Water and human proof bell push needed

[Brian-Gaff]

Well says it all. I have a little door phone and after about 6 months trying to keep the call/bell button has been abandoned in favour of an old bell push I found in a drawer with a Woolworths price tag on it. This is wired so it shorts the intercom cable as the original failed one which consisted of some tacky little push switch on a pcb glued in with heat glue. the Woolies on is your basic two brass bits sprung apart and a plastic button to short them together. Tis worked fine till one of two things happened. Firstly, its not waterproof and when its really wet, it shorts enough to make the bell sound or make silly whining noises leaving the amp running with clicks and groans. Or, the local cold caller or whoever who seems to have been studying finger karate, squishes it so much the prongs stay shorted out when the finger is removed. Most bell pushes seem to still be of this type. I had no idea of the stringent needs of a bell push in this environment before, so wondered if anyone else had any bright ideas? Brian

[Bod]

I seem to recall those old type of bell pushes that seemed to always work come rain or shine. I mean the white coloured ceramic buttons encased in brass, that you used to see outside old buildings. I don't know if they are still available or not.

[Andy Burns]

My Friedland D723 seems to been built to keep the weather away from the contacts, perhaps you want one without illumination such as the D824 to suit use with a doorphone? Only two or three quid.

[Bod]

Is that a wireless or wired bell push?

[Jacko]

Use a proper hall effect switch so that it can be completely waterproof and it doesn?t matter what anyone pressing it does with the magnet on the button short of attacking it with a hammer.

[stuart noble]

Try this for a traditional bell that always works and has big chunky batteries

[Nightjar]

I think it is an inherent property of bell pushes that the fail quickly. I once built one using an industrial vandal resistant and water proof push switch, which worked fine for years on machinery. As a bell push, inside a porch, it stopped working after about two years.

[Bod]

Thanks for the link, but even that bell push looks like the standard rubbishy ones (I could well be wrong though). Have you any experience of this one, by any chance?

[Bob Minchin]

Google for vandal proof push buttons. RS certainly used to have some very well made ones and not stupid money either.

[Bob Eager]

What I'd like is a reasonably priced external door phone. One that is a 'normally wired' phone , but will dial a preset number when the button is pressed, and has a grille for mic and speaker (i.e. just a box). They all seem to be really stupid prices.

[Huge]

Sounds like an ideal application for a RasPi.

[Andy Burns]

A wired one.

[Bod]

Ok.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bod explained on 07/05/2015 :

You are correct, they are just the standard rubbishy ones. I suppose you could entirely fill the push with silicon grease, to help exclude the water?

[Bod]

Yebbut, we should expect an external doorbell to be waterproof. I don't think that is asking too much.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've never seen an actual door bell push which is truly waterproof. But you can buy waterproof push switches from the likes of RS, etc. Maybe not quite so attractive, though.

[Bod]

Ok, thanks.

[harryagain]

A bit of WD40 fixes most problems here. You can buy weather proof momentary switches in screwfix ISTR

[Brian-Gaff]

No I don't want a bell, I want the door intercom and bell to actually work. that is the point. I could easily get a proper door chime or something that playes the latest telephone ring tones, but that is not what I'm after, its only a bloody switch after all, I am not interested in reinventing the wheel. Brian

[PeterC]

This is tempting fate I'm sure, but I've had an Aldidl wireless bell for several years now and the push is on a SW-facing door. I did put a bit of Plumber's Mait around it originally, so that might have helped.