I have a wireless doorbell with one chiming unit (I doubt if that's the correct term, but you know what I mean, I hope). This doorbell works flawlessly, looks neat and modern on the door and unobtrusive indoors, and I don't really want to change it.
But it's not loud enough.
So the silly idea is to build a small self contained unit with a very basic amplifier, a speaker, and a microphone (perhaps on a flying lead) which could be placed next to the chime unit and suitably adjusted to make it audible over a wider area.
Does something akin to that already exist? And if not, how simple or otherwise would it be to construct one? The sound quality wouldn't have to be up to much...
I have two front doors due to several extensions that were added before we moved here. A bell push on each and a receiver upstairs and one downstairs. Friedland works a treat.
Isn't that going to detect any sound near the chime? For example if somebody sneezes it'll be broadcast around the house.
Could you not detect the bell push in some way? Voltage across the chime unit, or something? Since bells are often AC, a non-invasive way might be a coil wrapped around one of the leads running to a detector circuit.
The OP has a wireless door bell. The push button would comprise a battery, switch and transmitter. So no easy means of detecting the switch closing.
I have thought about this and can't really see any alternative other than get a doorbell and purchase more than one sounder of the same make and type. If you choose the same channel one push button should be able to transmit to a dozen or more sounders. If you choose a respectable make there might also be visual indicators too.
I think an email to Friedland or similar. The OP isn't unique and there are countless properties when one or more of the residents is deaf.
Some of the better wireless kits (Friedland is one), can have extra sounders added to them, all you need is an extra sounder or two to cover most homes.
Like others, I think you'd do better to get a second receiver.
I don't suggest you try this while you have only one receiver but FWIW we had 3 old Byron plug-in receivers but still couldn't always hear them. One of them now sits in a box with wires soldered to its speaker terminal which go via coupling capacitors to a little amplifier module (c. £2 from eBay) powered from a wall wart next to an old speaker. Looks like shit but sits on a shelf out of sight. And we mostly remember to turn off the wall wart at night. Someone (i.e. nearly everyone) less ham-fisted than me could no doubt drill the receiver's case and do a neater job.
It would make more sense to get a second chiming unit.
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You could do a magnetic pickup, an acoustic pickup, all depending on the chiming unit characteristics. But that's a lot of work... for a door bell :-)
If going with an audio amplifier, you want a kit you can construct with a soldering iron, to save money. As soon as a finished amplifier has the word "audiophile" in the advert, the price goes up by a factor of four.
Here, I just randomly select a mono amp, for pricing purposes.
Companies that make these kits, make soldering versions (cheaper but not by much), as well as AS assembled units. This one is assembled. When I decided to do an amp kit, I did the soldering version. But this saves work, and the wiring is screw-down.
Output Type Up to 30W into 8 Ohms 25W RMS, 8 ohm load, +/- 25V supply
Output impedance 4 - 8 Ohms (your parts bin probably has 8 ohms)
Total Price: £15.79 Exc VAT, £18.95 Inc VAT Stock Info: In Stock (Our UK Warehouse)."
Power Supply e.g. CFS020 (includes transformer) or kit 3114 with a 35V centre tapped 60VA mains transformer (not included)
The audio power stated, is pure poppycock. You get 25W at 10% distortion. The undistorted output might be in the 2W to 5W range, which is still adequate for many purposes. You won't be playing the Electric Light Orchestra through this thing at
25W output.
Amp kits need a power supply, and again, a good supplier offers a range of transformer-based power kits.
The transformer is the expensive item, so the power kit *must* include transformer. You don't want to get tricked into spending more money with yet another supplier making transformers. The transformer end of my project, blew the economics of my project "out of the water". It turned a fun project into a boondoggle.
"Cebek FS-20 (CFS020) - ±24V, 2A Dual Polarity Power Supply with 230Vac Chassis Transformer"
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"Item Number: Cebek FS-20 (CFS020)
Total Price: £31.44 Exc VAT, £37.73 Inc VAT Stock Info: In Stock (Our UK Warehouse)."
The example power source is 2X the price of the (monophonic, single speaker) amplifier itself.
And amplifiers work with 1V rms line level inputs, as a general rule. You cannot connect a 0.002V rms dynamic microphone and expect to hear squat that way. The signal source may need to be boosted, but at least you've got a ready source of power :-)
I'm assuming you already own a "left-over" ancient bookshelf speaker. I have left-over speakers here, which can be pressed into service. Older kit was 16 ohms or 8 ohms. Modern kit can be 4 ohms or even 2 ohms. The 2 ohms style can be easier to drive with lower voltage power sources. To drive an 8 ohm speaker at decent volume, your home stereo might use a 60VDC supply inside. A 2 ohm speaker, you might get away with
18VDC at a number of amperes of current. But if your kit doesn't state "2 ohms", then it can't drive that low of an impedance of speaker. If you were going out to buy a bookshelf speaker, you would examine all the combinations of power supplies (their cost), amplifier characteristics, and speaker impedance, to get lowest product cost. Fun, eh ?
My amp runs off a bit less than 18VDC, as that's the voltage limit of my kit. The enjoyable power level is likely to be around 2 watts. An efficient tuned port speaker might help.
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How many chiming units can you buy for £57 plus shipping ?
Even if it doesn't howl round immediately if it is louder than the chime in the room it will get ever louder until it clips the rails. You can sometimes parallel a piezeo speaker across the existing transducer to get a second remote sounder. That is how I have done mine. I couldn't hear the doorbell from my office otherwise.
It won't do what you want. You are better off with something like this.
Amazon do a radio door bell with four remote sounders plus two bell pushes for both the front and back doors, but the sounders make the same noise for both pushes.
we have 2 mains 'bells' one at the top of the house (near my wife's study) and one at ground level. The latter means the person pushing the bell can hear something. We also have a battery operated 'bell' which we can take into the garden (not at this time of yesr),
Indeed, it would seem simpler to pair another sounder with the push button. And if the system isn't capable of doing that, to purchase one that is. It's not like wireless doorbells are expensive or rely on pre-existing infrastructure.
We got frustrated with our wireless doorbell not even ringing so invested in a Ring doorbell camera now if someone presses the bell all the echo devices chirp in to tell you its been rung and in addition with the Echo Show we can see and speak to the person at the door. It also detects anyone passing the camera which can be annoying at times but you can adjust the sensitivity and detection zone and detection period. I even have an Echo device in the garage which is loud enough for people outside to hear it and know they have been clocked.
Blimey I remember a project in Practical Electronics many years ago like this. It was very very simple and as it ran off the mains it could remain on at all times. the microphone was simply a tiny loudspeaker in a thing behind the chime. It had a good name which escapes me right now, but a small ic power amp and a regulated 12 v supply a decent speaker and a box with a thin screened cable going to a high impedance small speaker would seem to be all you need, however all the major companies make extension bells and chimes for the hard of hearing I notice.
I used to have an early digital bell it had a selection of sounds, my favourite was a cow bell. Which as we all know, cows have bells because their horns don't work.
If you like tinkering go for it but if you want a cheap/easy solution go one bellpush many plug in receivers route
I have a system much like this .
I have one bellpush but three receiving units, one in the hall, one in the Living room one at the top of the stairs . It was trivial to adjust the units so they all reacted to the one bellpush.
Each of these units has an option to have flashing lights only or 'tunes' and lights and also each has a volume control.
The bell units were a cheapo Amazon thing, nothing very technological or expensive The one I have :-
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One bellpush three sounders system if you don't feel you want to faff (trivial) yourself :-
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I am a tad hard of hearing so I have the three sounders
1) the one in the hall lets the pusher know the bell works
2) The on in the living-room can be heard even over my headphones (I am wearing if on the computer)
3) The one at the top of the stairs allows me to hear the bell even if in the hobby room.
Son has overly good hearing (hyperacusis[this was actually a problem when he was younger]) he can hear people at the door even if they don't ring or knock
Since many have a mains operated receiver, never really understood why the sounder is so pathetic. Or have the option to add a louder sounder (like a real bell) easily. Except for cost, of course.
But it wouldn't be difficult to take a feed from the sounder circuit and use that to drive a relay etc. That's what I did with my digital alarm clock to switch on a decent sound system.
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