Dang! Nobody seemed to get the little dig at Jeff. What you will find are 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 24 volts AC. Some really old stuff will be DC dry cell powered but only if the owner wants to keep it original for nostalgic or antique collecting purposes. Most of the doorbell transformers I install have triple taps for
8, 16 and 24 volts. Many doorbells will need a 10 volt transformer and if you need 24 volts to ring your ding dong you're either deaf or have a seriously complicated system. I have setup some serious systems for industrial and commercial buildings by making use of the very loud and fun to play with devices manufactured by Edwards Signaling which now belongs to GE. My personal favorite:
I've disconnected my doorbell a long time ago. Some teens think it's cute to ring doorbells at night. I like knockers, though--even better with salt and pepper.
That's a good question. How did these unfortunate people manage before electricity? After all, it's doing WITHOUT all these annoying and unnecessary conveniences that will save the planet.
Gawd, this is scary. You sad folks probably voted, too.
I had a friend who was having problems with Bulgarians stealing the copper and aluminum out of his small apartment complex. I took a motion sensing floodlight and an Edwards
120 volt square fire horn which we installed at the rear of the apartments. One night he was awakened by the wonderfully loud obnoxious sound of that horn accompanied by some equally loud screams and cursing in the local Bulgarian dialect. The next morning he found a lot of blood, bits of dark flesh and torn black clothing on the barbed wire fence. For some reason his losses to the vandalizing thieves abated.
E Z Peaces wrote in news:lYmVk.66965$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews3.bellsouth.net:
Interference from a neighbors transformer is rampant in that when people realize it uses 3 bucks of electricity a year to run they buy a couple of hundred feet of copper cable and conduit (so it's code compliant) and illegaly trench it to the neighbors power.
Phisherman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
So is there a rating system for how beefy they are? You know, chincy aluminum, steel, thick brass, etc. I would think something like a 3.8 oz double dense would have a 38DD rating. I'd kill all my power to get hold of knockers like that.
Why are so many people getting upset that I am working to eliminate "vampire loads" in my house and reduce my electric bill?
Anyway here are the facts about "vampire power" for those who are interested in this (can be 5% of your electric bill and 75% of the power for electronic things is used while the devices are turned off!)....
Many years ago when I started working on electronic devices, I worked in a TV repair shop when television sets had tubes, not just a picture tube but the whole freaking chassis. The heat put out by an old tube type TV set was enough to keep a small house warm. There was a considerable wait for the dinosaur video displays to come to life because all those tubes had to warm up. As a convenience feature, manufacturers added a feature called "instant on". This kept all those tube filaments warm with partial power. I imagine the standby power for the old sets would be enough to run more than several modern televisions. One of the TV manufacturers held a seminar in town for all of their dealers where they showed off the new line of televisions that had the new fangled switching power supplies that allowed a solid state transistorized TV to operate on less than a hundred watts of power and when the incoming line voltage dropped as low as 80 volts AC. It was an impressive demonstration on that day 35 years ago.
Since you finally revealed the motivation for your actions, I can address it specifically: Your efforts, particularly with the doorbell transformer switch, are misapplied.
If, instead of using the clothes dryer, you were to hang a couple or three loads of laundry on a line to dry, you would save more money on your electric bill than you would during a lifetime without so-called "phantom" loads against your bill.
I couldn't care less about the vampire power consumption in my home. The cost of such usage is the price I pay - WILLINGLY - for the convenience of not worrying about such trivial and ridiculous things.
I cheerfully decline to unplug my cell phone charger between uses. That the transformer powering my rarely used doorbell consumes power does not concern me in the least.
My home is well insulated. My motor vehicles are sufficiently fuel efficient for what they do for me. I turn off lights in unoccupied rooms and turn down the thermostat (during heating season) during the night and when the house is unoccupied. Likewise, I turn it up (during the cooling season) under the same conditions.
I do not litter. I sparingly use the most benign, approved chemicals that will do what I need.
With all of that done, I am content to ignore so-called "phantom" or "vampire" energy consumption. It is, comparatively, such a miniscule part of my total energy consumption, that I don't even think of it. This silly thread has caused me to think of it and, in doing so, I am even more convinced now that I am doing the right thing.
I appreciate your conservation efforts although I believe your time would be more productive spent volunteering at a hospital or social support organization.
If, after you have implemented all the "first tier" conservation practices and improvements, you wish to further pursue the incredibly minor conservation items, be my guest.
I thank God that I live in a country and society where you are free to pursue such things. I further thank God that I am free to NOT do likewise. I will always remain vigilant that such freedom continues despite the ongoing efforts of those that would deny those freedoms.
Translation: I will vigorously oppose the day when a Doorbell Transformer Switch is mandated by my government at any level.
Second translation: Stick a CF bulb in it and SCREW IT!
Nope, most are just rubbing your nose in your stupidity.
loads" in my house and reduce my electric
No one is getting upset, just rubbing your nose in your stupidity.
in this (can be 5% of your electric bill
Not with a single doorbell, stupid.
And just replacing the transformer with a modern switch mode wall wart will save almost all the power it currently uses, tho it still isnt cost efficient.
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