Doorbell push indication?

I think a beep when button pushed is a better indication that the button has worked than a flashing LED.

How about a self resonating magnetic(*) beeper across a resistor in series with the bell push? Resistor value "adjusted on test" to drop enoough volts for the beeper but not to stop the ding-dong ding-donging.

(*) Magentic as I'm not sure how tolerant a piezo beeper would be to the back EMF from the ding-dong- solneoide.

A former colleague had the bell trigger a tape look of Big Ben striking with a lagre loudspeaker fixed to the hall ceiling. That could be heard down the gardeb.

If a delivery man can't hear a bell, do you think he'd be impressed with a LED? My bell is mains via a transformer and the light in the push goes out when the bell rings. Which you can hear from outside the house too. Doesn't stop them banging on the door.

Agreed, doesn't require any looking but could be missed [1] by the current postie who regularly wears some Beat headphones. ;-)

I like it, because it's in series there is nothing going on when the button isn't pressed. ;-)

Assuming there isn't a diode on there ATM, couldn't I fit such at the bell end (oooh, Mrs) in any case?

So I'm looking for as low as possible 'buzzer' of some sort and maybe start with a pot to set the threshold (buzz vol V reliable Ding-dong) and then replace it with a fixed resistor.

Actually, ATM I have 4 x NiMh C's in there so am already dropping some volts so could probably go back to 4 Alkaline if need be.

Cheers, T i m

I bet it could. ;-)

Mum has the old mechanical Westminster Chimes (is it?) (Ding dong ding dong ... ding dong ding dong) and that's handy sometimes if you aren't sure if you heard the first bit but it does seem to go in a bit if you have.

Some elderly relies had a wind-up clockwork one on the back of the front door and that was pretty effective and you were in no doubt that it's worked as the whole door resonated it in both directions!

Cheers, T i m

Possibly not, but possibly yes (as I've looked for similar if I can't hear anything and they must see / hear a fair few in their day)?

Yeah, that is an advantage with mains driven ones.

You can mine, if it happens to be quiet and you know what to listen for. It's just not 'blatantly obvious'.

I'm going to have a word with the one who often sounds like he's trying to break the front door down and was then surprised when the dog told him off [1]. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Given so many have cordless units that often have failed or have flat batteries - even if you can hear it throughout the house - I'm not surprised so many prefer to knock.

I've got two underdome bells. One upstairs. Can hear them anywhere. And replaced the weedy bulb in the bell push with two nice bright LEDs which are easily seen in daylight.

I have a well fitting vestibule door and that drops the level of someone knocking on the outside one to the point I won't hear it unless close. I did have a door knocker (for looks) but got rid at the last redecoration. And the letter box has a stiff spring making it difficult to rattle that.

Mate's dog only barks at someone at the door when he's at home. Not much use as a guard dog. ;-)

Oh, yes my Grandad had one of those, excellent door bell. You can still get them, going rate seems to be just over £30.00

Ours just used to have the van radio turned up...

Exactly, KISS...

Yeah that would work.

CPC SN36941 £0.32p ea inc VAT.

I'd measure the current drawn by the bell and apply Ohms/Kirchoffs Laws in conjuction with the sounders spec.

Yeah I guess so.

A pietzo sounder on some kind of one shot circuit. We used to build things like that in the old days.

Brian

The issue often is those who just hold their finger on the bell. The ting noise would only sound when you took your finger off. I get this with my door intercom.

Many years ago in Radio Constructor, somebody modified an ordinary door knocker to operate a chime. It used a read switch and a magnet as I recall and was probably far more complicated than you would want involving two power supplies and a relay. Brian

If you were to use a transformer instead of batteries a thousand options would appear as ways of solving your problem.

Incidentally I was trying to test a doorbell that had a sounder a long way from the bellpush. I dialed the house number on my phone, put the house phone on the shelf next to the sounder, and took my mobile to the bellpush. It appeared that the thing didn't work, which was inexplicable because every part of the installation had been tested separately, so I became vexed. Then someone came out of the house and said, "Will you stop ringing that bloody doorbell?" It turned out that the house phone had some sort of fast-acting limiter and was muting whenever the sounder operated. When I put the house phone at the other side of the room everything worked.

Bill

I have a loud doorbell by the front door, also a sign below the bell push which says Please press the doorbell YES it does work and delivery driver still ignore it and tap on the door

Couldn't you replace the button with an illuminated one? The kind where the light goes out when you press the button (because it's wired across the contact). You could probably DIY (incandescent or LED).

Is a second cheap battery doorbell wired in parallel and mounted just inside the front door too obvious?

Tim+

Ah, only the Parcel Force use vans here, the std postie is on foot with a trolley.

Erm, I asked about similar on eBay and the seller confirmed that it needed to be driven by some external electronics, eg it was just a speaker?

All the descriptions seem confused ...

"Electromagnetic Buzzer, 1.5v, 80dB, 2kHz - MCKP12-G185B-3709"

and

"The MCKP12-G185B-3709 is a Transducer made of NORYL case and through-hole mounting."

Check.

One of the mini ones glued into the top corner could be right in the eye line. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

It's how ours works as well but most people just seem to press it 'normally'.

I was thinking there could be room for something driving a sounder, powered by a cap that's charged by the main unit?

Cap get's to 5.4V and has enough capacity to drive a 5V buzzer or sounder for a second or so.

As you press the doorbell the supply line is shorted and rings the bell (the 'ding' part) and at the same time something (op amp, LMC555?) sees the supply voltage go lower than the cap voltage and toggles it's output for half a second or so (monostable) driving the buzzer?

Or to remove the 100uA parasitic load of the LMC555, a micro DIL relay, triggered by the pushbutton from the cap supply that connects the timer that is also latched on whilst the sounder sounds and then releases itself?

Or something ... ? ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Understood.

Hehe.

Or the wireless doorbells that coincided with your neighbours one. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

I *could* but I think that would drain the batteries fairly quickly. ;-(

I could go mains powered but the existing solution works perfectly well (on rechargeable batteries that probably self discharge as fast as they are flattened by use) so the challenge was to see if I can overcome the weakness with some clever solution. ;-)

Cheers, T i m