Wire Two Chime in Parallel

[BigWallop]

And the electric extension had how many sockets on it, before you cut the end off?

[Owain]

"Mo Thanku" wrote | What I did was cut off some excess wire from an electric extension | cable attached a plug to it, with a 3amp fuse and and plug it in the | wall socket the other end is connected to transformer.

That's probably all right electrically, but most bell transformers are designed for fixed wiring and don't have a cable clamp to prevent the cable being pulled out of the terminals, exposing live ends. Some attention may be required to ensure the cable is safely held in place.

Owain

[Mo Thanku]

Sorry, I am going to be a bit of pain here guys but I was wondering can I add a 3rd Chime also to the present arrangments.

At prsent there are two Friedland unit (d117) being powered by transformer 8V at 1amp.

Although the two chime are good, but they can be bit hard to hear in the last room if the door is close and with the TV on, so I was thinking adding another unit.

Just an update on work in progress, I have now completed the wiring, as per the feedback from you guys . However the connection unit (Spur) which I have bought from B&Q has a

13 amp fuse, they did not had any 3amp one, so I guess if just change the fuse to 3amp I should be OK.

Best Regards

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Ding-dongs are always hard to hear. Change them for ordinary underdome bells - much louder and cheaper too.

Old style ding dongs with long tubes could be loud - but not the modern strip of metal ones.

[BigWallop]

I think you're going to push it a bit with three chime boxes on the one transformer. However, you may be able to put an "AC" buzzer along with the two chimes you already have. An "AC" buzzer will only draw around 250mA (one quarter Amp) and so shouldn't disturb the two chime boxes. Sometimes they're called extension buzzers or some such thing, and are normally used on door entry systems.

And yes. Just change the fuse in the FCU (fused connection unit) for a 3 Amp rated one.

[Owain]

"BigWallop" wrote | I think you're going to push it a bit with three chime boxes on | the one transformer. However, you may be able to put an "AC" | buzzer along with the two chimes you already have. An "AC" | buzzer will only draw around 250mA (one quarter Amp) and so | shouldn't disturb the two chime boxes. Sometimes they're | called extension buzzers or some such thing, and are normally | used on door entry systems.

part BZ57M rated 60mA at 12Vac. They need to be mounted on something to give good results. A 1A transformer would drive about 15 of these.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd not like a buzzer as a door 'bell'. Set my teeth on edge. Of course the OP may feel the same about bells - hence the ding dongs.

Perhaps the easy way is a Maplin etc Chime kit which is electronic, followed by a hefty amp and speaker?

[Mo Thanku]

Hi, I went out and got myself a Fridland Mini Buzzer as the 3rd unit, D182 and I think may be it is the wrong type as adding it to the system does oveload the transformer (The Ding Dong Chime Sound very very low).

However the transformer seems quit happy to drive 2 unit either two chime or one chime and 1 buzzer.

Considering the transformer is weak link to use all 3 together could you suggest what kind of transformer be required to power

Two 8 Volts chimes D117 Friedland

1 Mini Buzzer D182 Friedland and light emitting bell push.

Although I have to say the system sound loud enough with one chime and one buzzer.

Many Thanks

[BigWallop]

The lamp inside the bell push will draw more current than the chimes and the buzzer. Didn't tell us it was a light up button. :-))

You will have to upgrade the transformer for all these things to work together. Try going for a 12 Volts 1 or 2 Amps transformer rather than the

8 Volts you already have. You will also need to change the lamp inside the button push to 12 Volts as well though, or double it up with another lamp or resistor in series. Upgrading the voltage by this amount won't harm the chime boxes or buzzers, and it will help to keep the lamp and all the chimes and things going at their full potential.

Forget about just upgrading to a higher Amps output from the transformer, because it's actually the voltage you need to keep this many appliances going. Think of the voltage as being the pressure along the wires. If the pressure drops, then nothing works. Beef up the voltage slightly and the pressure will force more along the wires and make everything work again.

Good luck with it.

[Owain]

"BigWallop" wrote | > Two 8 Volts chimes D117 Friedland | > 1 Mini Buzzer D182 Friedland and light emitting bell push. | The lamp inside the bell push will draw more current than the | chimes and the buzzer. Didn't tell us it was a light up button. :-))

No it won't. The light in the push is in series with the chime solenoid and does not permit enough current to flow for the solenoid to activate. Pressing the push shorts the light and the full current flows, activating the solenoid.

Owain

[Owain]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote | >

part BZ57M rated 60mA at 12Vac. They need to | > be mounted on something to give good results. A 1A transformer | > would drive about 15 of these. | I'd not like a buzzer as a door 'bell'. Set my teeth on edge.

Moi aussi. It was BigWallop got me onto buzzers.

| Of course the OP may feel the same about bells - hence the ding | dongs. Perhaps the easy way is a Maplin etc Chime kit which is | electronic, followed by a hefty amp and speaker?

Maplin BZ54J but requires a 12V *DC* supply and would not support a luminated push.

Or any cheap chinese electronic door chime and a small horn speaker.

Owain

[BigWallop]

Now I'm a buzzer pusher, eh? I'll be selling them at school gates in a little while. LOL!!! :-)) Owain, just say NO!!! to buzzers. LOL :-))

[BigWallop]

Oh right!!! With you now. I thought the lamp would be in parallel with the chimes, but I see how you get the scheme. In that case this will really need an upgrade to 12 Volts to give the three appliances the oomph to get going properly.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Why not? With a suitable DC supply, simply wire a resistor in parallel with the electronics if it draws too little current to light the bulb.

Many possibilities.

[Mo Thanku]

Well it gets interesting here , The transformer is 4,8 and 12V at 1amp

It has 3 terminals with these marking

X X X

4 12 8

I have connected the two wires from chimes to terminal 1 and 3 of the transformer.(thinking it is 8V unless you guys tell me something otherwise -))

What do I do too have 12V from the transformer connect the wires to terminal 1 and 2?

The transformer is TR7 I think it the same as on TLC website .

Many Thanks

[Stefek Zaba]

Does it also have a fourth terminal somewhere near these three? Marked with something like a digit 0, or a letter C?

If so, you want to connect one chime wire to that terminal, and the other to the one marked 12 - since it seems like you've bought a "mutlivoltage" transformer with taps on the windings to produce 4, 8, or

12V depending on what you need. (This makes it cheaper for the manufacturer - they supply and stock one item suitable for use in different setups; at the cost of a minor complication for the buyer, who's expected to have a couple of clues to rub together, aided by a nice clear instruction sheet which has probably been translated from Cantonese to English via Portugese, Serbo-Croat, and Hungarian ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd expect 1-3 to be 4, 2-3 to be 8, and 1-3 to be 12.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Doesn't need one. 4 + 8 = 12

[Stefek Zaba]

D'oh! I get you - the middle terminal's an off-centre centre tap, as it were. So the OP - while possibly reproducing the terminal labels inaccurately, or at least "it looked right in the proportional font I edited the message in" ;-) - done did the right thing in wiring across the two outer two terminals to get the full 12V.

Thanks for clearing up my mistake - Stefek

[BigWallop]

Or even terminals 1 (4) and 2 (12) to be 4 Volts, then 2 (12) and 3 (8) would be 8 volts, and connected directly over terminals 1 (4) and 3 (8) would give 12 Volts.

When you connect across the position marked by the 12 and the position marked with 4, you get 4 Volts output.

When you connect across the position marked with the 12 and position marked with the 8, you get 8 Volts output.

So, when you connect across the positions marked by 4 and the position marked by 8, you get a combined output of 4 Volts + 8 Volts which equals 12 Volts. Which makes the 12 in the centre a sort of common point for both windings, but it also joins the two secondary coils together to combine their output.

The transformer you have has, what is called, two secondary winding. The secondary winding are split with a thing called a centre tapping, which literally means that the two secondary coils are connected together in the middle. One of the secondary windings gives an output voltage of 4 Volts AC and the other gives an output voltage of 8 Volts AC. So, these two outputs combined will give a total output across both windings of 12 Volts AC.

If you look at the transformer closely, you should see that the 12 in the centre has a marking line moulded into the casing. The line should show that it is a combined output across the two end terminals.

A bit long winded, but I think I've covered all the bases. :-))