Help me choose a doorbell

In My Humble Opinion
1

My old doorbell, which is probably original to the 60 year old house, stopped working. When did it stop working? I have no idea. I just realized a week ago. The ringer is the kind that has a big wound coil and two bars that bang into xylophone bars. I removed the button and connected the wires together and it didn’t ring. I don’t have any spare wire lying around so I put a nail across the two leads and it also didn’t ring so maybe that part has failed or the wiring somewhere else has decayed. Either way, I probably don’t have the ability to fix that.

TLDR: I should probably get a batter powered bell.

So, what do you recommend? I don’t want to pay a subscription fee for features. A camera would be cool. I have a Google thermostat and smoke/CO2 detector so it might make sense to stay in that universe but I don’t have one of their speakers to make a chime. Price isn’t too much of a factor. I haven’t seen one that would be out of my budget.

2

I like that.
“Ring bell, receive cake.”

3

Those good old clapper/buzzers, with an electromagnet moving a clapper that repeatedly rings a metal bell, are plenty loud and super cheap.

4

I’ve had a Ring doorbell for a couple years and have been very happy with it. Never had a problem.

mmm

5

:notes:what do birds… suddenly appear…:musical_note:

6

Avoid the cost of expensive doorbells by opening the door every few minutes to see if anyone is there.

7

Nevermind.

8

This is where a $10 multimeter comes in handy.

Disconnect the bell wire at both ends. Twist the wires together at one end. go to the other end and check the ohms. Should be really low to zero.

Another thing to check is if the bell is getting voltage. Should be a low voltage like 16V or some such. (Ranges from 8 to 20 something basically.) Note that sometimes the transformer got disconnected because someone didn’t know what it was for.

Sometimes just removing the wires and rescrewing them in will fix a dirty connection.

9

Around eight years ago my gf mentioned that our doorbell did not work. I guess she pushed it (but why?) and nothing happened. I told her I’d take care of it. I removed the button and put wood putty into the hole that was left.

It has been 8 years and she hasn’t said anything.

10

This probably won’t answer the OP, but last night Retta’s show on HGTV Ugly Houses had a house with a hang-on-the-wall rotary telephone. She asked if it worked, so the owner went to the front door and rang the doorbell. The telephone was the doorbell! My wife and I both said “Cool!” about the same time Retta did; I went one!

11

Because she’s intelligent and knows that you won’t give her a useful answer? :slight_smile:

I am very much leaning towards a no doorbell solution given that I have no idea how long I have been without one. Now that I have removed the button, people know to knock.

12

Same here but Ring requires a subscription and the OP evidently would prefer to go without. We had something like this before the Ring:

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Wireless-Extender-Replacement-Adjustable/dp/B00W0TZ3II/ref=asc_df_B00W0TZ3II/

13

Our dogs let us know if anyone comes anywhere near our home.

14

You can use the Ring (and its camera) without a subscription. You do have to pay a fee if you want it to record, though.

And the fee is only $3.99 / month.

mmm