Irritating Doorbell Problem

[dalangdon]

One of the tasks I've been working on at my Mom's house is her doorbell. The old one was strictly a "ding" affair, with no pizazz at all, and she couldn't hear it.

So I went to Home Depot and bought a Zenith Doorbell that costs entirely too much, and has a cheesy pre-recorded "westminster" pattern, but is LOUD, and will get her attention.

The trouble is that the new doorbell will only play while the button is pressed in, which I suppose makes sense from an electrical standpoint, but I can't see how it is supposed to work. The included some sort of capacitor kind of thingy for the doorbell button, which I put in, but it doesn't help.

Any ideas?

 

[toggleswitch]

You mean you have to have the button depresseed constantly or else nada?

Sounds defective to me.

 

[petek]

Is it wireless?

 

[dalangdon]

Nope, not wireless. It hooked up to the old wires, and I replaced the button at the door.

And yes, Toggles, If you want it to play the whole eight notes, you have to hold it in for that length of time (or at least close) I think maybe it's defective also, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't the transformer or something.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

The capacitor must have something to do with it. Does it go across the wires at the bell?

Ken

 

[petek]

Sounds defective, haste ye back to olde Home Depot

 

[scott55405]

I don't know what it is with doorbells. When my roommate in Minnesota bought the house, I bought him a nice doorbell as a gift. I forget why we needed a replacement, but it was a pretty one with a wood tone cover and those brass things that hang down, even though it was electronic. It was supposed to play an 8 tone Westminister, but no matter how he tried all he could ever get it to do was ding-dong. That was Home Depot too, maybe we should have gone back at the time.

 

[bingwsguy]

I had doorbell problems for years...everything from sounding cheap, sometimes ringing when the button pushed & sometimes not & going off by itself during thunder/electrical storms. Problem solved...Big Old Fashioned Iron Door Knocker...looks cool, sounds cool & no more getting scared by a ringing bell in the middle of the night.

 

[toggleswitch]

Big Old Fashioned Knockers.

Can't beat that with a stick.

 

[dalangdon]

Toggle, Mom's already got the big, old-fashioned knockers. It's the doorbell she can't hear, ;-)

 

[retroguy]

Thank you for flying TMI Airways.....

We (Toggle and Dan) hope you enjoyed your flight! =P

 

[toggleswitch]

 

[wannapinkset]

its usually the capacitor. They dont take power outages or fluctuations very well and are sometimes bad right out of the box. Check the wiring against the diagram too.

 

[toggleswitch]

That should make some decently loud noise!

Dan:

Of course, one could buy an old-fashioned (low voltage) bell, and hang a sign near the pushbutton stating. "Please press and hold"

http://www.westsidewholesale.com/index.cgi?HN_SessionID=&pid=974098&CATEGORY=575

 

[gansky1]

Low voltage bell -

That's exactly the doorbell I have. I find that people tend to just push the button once, expecting the traditional "ding-dong" sound from inside so it doesn't get too annoying. It is quite loud though and it's been fun to see the reactions of unsuspecting guests standing near it when it rings. "I squirted pee when that thing rang!" was about the best!

It has a very "vintage" sound to it and even better - it was dirt cheap! It's lying in the garage now, awaiting new drywall to be mounted to, but it's going back up as soon as the wall is ready ;-)

 

[sudsmaster]

This house has a traditional mechanical chime type of bell, with the 3 foot long sound tubes (2 of them). Scares the heck out of the cats when it goes off. But I can't hear it when I'm in the back shop, so I bought a repeater with three remotes at Home Depot about 7 years ago. The main sending unit runs off the 24 volt signal to the main door bell. The repeaters are plugged into any 110 volt outlet. They are loud and sort of tacky sounding electric buzz dong, but at least I can tell when someone's at the front door when I'm in the back of the property. Oh, and they scare the heck out of the cats as well. Can't have everything! I have three of the repeaters - one in the master bath, one in the patio kitchen, and one in the back shop.

 

[dalangdon]

Ding Dong Dilemmas Part Deux

I really think it's something in the wiring in the house: I went out to ACE and bought a simple two note doorbell with real chimes. I hooked it up in the front door configuration (ding dong) and all I got was "ding" (which was the trouble with the original doorbell)

Could this be a transformer issue? Should I just burn down the house and start over?

 

[maytagbear]

Dan, well, maybe,

if your mother-in-law is in the house at the time.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[waterstreet]

Door Bell Problems

Does this help in any way ???

http://www.forteelectric.com/Doorbell.html

 

[maytagbear]

PS

That was meant as a JOKE!

L/Mb

 

[toggleswitch]

missing a dong are we?

~and all I got was "ding" (which was the trouble with the original doorbell)

Front + common DING DONG
Rear + common DING

 

[toggleswitch]

oh and the doorbell (chime, actually) sometimes has to be mounted a certain way such that what is intended to be "up" is up or the plungers hitting the metal tone-bar won't move the way they are supposed to.

 

[abcomatic]

I have the original doorbell here that was installed in 1897. It is a big round bell by the front door. All you have to do is turn the bell to wind it and just push the button outside and it rings a loud, calmourous sound as long as it is wound up that is. I don't have to worry about electricity with that. Happy ringing or (for those of us that have wringer washers) wringing. lol Gary

 

[toggleswitch]

PLEASE no more knockers!

Dan:

I have a newer version of this siting in my garage, in the original wrapper / box

My gift to you if your want it. E-mail to me your snail-mail address.

 

[exploder3211]

ROFL.. Yall are nuts.. But i want that door bell pictured. For $10 its cheap. It runs off batterys from what i gather correct? Also it includes a swicth right?? LoL..

 

[toggleswitch]

Methinks your plunger is not moving far enough.

Actually I'm wondering if the transformer you have is delivering a lower voltage than the ultimate one.

I'd change it for a new one!

 

[cleanteamofny]

Toggles, is there something wrong with your wig-wag?
LOL

missing a dong are we?
~and all I got was "ding" (which was the trouble with the original doorbell)

Front + common DING DONG
Rear + common DING

 

[toggleswitch]

I wasn't aware that I had one... LOL

 

[dalangdon]

Toggle, thank you for your kind offer. I appreciate that.

I decided to just go ahead with one of the wireless doorbells from tha ACE store. Now we have a somewhat cheesy, but resoundingly LOUD doorbell, that I think I'll be able to hear back in Seattle.

I also have had my first experience with a stair lift this week. It's been very interesting. Luckily, mom's house has a straight shot for a basement staircase, and the staircase is fairly wide. As luck would have it, the unit we bought had a bad circuit panel, but they are replacing that on Monday, and it's not keeping me from having fun with it ;-)