Wired doorbell not loud enough for pensioners

[FatherDougal]

I've got some elderly relatives that have moved into a new property which has a wired doorbell installed for the front door and a wireless door bell installed for the rear door.
Neither of which are particularly loud and have each only a single bell box in the main hallway which cannot be heard in the kitchen or the TV room.

I've got another transformer and wired chime box which I could use as part of a solution - although not sure how this could work.

What I'm actually think would be a better solution is to get a wired to wireless adapter and set up a new wireless unit. However, I've only seen a Honeywell option which is very expensive. Plus I'd like to get a number (3+) chimes throughout the property - which would make the Honeywell very expensive.
I think the preexisting wireless chime is a Byron, but I'm not sure of the model.

What would be the best way to resolve this?

Also, I've read some user reviews on wireless doorbells describing false activation - is this common and what causes it?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

 

[RF Lighting]

Replace the existing chime unit with an old fashioned bell or a fire alarm sounder.

 

[ericmark]

I used wireless door bells from Lidi, the single door push sounds three independent bells, placed through the house. In mother house because she was in a wheel chair I used a door bell which once pressed she could pick up the hand set and talk to person at the door, sounded a good idea, but a complete failure, she would never pick it up, and latter we moved it upstairs as we moved in, idea was we could talk to people at the door while descending the stairs, again it did not work, simpler and easier to open window and shout down.

One problem with the door bell you could answer was the sound was not that of normal door bell, and my mother would try to answer phone rather than door.

We also had an extruder alarm, again it did work, but the pitch of the sound resulted in I could not hear it if bedroom door closed, my wife had no problem, but for me it was pitched too high, we tend to forget as we get older we stop hearing higher pitched sounds, and women can hear higher pitched sounds which men can't. My dad who worked in a power station was deaf to 50 hz.

If the door bell plays jingle bells at Christmas and we have all sorts of toys also playing jingle bells, very likely we will not realise it is the door bell. Westminster chimes or ding dong we accept as door bell sounds. We also get use to a set sound being a door bell, so changing sound at Christmas is silly, but I know I have done it.

As to false activation yes I have had the Lidi door bell do it, but since I had bought three, I simply swapped the door push, in the main it is caused by water in door push, I use petroleum jelly to make the seal on bell push better. It can be RF interference, on my sons old house, my sister locking her car caused the door bell to ring a different tune. My son found it handy, he knew it was her at door and could hide. And as a radio ham walking the dog and chatting on radio it was quite funny to me watching car alarms, and security lights, plus the odd door bell sound. I remember years ago driving down a street in Chester talking on radio, there was just one person in the street a vicar, all the car alarms went off and the poor guy was looking everywhere for cause, he must of thought it was an act of god. Today however the EMC is far better, and we rarely get that happening today.

 

[Taylortwocities]

You can get a Byron wired to wireless converter for £12
https://doorbellworld.co.uk/product_info.php/byron-wired-wirefree-bell-push-extender-p-258
Then install multiple Byron wireless sounders all over the place.

 

[FrodoOne]

I've got some elderly relatives that have moved into a new property which has a wired doorbell installed for the front door and a wireless door bell installed for the rear door.
Neither of which are particularly loud and have each only a single bell box in the main hallway which cannot be heard in the kitchen or the TV room.

I've got another transformer and wired chime box which I could use as part of a solution - although not sure how this could work.

What I'm actually think would be a better solution is to get a wired to wireless adapter and set up a new wireless unit. However, I've only seen a Honeywell option which is very expensive. Plus I'd like to get a number (3+) chimes throughout the property - which would make the Honeywell very expensive.
I think the preexisting wireless chime is a Byron, but I'm not sure of the model.

What would be the best way to resolve this?

Also, I've read some user reviews on wireless doorbells describing false activation - is this common and what causes it?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

I cannot advise you on particular models of "Wireless Door Chimes" available in the UK but the general principle would be to obtain a number of "plug-in" Door Chime units which can be programmed to respond to only one (battery operated) bell-push.
In addition, it may be desirable if these "Wireless Door Chimes"could ALSO be programmed to play a different "tune" when triggered by another bell-push at a different door.

Those that I have had experience with have had the "trigger frequency/code" set by 4 DIL (Dual In Line) switches - so 16 different frequencies/codes may be selected. Hopefully, if there is any false triggering caused by a neighbours bell-push using the same frequency/code, the frequency/code can be changed to one of 15 others.

You also have a requirement that the sound of these chimes should be "loud".

Without further knowledge of what else may be available to you, I note that these units (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-D...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=06FT069NTB3K2RF3NXVQ) have adjustable sound outputs up to 110 dB and also have a flashing blue LED.

The set-up appears to be as follows:-
"Plug the receiver into a power point and turn it on.
Set the volume and the tune that you want by pressing the volume and tune buttons on the receiver.
When you have done this press the volume and tune buttons simultaneously with one hand whilst pressing the sender button on the door bell with the other hand .
This will pair the sender and the receiver .
You will need to do this before you fix the sender bell in position on the door because your arms are not long enough to do otherwise !!!"

The above says "pair the sender to the receiver" but (since the receivers are sold in pairs) I would hope that it would actually mean "pair the receiver to the sender" - so that the sender could activate many receivers!
Since two receivers and one sender sell for £14.99 (with an additional receiver and sender selling for £8.99) this, to me does not seem to be too expensive.

Best wishes in your endeavours.

 

[FatherDougal]

Replace the existing chime unit with an old fashioned bell or a fire alarm sounder.

That is an option, but it still gives me the issue with the wireless setup for the back door. As the house is quite large, with block dividing walls and solid doors I would have concerns about them being able to hear it if they had TV/radio on.
The one currently installed is 80Db - I appreciate that a 90Db unit would be twice as loud.

Is this similar to what you are describing:
https://www.firedetectionshop.co.uk...rt-conventional-white-sounder-w-shallow-base/

I think the Byron unit is:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Byron-BY20...4826&sr=1-6&keywords=byron+wireless+door+push

I think to get the required number of additional chimes for the Byron, it may be a similar cost to integrating both units into a wireless option. Opinions?

 

[JP_]

I like Taylortwocities' suggestion. I was going to suggest a new Byron Bell, and just wire up several. They are loud.

I use this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Byron-1217-wired-doorbell-kit/dp/B001GUAAGM/ref=sr_1_8

cheap, loud and batteries last ages.

 

[charliegolf]

Is a light which comes on when the bell is pushed too difficult?

 

[bernardgreen]

When the person is extremely deaf visual indication may be necessary.

An effective solution is to blip room lights on and off a few times.

This can be achieved by converting a couple of lights to 2 way switching but with a change over relay in place of the second ( new ) switch.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I like Taylortwocities' suggestion

So do I!

 

[JohnD]

the "lights" is a good idea. I've seen noiseless strobes that flash when a phone is ringing, very eye-catching. But you'd need eye-catching lamps in every room, passageway and landing to get the same coverage that a doorbell gives. This might be costly and/or troublesome to install, unless, perhaps, done when a home was being rewired.

I've used a low-current piezo-electric "siren" as found in car alarms, though a sound bomb might have looked better, to improve audibility of a doorphone. it is a bit startling if you happen to be next to it when it goes off. Since the circuitry was designed for a buzzer in the handset, it would not have been suitable for a regular doorbell. But I think that the sound of a traditional bell is very good and not easily mistaken for other noises. In a larger home, or one fitted with fire doors, sound does not carry well.

 

[FatherDougal]

I'm looking into the Byron wired to wireless converter and I'm not sure what it gives me. The rear door Byron wireless unit (BY201) does not seem to handle multiple bell presses - so I can't link in with it and piggyback on its receivers.

So, I'll still end up with two sets of wireless chimes throughout the property. The spec states that it cannot be attached to a uPVC door frame or used with any lighted bell push - both of which I have.

I might have an additional receiver lying in the house for the back door wireless setup, will check at the weekend.

 

[securespark]

 

[FatherDougal]

You wouldn't hear that above the snoring...

 

[eveares]

Replace the existing chime unit with an old fashioned bell or a fire alarm sounder.

Just what I was thinking, the 32 tone white Banshee sounder with adjustable tones and volumes should do the trick.

Or even a 127db Master Blaster Siren .