Cordless Door Bell

Hi

I've just got one of those cordless doorbells, but all is not beer and skittles.

Sometimes it would just decide to ring all by itself - so it was actually playing 'knock down ginger'.

Now, after some heavy rain - it don't not work at all.

Are they just a waste of space, or should I get the WD40 out?

Dave

Reply to
David Lang
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David Lang formulated on Wednesday :

They are of variable quality. The more expensive ones have much better range and have better weather sealing.

Have you tried changing the code of bell and button from the basic settings? A close neighbour might have the same system also set on the default code.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

The (either) Focus or B&Q one I got a few years back was poor - it did not work when the washing machine was on!

However, the 100+M one I got from Wickes a month ago works fine - although they don't seem to stock "bells" on their own (at least in the Wolvo store), so if you want to have one button and two bells (one up and one down) you have to buy two full packs - but they do work compared to the old ones.

Reply to
Stuart Millington

Heh. We had a cheap(sih) one from B&Q - I think it was about 15-20 quid and had a clock built in for no obvious reason. This was very unreliable. It wouldn't work at all when someone was using a DECT phone nearby and would sometimes trigger for no obvious reason. I jumped on it one night when it went off and took great pleasure in smashing the thing.

I reluctantly replaced it with another wireless one - this time the most expensive one that I could find in stock locally - a friedland EVO 200 or something like that. Has been excellent and totally problem free. And is has CD quality (well, they claim that :)) saxiphone tones ;-)

In my limited experience, you get what you pay for.

Darren

Reply to
dmc

We got one from QVC (yeah I know) and it worked fine but we have a pretty exposed front door and water got into the push button,so from then on the "bell" didn't work even drying the push button unit out did not seem to get the "bell" working again. Since then we have done without a bell but the living room looks directly on to the front porch so we can easily hear/see someone at the front door and "missing" someone ay the door because we are upstairs hasn't been a problem (in 4 years)

Reply to
soup

Friedland bells also carry a three year guarantee - so if you buy one keep your receipt safely. Nick.

Reply to
Nick

I got 3 of these Friedland wireless bells, and would only give them 8/10. The batteries run out quite quickly (I use rechargeables, and they last about a fortnight). It only rings once, when the bell-push is pressed; and the sound is not very loud.

You can change the frequency in use, so I don't think there would be any problem with interference. (We didn't have any, anyway, and we use cordless phones.)

They are well-made, and quite neat. We use the system that extends a traditional bell, so the ordinary bell rings too. (I thought the plastic bell-push was a bit tacky.)

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

8<

Some of the Friedland bells use AA cells and some use LR14. My bell uses a pair of LR14s and I've just replaced them: the old ones had lasted 10 months. Nick.

Reply to
Nick

eh??? Mine has AAs (I think) in the bell and a small button cell in the bellpush. Was put up in jan and is working fine on orig batteries at the mo.

Maybe I just don't have many visitors :)

True

Ours seems fairly loud - so much so that we don't bother with the extra plug in bell that came with it.

True. It is a bit plasticy

Darren

Reply to
dmc

I have a mains operated door bell, plugs into any socket and it is brilliant. the door push has a small battery in it. The bloody battery operated hard wired one I had previously was useless, for ever replacing batteries and fiddling about with it to get it to work. Now I can even here if somebody is at the door from the garden.

Kevin

Reply to
kajr

Timothy Murphy was thinking very hard :

That is the wrong type of use for rechargeable batteries. They are best used for something which will quite quickly discharge them. The primary cells (none rechargeable batteries) in bells, remote controls and similar should last for many months or even years if you use good quality ones. Our cordless bell has been installed about four years and is still on the original set of batteries.

The voltage of rechageable batteries is also different (1.2v versus

1.5v), which might help explain the poor volume you are experiencing.
Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

That sounds exactly like our one was, maybe it was just a "Friday" bell push but it put a dent in my confidence of buying a new one.

Reply to
soup

I know this theory about the limits of rechargeable batteries, but I use them all the time, in everything (except smoke alarms). I find they work perfectly well in devices that claim otherwise, eg TV remote controls and wireless computer mice.

But I'll try "real" batteries in my Friedland wireless bells and see how they do.

I should have mentioned that the Friedland wireless bells have one very useful feature - a little light (LCD) flashes if the battery is low.

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

NiMH cells are especially poor for this service. They will often be essentially dead at 6 months. NiCd is significantly better, usually having power at 12 months. (IME)

Reply to
Ian Stirling

Sorry, no. I mean that it will have essentially no power left, due to self-discharge.

Not quite - a freshly charged NiMH battery, left for 6 months will have essentially no usable power left, if it's been stored at room temperature.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

What exactly does "essentially dead" mean? Do you mean that the battery is no longer rechargeable?

If it is recharged once a fortnight that would mean you could only recharge it 13 times. That is certainly not my experience. From my experience an NiMH battery can be recharged hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times before it "dies". Eg I'm currently using a 4 year old laptop with a battery that has been recharged at least daily, and it has lost about half its capacity.

If you mean that a single charge lasts for 6 months then I would be more than happy with that.

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

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