A small problem for anyone who knows their (basic)electrics...

[Rummy]

It's a small issue in my daily life of excitement involving crazy adventures and saving the world, and so I decided I'd pose the question to people who are bored. Basically, we currently have a doorbell, as should any half decent house(or equivalent door knocker). However, a long standing problem is that sometimes we do not HEAR our doorbell, such as it is at the front of our house near our door, and soemtimes when cooking we are at the back of our house with the telly on. My father has delegated me an apparently simple task, to put an extra doorbell at the back of the house.

 

My question to you, is how would you go about doing it? The current doorbell runs on it's own batteries, ringing when the button is pressed(as those crazy doorbells do!). My job will be to buy a new doorbell, and then somehow make it so that it rings at the same time as the front doorbell with just the one same button press. Here's where my confusion sets in, how would I wire a new doorbell with it's own power supply into it so that each circuit does not affect the other, yet both ring off the same doorbell press? Would it really matter if I just ran them both over the same switch, or not?

 

So far my ideas have been to get two new identical doorbells, so that both will provide and consume the same power(if both using fresh batteries of equal charge, they should theoretically run down together and not affect each other, right?). Just saying hell to it and getting a new doorbell which isn't like the old one and possibly using different power, and hoping all works for the best, or alternatively getting another doorbell that uses the same amount of voltage but isn't the same doorbell and still hope for the best. All three scenarios involving wiring both circuits over the same switch.

 

So, fellow N-Ers, what would YOU do?

[Supergrunch]

Wire an electromagnet into the circuit of the original doorbell which switches on the second circuit (including the new bell) via a reed switch. You should be able to get a relay which incorporates both the reed switch and the electromagnet.

 

Edit: I drew a diagram in paint.

 

[AshMat]

You can buy doorbells that are wireless with 2 recievers. My grandad's got one, one reciever is near the door downstairs, the other is upstairs.

[Coolness Bears]

You can buy doorbells that are wireless with 2 recievers. My grandad's got one, one reciever is near the door downstairs, the other is upstairs.

 

I have one of those aswell.

 

It is very useful as the doorbell used to always go off when i'm upstairs and i never heard it.

 

Now we have the wirelss one placed on the Landing which can be heard from my room. So i know people are at the front door.

 

It is also handy when in the garden as you can just take the Wireless reciever outside with you.

This is handy if your having a Barbeque and your in the garden as guests are still arriving.

[Shorty]

Do what Ashmat said, why must people insist on making things complicated rewiring everything pssh, sounds dangerous!

[Guest Stefkov]

Good old fashion knock never hurt anyone.

When I did my paper round there was this one house that had a motion sensor and when I walked past it would go off. This was only good because they livd up a smallish hill. You know like a hill as their driveway.

Yeah but that was pretty nifty I always through as I set it off.

[Supergrunch]

Do what Ashmat said, why must people insist on making things complicated rewiring everything pssh, sounds dangerous!

Pah, it probably only runs on a standard 9V battery. Rewiring is cool, it's a pity they made it illegal to rewire your mains without an electrician's qualification or something.

[Rummy]

Wire an electromagnet into the circuit of the original doorbell which switches on the second circuit (including the new bell) via a reed switch. You should be able to get a relay which incorporates both the reed switch and the electromagnet.

 

Edit: I drew a diagram in paint.

 

Brilliant! At first I looked and thought 'daymn! that's far too complex' but it's just a case of sticking something into the circuit, right? I assume it won't cause much extra drain on the batteries either, and stops either circuit leeching the other! I do now have a question though, what WOULD have happened if I had simply put both over the same switch, in both of the following ways?

 

Tbh though, Ashmat's suggestion is far too sensible! I was considering trying to stick the wireless button into the same circuit(could still do it using Supergrunch's way) because our doorbell is a classic ding dong doorbell and in a rather sad way I love it too much to change it(it's been there for like 25 years or something silly). SG, would it be possible to wire a relay into a wireless doorbell button? If it comes down to it, I might just get some wireless doorbells with more than one reciever

[Supergrunch]

In circuit A, nothing at all would happen, and in circuit B both bells would ring all the time. (the button would be bypassed) Depending on how the bells work, you could just wire them up together (parallel being preferable to series) with the push button after the batteries, but it is possible bad things would happen. (like, the bells being damaged) If you just used one battery and wired them up in parallel then there might not be enough current to power the bells, and if you used one battery and wired them in series then something similar could happen... So, I think the only surefire way is a relay, but it could work in other ways depending on your setup. And yes, your assumptions about the relay thing are correct - you just have to connect up the right legs, and you get one circuit independently controlling the other. However, you do need enough current in your first circuit to power the electromagnet, so it's probably best (unlike in my diagram) to connect it up in parallel.

 

Of course, buying a new doorbell is even more surefire...