whisky-dave wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Martin Brown wrote
Clive Arthur wrote
Chris Green wrote

I'm after a doorbell (preferably one which has two or more sounders)
which doesn't use batteries at all. I.e. both the button(s) and the
sounders are mains powered. I don't even mind all that much if wire
is required between the button(s) and the sounders but wireless would
be easier.

Are there any out there? I can find quite a few with mains powered
sounders but they still have battery powered buttons.

Why the fear of battery powered components?

Its not fear, its preference.

They work well enough and run for almost as long as the shelf life.

But mains powered bells work for a lot longer than that.

Not if there's a power cut. ;-)

Yep, with the best designed ones that have a rechargeable battery in them.

Actually one of our student groups has a solar panle which charged
up the batts for a doorbell and using a switch on a letter box it could
also email when anything came through the letter box.

Yeah, I'll likely do one of those myself.

(not that I coudl think of a good reason to do that but..)

I can. We arent stupid enough to have our letterboxes in the front
door and so its handy to be notified when the posty puts something
in the letterbox instead of having to check it daily etc.

I don't have that problem I don't have a doorbell I get people to knock.

I didnt bother because the ****ing great alsatian leaves any doorbell
for dead and given that he prefers to lie just inside the massive great
patio door that is the front door, so he can watch people walking
past in the park/walkway next door, no need for any doorbell.

I don't know, but it's worth pointing out that the bell push
batteries last pretty much the battery shelf life in normal
use as they're only drained when the button is pushed.

Moreover the modern piezo sounders are highly efficient and loud
unlike the old prehistoric 2A solenoid soft iron ding-dong things
from way back. The other advantage is that you can go wireless
and/or have a choice of tunes for different bell pushes.

Just as true of mains powered ones.

But you'd need a UPS

Nope, just one properly designed with a rechargeable battery inside it.

Makes sense to have one integrated with the alarm system with just
a different sound when its the doorbell button thats been pressed.

Unless you need a continuously lit bell push then mains bell setups
are no longer really worth it (and even then current drain can be kept
low enough that a set of D batteries will last ~5000hr = 200 days).

Mains powered ones last a hell of a lot
longer than that without any owner action.

That's true the one I did at my parents stil works after 32+ years.
12V transformer, push switch and a couple of large black bell units.