Wireless doorbell with plugged in 13 Amp chime.

[David]

I have finally got sick of the battery operated wireless doorbell which seems to eat batteries and never work when needed.

A possibly better option would be a wireless doorbell where the chime plugged into a 13 Amp socket. Takes up a socket but no more battery problems.

However there are so many different ones on the market it is difficult to chose.

First one on Amazon to fit the bill could be

This has a batter powered button, and two mains powered chimes. So could have one at the front and one at the back (if working or lazing in the garden).

However I am slightly nervous about the amazingly cheap price. £12.99 when Screwfix and Homebase seem to want around £30 for something similar.

Anyone have any experience of this brand, or similar doorbells?

Cheers

Dave R

[Bill]

In message , David writes

Our doorbell consists of a thing like a glorified wind chime - a lot of different length dangling tubes - connected to a piece of stiff wire that goes through the window frame and has a pulling or twisting loop in the outside end. Because of all the different notes of the tubes, the sound carries throughout the house

Almost every delivery man is fascinated by it, and it has worked faultlessly ever since we bought the house (about 25 years). No electricity involved.

I can't see anything like it on ebay but, if the front door layout is suitable, what a great d i y project one of these would be.

[N_i_c_k]

I bought a "Kosee Cord Less Portable Doorbell Kit IP44 Waterproof 36 Chime Tones Adjustable Volume - (UK Mains) [1 Receiver + 1 Transmitter]" in January '16. Cost £5.99, it works fine. I'd provide the link to the product page but the link is dead.

Haven't had to replace the button battery yet and suspect it will fall apart when I try, but at that kind of price I don't mind too much. Good luck.

[Jeff Layman]

Can't give any opinion about that make, but we bought a cheap wireless doorbell (two receivers) and regretted it. The receivers ate batteries - each had two AAs, and they lasted about 6 - 8 weeks. After 18 months we gave up and bought a Friedland - one mains receiver and one battery powered (two AAs). What a difference! The battery-powered unit was still using the original batteries more than a year later. It works very well.

The only thing I would change is the design of then mains-powered receiver, which has all its control buttons on the side. So if you want to use that mains socket, and forget to turn it off first, by grabbing the unit by the side you invariably press one of the buttons and change the setting! It only takes a minute to reset it, but really it should have had the buttons on the top, not the side.

[Roger Mills]

I re-wired my (non-wireless) doorbell so that it's powered from a spare wallwart - doing away with its batteries. No reason why you couldn't do the same thing with the chime part of a wireless doorbell.

[TMH]

You can get 'plug through' ones that you plug in and they have a socket on.

[Jethro_uk]

Given our experiences with varying delivery drivers over the years I really wouldn't bother.

I'd say 1 in 2 just never use the doorbell. Currently I work from home (by the front window) so it's not a big issue.

I gave up asking after one driver won life with his answer as to why he hadn't used the doorbell

"...because sometimes they don't work."

If/when it matters, I'm thinking of some sort of presence detector by the front door that chimes if something large enough hovers there for a couple of seconds. Although that would miss the dump'n'run drivers ....

[Bob Eager]

Seems to work in the few months I've had it there.

[Harry Bloomfield]

David expressed precisely :

I have a Friedland battery, wireless unit - battery in the chime unit, battery in the button unit. The batteries have just expired after more than five years. I don't see the need for mains operation, if you by a decent quality make of unit, unless it gets constant usage.

[Brian Gaff]

How many available channels does it have was my first thought. One does not want to set everyone elses doorbells or or vice versa. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Maplin? Talking of which, I have one of their bog standard wireless door intercoms, but it seems the c cells in the button intercom bit have not a very long life. Indeed a fiend has one at their office with range issues as the batteries just go down a little. it seems daft to have to install a wall wart to power a wireless intercam which has the selling point of no wires!

Brian

[Martin Brown]

Something is wrong then. My mum's wireless doorbell is still on its first set of batteries after four years and is set to be deafeningly loud. It is quite chunky and takes 3 C cells rather than puny AA's.

The model was chosen more for having a visual strobe as well.

Sleek ones powered by AAs seem to have significantly shorter battery life - out of proportion to the battery capacity ratio.

[DerbyBorn]

Martin Brown wrote in news:pb1n8s$o4m$ [e-mail]:

Anything that is constantly in "receive" mode - awaiting a signal will be using some energy - the button only uses power when it nees to transmit. Logic would send me to get a plug-in one.

[Jethro_uk]

BTDTGTTS

They move it out of the way to knock.

I reckon there are still people who call it electrickery unironically.

[Martin Brown]

It uses some power certainly but there are plenty of micropower radio receivers about these days for smart meters and MSF clocks. The standby current is typically of the same order of magnitude as the self discharge rate of the batteries. How long it lasts depends mainly on the frequency of use and the volume.

The only exception is DAB radio where battery life is measured in hours :(

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My complaint about those wireless bells is the push always looks exactly what it is. Just stuck on the frame. And not matching the door furniture.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Recently fitted new door furniture and found (at a cost) a nice illuminated flush fitting push. Replaced the weedy bulb with a couple of LEDs which are visible in daylight. Not had anyone knocking on the door since. The LEDs seem to tell them the doorbell probably works. Unlike 90% of those wireless ones, according to a postman friend. And you can also hear the door bell ring when you push the button.

[Bob Eager]

This one would be a bit more effort to illuminate, since it's connected to an input pin on an Arduino!

[Jethro_uk]

Currently we have a set I got from B&Q - Byron. I bought 2 packs so as to have 2x battery receivers and 2x plug in ones. There's a mains one in the porch so that when the bell is pressed the person standing by the door can hear it. The other mains one is in the bedroom (SWMBO suffers fatigue a lot) and there's a battery one by the patio door and in the bathroom.

The press button has a dayglo sticker on and by it, and is illuminated at night by a coach light.

They still knock the door. And that's with every delivery "special notes" being filled in PLEASE USE BELL.

[Chris J Dixon]

I have a Libra+, with plug-in sounder, which looks well made, and has performed well for 5 years so far.

I eventually bought a second sounder, and installed it near the front door, so that callers could also hear it, otherwise those who actually try it don't believe it has worked, and start thumping the door as well.

Chris