XPost: alt.home.repair, sci.electronics.repair   
   From: NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com   
      
   On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:22:09 -0500, dennism3@dennism3.invalid (Dennis   
   M) wrote:   
      
   >I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with wireless doorbells. The   
   >last couple of days mine has been ringing a couple of times on its own (no,   
   >it isn't a pre-Halloween prank). I have some neighbors about 80 feet away   
   >who have an electronic garage door opener, but there's a wooded area   
   >between us and I don't think this could be causing it because it hasn't   
   >happened until now. The main unit inside uses 4 "C" batteries, then the   
   >actual doorbells (one on the front that has a two-tone ring; one on the   
   >back that has a single ring) use some kind of weird tiny batteries. It's   
   >the single ring doorbell that's been acting up, so maybe that's where the   
   >actual problem is.   
   >   
   >I'm wondering if wireless doorbells are like smoke detectors, in that   
   >they'll start ringing out of the blue when their batteries start to go low.   
      
   No.   Smoke detectors have to have a special circuit to keep track of   
   when the battery voltage goes down, because it's a matter of life and   
   death.   
      
   OTOH if the doorbell doesn't work, people can knock.  They can bang on   
   the window, they can telephone, they can send a letter.   
      
   >The batteries have been in the main unit for about two years now, also   
   >about the same for the actual doorbells.   
      
   Carbon zinc, alkaline, nickel-cadmium, lithium ion, NiMH3?????   
      
      
   But I didn't post just to be sarcastic.   As it happens, my wireless   
   doorbell rang at 5 this morning, well before I had to get up.  I was   
   going to ignore it but I thought, Maybe my car is on fire.  If it   
   were, it would probably be too late to do anything about it, but I got   
   up.  I looked out the front window and saw no flames, and no one on   
   the sidewalk who could have rung the bell.   
      
   I went back to bed, and 10 minutes later it rang again.   
   bzzzzz-=-==bzzz=-=-=bzzzz.    By this time I was awake.  I'd forgotten   
   and left the computer on so I went to the computer. It went off 10 or   
   15 times in the next hour.  I've had this thing for about 10 years and   
   this is the first trouble it gave me.  A real cheap one too, maybe   
   %2.50 from Sunset House, a mail order place.   
      
   But I didnt' use any batteries.  I have a real doorbell with a   
   transformer and a bell in the front hall and the basement, but   
   couldn't hear it in my 2n'd floor office with the computer fan and   
   radio.    In the basement, I rectify the 18 volt transformer output   
   and use a resistor to lower the voltage to what the button should   
   take, and when someone pushes the front door button, the button is   
   powered and the receiver in the upstairs hall makes noises.   
      
   Anyhow, I unplugged the receiver and the wall was very dirty behind   
   it, even though I had had this thing there for maybe 10 years, and 2   
   months ago it was barely dirty at all.  That's as far as I've gotten   
   so far.   
      
   P&M  After tomorrow at noon or so, I won't be around for several days.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)