Are there any 'all mains' doorbells at reasonable prices?

[whisky-dave]

I agree with that, horrible screeching noise great for alarms but...

I;'ve had a plan for years for a speech doorbell, simple enough really just havn;t got around to it. I'd use phrase like southparks, "hey dude vistors" (from cartmen gets an anal probe)

or aliens the young girl "They mostly come at night, mostly"

Now coupled that with some sort of recognition of the bell ringer, and I could include obsenities ... JWs. Father Jacks, Feck, Arse, girls.

I'm sure others could come up with interesting ones.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Very true.

I also looked at the latest 'bells' in the TLC catalogue after reading this thread. And it seems many light up when ringing. So must be designed for a bedsit? No wonder people can't hear them ring.

[Bod]

You can get ones that you record your voice/music or whatever. I had one, but it ate batteries. 10 secs of recording time. Good fun though.

[Martin Brown]

They are plenty loud enough even for the chronically deaf. This one which I chose for my parents flashes brightly as well for good measure. It is still on its original set of batteries after three years.

I got it for them because they couldn't hear the old ding dong one!

Only weakness is IP44 rated door switch which is OK in a sheltered spot but would be useless where I live with penetrating rain and snow.

[whisky-dave]

I do have one as a kit somewhere never put it together. it only has 1 speaker I wanted a dul asystem but as my front door is on the ground floor and my lounge 1st floor there wasn;t an easy cable run other than along the stairs and through the door, so I'm waiting for an IoT version so it.s true wireless. I do know they use quite a bit of power even when not being pressed, so that was anothe rreason not to bother as I;d need to power it at the door or have yet more cables along the wall.

[Martin Brown]

Piezo speakers can be made to do a range of sounds and tunes and are plenty loud enough for a domestic dwelling. It isn't hifi but neither is it just a manky fire alarm klaxon. Flash mode too for totally deaf.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think you mean a limited range of tunes. They are simply a version of a loudspeaker and have to conform to the same rules as those.

Depends on the dwelling.

Your fire alarm sounds as often as your doorbell? There must be a gag in there somewhere.

So you have to position the unit were it can be seen at all times? Very convenient, that.

[charles]

A former colleague mouted a 12" loudspeaker on the stairwqll ceiling. OPeating the bell push triggered a tape loop of the Westminster Chimes. You heard them even when in the garden!

[James Wilkinson Sword]

My doorbell uses a small paper cone 2" speaker. It's as loud as a mechanical chime and lasts the lifetime of the 4 AA Duracells.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

I don't think WD works the same as KY.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

WD40 has worked in everything I've ever used it on. Bike chains, switches, hinges, .....

[Halmyre]

Not in padlocks it doesn't. My shed padlock works better for longer with 3-in-1 than with WD40.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Funny, I've fixed padlocks permanently with WD40.

[Peter Johnson]

My wired system was installed by the builders' electricians nearly 30 years ago. When I installed a second chime unit in the living room, wired off the first in the hall, I needed to change the transformer before both would ring. (When I last looked into the current door bell market I formed the impression that manufacturers think that the market is for battery powered wireless systems, presumably because users don't want to be bothered with installing, or understand, wired systems. Dave Lang's (TMH's) calls to install wireless doorbells is sympomatic of this.)

[tabbypurr]

In a lot of houses, people often fail to hear piezos. They'd be far from reliable here. Yours may be different.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's fairly symptomatic. Wireless systems are easier and popular therefore must be the best. When of course none are ever as good as cable.

Of course if you've got a nicely decorated house you're not going to want to mess that up fitting a wired doorbell - but you'd be surprised how many have changed from a wired one to wireless. Presumably just to stay in fashion.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Best thing to do is to look for the room with the TV in it and bang on the window. Even if people hear the doorbell they think it's part of the TV program. If you can hear a hoover, forget it.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

I thought the sounder was always plugged in?

[whisky-dave]

Does 3in1 work the same way as 3 up. :-D

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It will obviously depend on the house design and if say you tend to have a radio on etc all day.

I have two underdome bells driven from a transformer. Can be heard all over the house easily - and also from the front door when you ring the bell. Which gives a visitor the reassurance it is working.