate use, I should have said bell-pushes not bells.
around 100 times what it cost to get it out of a wall socket.
We have a cordless push which rings 3 separate "bells". This means the sound can be heard throughout teh house and, if necesary, the garden.
charles wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@charleshope.demon.co.uk:
But usually the naffness of the sounds is not know until it is installed. We like our AC Buzzer.
Graham. was thinking very hard :
Talking of which, try carrying your wired doorbell to the far end of the back garden and have work - mine does lol
in my case its about 90m. Yes, the wireless one works.
You used to be able to get 'wind up' bells, single hole fixing through centre of the door. To wind up you grasped the bell itself and rotated. They had the advantage of 'memory' in that if some one had rung the bell while you were out, and you made the habit of winding it as you left the house, you were aware as it was slightly 'unwound'.
Low energy, easy to fit, nice sound, no wires - lots of advantages :)
Andrew
The real answer of course is you install the wiring and transformer when the house is built - or re-wired.
And if you really are worried about the amount of electricity a decent transformer uses when quiescent I hope you unplug every single bit of equipment in the house too. The clock in the oven must use quite a bit too.
Err, compare like for like. If you used your illuminated bell push with the batteries they'd be flat in short order. Similarly that 3W would be drastically reduced without an illuminated push.
Old copper & iron transformers are by far the most reliable, and seldom buz z. Buzz can often be cured by hammering on the edges of the laminations, or pouring a thin varnish/resin into the slight gaps between laminations. You r best bet new is another of the same type.
NT
No, I don't worry about it. I'm just pointing out why mains power for a doorbell isn't always cheaper.
Tim
I was actually *contrasting* them.
Obviously.
Probably the laminated core of the transformer rattling.
A drop of varnish on the laminated core often stops the rattling/buzzing. Even nail varnish or a bit of blu-tack may do the same job.
My wireless door chime has an additional loud beep-beep when the bell push battery is getting low. (Friedland Libra range)
They are still made, but at that price my callers can knock.
Well that's yer very good reason you daft bugger!
Bill
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