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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

After posting this I remebered a change of doorbell transformer was
needed. Old was 12V and DiMango required 16V if memory serves. I was
lucky that the transformer was in the attic directly above the bell.
HTH.

***********************
I bought a DiMango unit where the transmitter is wired with the
doorbell transformer and receiver(s) plug into any duplex receptacle.
Worked fine for years. Have moved and 2 were moved with us but not
connected yet. Single doorbel pushbutton works for original bell and
DiMango units. Would do it again.

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:47:55 -0500, wrote:

Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage.
In the past 3 years since I bought the first one, I have had to
replace this doorbell 3 times. I bought one at Walmart for about $15.
It lasted a year. I replaced the battery in the outdoor button, still
it did not work. (The indoor ringer is 120V AC). I bought another
complete set, and found the bell (indoor) was fine on my old one, but
the outdoor button was dead. A few months later it was dead again,
and a new battery did not fix it again. I was able to exchange it
that time. Now, once again it's dead. It appears to be the button
again. This time I contacted the manufacturer. They said that they
would replace it if it was still in the one year warranty and I had
the receipt. I cant find the receipt, so they refuse to assist me,
even though they admit that it's probably defective.

After this much trouble, I dont even want another one, and will
install a wired bell. DO NOT buy them, they are total trash.
I should mention that the outdoor button is under a roof too, so it's
not water getting into it. Just very poor quality (made in China)
crap. The model number is SL 6151-RX-A

Mark

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PipeDown
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.

Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.


wrote in message
...
After posting this I remebered a change of doorbell transformer was
needed. Old was 12V and DiMango required 16V if memory serves. I was
lucky that the transformer was in the attic directly above the bell.
HTH.

***********************
I bought a DiMango unit where the transmitter is wired with the
doorbell transformer and receiver(s) plug into any duplex receptacle.
Worked fine for years. Have moved and 2 were moved with us but not
connected yet. Single doorbel pushbutton works for original bell and
DiMango units. Would do it again.

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:47:55 -0500, wrote:

Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage.
In the past 3 years since I bought the first one, I have had to
replace this doorbell 3 times. I bought one at Walmart for about $15.
It lasted a year. I replaced the battery in the outdoor button, still
it did not work. (The indoor ringer is 120V AC). I bought another
complete set, and found the bell (indoor) was fine on my old one, but
the outdoor button was dead. A few months later it was dead again,
and a new battery did not fix it again. I was able to exchange it
that time. Now, once again it's dead. It appears to be the button
again. This time I contacted the manufacturer. They said that they
would replace it if it was still in the one year warranty and I had
the receipt. I cant find the receipt, so they refuse to assist me,
even though they admit that it's probably defective.

After this much trouble, I dont even want another one, and will
install a wired bell. DO NOT buy them, they are total trash.
I should mention that the outdoor button is under a roof too, so it's
not water getting into it. Just very poor quality (made in China)
crap. The model number is SL 6151-RX-A

Mark



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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

marketing name recognition only. the company was totally shut down,
name sold for marketing.

heatrhkit made great stuff, so sad.

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ameijers
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup


wrote in message
ps.com...
marketing name recognition only. the company was totally shut down,
name sold for marketing.

heatrhkit made great stuff, so sad.

Yeah, a favorite pet peeve of mine- the quality names from my mis-spent
youth, mostly all gone belly up, but not allowed a dignified death. The
quality is long gone, but the name lives on. Once in a great while, it is
nice to see the pretend company go belly up or get eaten, a la Packard Bell.
Seems like all the prestige stereo companies of the 60s and 70s are now just
Pacific rim brand names. Tools, a similar tale. And don't get me started on
bicycles (Schwinn) or computer stuff. They had to give up on the 'Buy
America' act at work. Nobody in N.A. makes any of that stuff any more- at
most they slap the mainland China parts together.

Ah well- I suppose as long as they are making so much money off us, they
won't start a war against us....

aem sends...

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AZ Nomad
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.


Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.


Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?


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Nonnymus
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.


Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.


Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?


Heath also offered a pretty decent study-at-home series of
courses in electronics. The courses included building your
own oscillator, power supply etc.

Nonnymus
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AZ Nomad
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:45:45 -0700, Nonnymus wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.


Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.


Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?


Heath also offered a pretty decent study-at-home series of
courses in electronics. The courses included building your
own oscillator, power supply etc.


That was at the time of heath's demise. It was a far cry from when
heath sold tvs, stereo equipment, rc airplanes, ham radio, computers,
etc. Heath's video and sound quality were far superior to anything
available commercial and heath had features seen no where else such as
a tv that would automatically realign a rooftop antenna when channels
were changed.
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PipeDown
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup


"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:45:45 -0700, Nonnymus wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown
wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you
bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV
in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor
lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.

Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.

Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?


Heath also offered a pretty decent study-at-home series of
courses in electronics. The courses included building your
own oscillator, power supply etc.


That was at the time of heath's demise. It was a far cry from when
heath sold tvs, stereo equipment, rc airplanes, ham radio, computers,
etc. Heath's video and sound quality were far superior to anything
available commercial and heath had features seen no where else such as
a tv that would automatically realign a rooftop antenna when channels
were changed.


Heath Kit was great but when Zenith Aquired them it started downhill.
Possibly because at the time electronics was beginning a revolution that
generally excluded all but the most techie of electronic hobbiests.

BTW, the TV kit was not cheaper than a TV. In most cases the extra
packaging and kitting of the parts plus support fot them drove the cost
higher than a production version.


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AZ Nomad
 
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:58:41 GMT, PipeDown wrote:



"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:45:45 -0700, Nonnymus wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown
wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you
bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV
in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor
lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.

Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.

Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?


Heath also offered a pretty decent study-at-home series of
courses in electronics. The courses included building your
own oscillator, power supply etc.


That was at the time of heath's demise. It was a far cry from when
heath sold tvs, stereo equipment, rc airplanes, ham radio, computers,
etc. Heath's video and sound quality were far superior to anything
available commercial and heath had features seen no where else such as
a tv that would automatically realign a rooftop antenna when channels
were changed.


Heath Kit was great but when Zenith Aquired them it started downhill.
Possibly because at the time electronics was beginning a revolution that
generally excluded all but the most techie of electronic hobbiests.


BTW, the TV kit was not cheaper than a TV. In most cases the extra
packaging and kitting of the parts plus support fot them drove the cost
higher than a production version.


There was a period when the heathkit prices were competitive. Even when they
were a bit more expensive, they bought you features not found in any commercial
product and you saved money on maintenance by doing it yourself.

Care to look up the price of a scientific calculator in 1975 with full trig and
logarithmic functions? Or a FM tuner with a digital quartz synthesized phase
locked loop in the same year? The heathkit examples are extreme dinosours
compared to today's technology (the calculator required AC current and used 300V
gas discharge displays while the tuner cost about a thousand bucks and was as
big as an early VCR.) but at the time they were state of the art and unavailable
elsewhere.

Obviously, by the time of heath's demise, their kits weren't cheaper. Heath's
competition were building their products overseas and that was cheaper than even
packaging a kit in the states. Nobody wanted to pay nearly a
hundred bucks for a digital alarm clock when commercial ones were a third the
price.

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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

Somehow TODAY companies like Ramsey put out nice kilts, at affordable
prices.

Dont know if Ramsey is a US company?



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mm mm is offline
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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:28:14 GMT, AZ Nomad
wrote:


Obviously, by the time of heath's demise, their kits weren't cheaper. Heath's
competition were building their products overseas and that was cheaper than even
packaging a kit in the states. Nobody wanted to pay nearly a
hundred bucks for a digital alarm clock when commercial ones were a third the
price.


I bought, around 1974, a capacitive discharge ignition system kit, for
my '67 Pontiac Catalina convertible. I never had any problems
starting the car after that. But I bought it from Archer, which iirc
is Radio Shack.

A few years later, the main board went, which had a tranformer
integral with it (and other small things I soldered to it, all of
which tested good.)

Radio Shack is fairly good with parts, once selling me spare suction
cups for the electronic car compass they sold. (I have them
somewhere, but can't find them. I have a new car and will have to
gglue the old suction cup to the window if I don't find my spares.
Hmmm. Maybe it's in one particular box.)

But in this case they didn't have the part, so I bought it from
HeathKit. Expensive, about a third or half the price of the whole
kit. But cheaper than a new kit, and the ignition system went on to
work for a total of 14 years, until I got a car where electronic spark
was original equipment.

Since then, I saw a guy with 20+ assembled ones, never a kit, and I
bought one for a dollar. Maybe I'll have an old car some day. But I
still might use the kit -- still works -- and save the new one for
later.


One interesting thing. It didn't make any noise in the first car '67
Pontiac Catalina, but in the second car, '72 Buick Centurion
Convertible, mounted in the same place, top of firewall just right of
center, just left of heater hoses, it squealed steadily and I could
hear it inside the car. Mounted it to one end of a piece of wood and
mounted the other end of the wood to the same holes I had originally
mounted the CD ignition to. No more audible squealing in the car.

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Posts: 1
Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

since67 had written this in response to
http://www.thestuccocompany.com/main...up-123912-.htm
:

wrote:


Somehow TODAY companies like Ramsey put out nice kilts, at affordable
prices.


Dont know if Ramsey is a US company?




-------------------------------------

I have to show the current heath/Zenith a little love. I have the exact
same model of chime, bought in mid 2008, and it worked, but would sometime
start ringing incessantly - couldn't stop it! The battery does not seat
well inthe pushbutton compartment but I could not get it to work properly,
consistently. so I found Heath onthe web, they have a toll free, and
got through after a little waiting and one or two hang-ups. But the
person who I eventually talked to just took the date code and sent me a
new push-button (SL-6190-B), no questions asked, no charge, and it's been
working nicely for two weeks so far. It's the same button, but they
changed the way the battery sits in this button, AND, the push-button
action works better in this one, which may have been the main problem with
the previous. So, in this case, Heath stood behind their product.
Woo-Hoo!!


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Default Heath-Zenith Wireless doorbells are garbage - Followup

On 06 Jun 2009 20:12:15 GMT, since67 master_at_josephstreetrecords_dot_com@fo wrote:

I have to show the current heath/Zenith a little love. I have the exact
same model of chime, bought in mid 2008, and it worked, but would sometime
start ringing incessantly - couldn't stop it! The battery does not seat
well inthe pushbutton compartment but I could not get it to work properly,
consistently. so I found Heath onthe web, they have a toll free, and
got through after a little waiting and one or two hang-ups. But the
person who I eventually talked to just took the date code and sent me a


That would mean something if the transmitters weren't such crap.

I've now gotten in the habbit of buying a new unit, swapping out the
button inerds, and returning it. Home depot doesn't care, heath
gets to repackage it with a new ten cent circuit board and still
show a ten thousand percent profit.

If they were capable of outlasting the batteries in the packaging,
I might feel a little guilt over the practice. So far of the last three,
none have outlasted the batteries and none have lasted a whole year.

I should be charging them for the hassle.

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