Wireless door bells: any recommendations?

[rrh]

My hearing is not great at higher frequencies and I simply can't hear our doorbell when I am using the whirring computer, even though it's only about

1.5 metres away from my head (through a timber floor, admittedly). Ideal would be a set with at least two sounders for the house (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) plus a portable one for use in the back garden. Friedland seem to dominate the market but Byron kit may be easier to source and configure flexibly. Any recommendations? Range and reliability more important than price.

[fictitiousemail]

What do deaf folk use? Can you get doorbells that flash lights in the house ? Or get a smaller wireless receiver unit that you can clip on to your belt .

[BigWallop]

Depends on your bell voltage, but an extension buzzer that hammers the skirting board might be better for you. The whole house will hear it. But you need to find out what voltage your existing bell works at. Then choose a buzzer that suits the same voltage. Like this.

They aren't big bulky box things, so fit nicely on the skirting board and vibrate your house. :-)

Or an actual bell with hammer action and dome. Like this.

[rrh]

Yes these exist but clearly are only of use if you can see them. I am not deaf (yet) and would prefer something audible around the various rooms of the house. Could do a clip-on or garden portable unit but will inevitably forget to lug it around with me.

[rrh]

[Dave Liquorice]

I sometimes use a wireless doorbell on location to attract the attention of the mixer. It has an electronic bong and xenon flash light that fires several times. The mixer doesn't miss it and being a quite a bright flash he doesn't have to be looking at it either. Bought from homebase, think it might be friendland one.

[robgraham]

Have a look at the Byron SX15 (if it still exists !) It's a wireless transmitter from the front door but the sounder is not one of these silly electronic ding-dong things but a good old fashioned BELL driven by a couple of D size cells - I didn't put a date on ours when we got it but I it must be at least 5 years old and the cells are still going strong.

The noise cuts through most distractions and is helped by the fact that it keeps on going as long as the 'ding dong' chimes - this confuses some visitors but does ensure that the door gets answered!.

It does still exist -

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] formulated the question :

You can buy a Friedland kit and add more sounders to it, they even do sounders which have a built in strobe flashing light. They are very bright, the same as used for the flash in a camera.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've not come across any wireless unit that is as loud as a standard underdome bell. Of course multiple units sited closer will help but you might need a ratio of three to one over a good basic bell. And the trouble with portable ones is remembering to carry it with you. I couldn't be bothered - I don't even carry my phone around when indoors.

[Frank Erskine]

It'd be useful if you could get a wireless 'doorbell' which simply operates a relay, so that you could trigger any sort of device/s you like. I use wireless devices as a last resort; they are never as reliable as hard-wired things, especially in an urban environment - you usually have to consider periodic (frequent!) replacement of batteries too.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Vellerman do a kit which could be easily adapted to what you want. The transmitter is in a key fob with a push button - easy to build inside a door push - and the receiver has a relay.

[BigWallop]

Talking of cordless phones. We have those pack of three cordless digital things, with the handsets spread out through the house. It must be our age here, but I watched the missus answer a call from the hall phone. Because there was noise going on in the flat when she answered, instead of just walking off into another room to continue her conversation in the quiet, she put down the phone in the hall and went to the bedroom handset like it was still our old hard wired extensions.

It's a thing that comes to us all. :-)

[Frank Erskine]

Good grief - a hall phone. How quaint!

[fictitiousemail]

Sitting on it's own little half-moon table :-)

[BigWallop]

Hey Hey Hey !!!! We're not that bloody old. :-) The phone is on a chest of drawers which hold the crown jewels. I was told to get them up of the floor and hidden, in case we get guests round for tea. My spanners and hammers and screwdrivers lying on the floor, were not what we got married for. I always thought is was because of the oldest daughter, but I was wrong. It seems it was love that made us wed. :-))