On 20/12/2020 14:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Another John brought next idea :
The problem with the battery-driven one is that the bell push is
extremely unreliable - some days it works, some days not. It's on the
porch which faces directly south; thus, it's exposed to the extremes of
weather. I've replaced the battery 3 or 4 times in its life (and the
battery holder seems pretty flimsy to me), and I have sealed the
bell-push with various gunges round the edges every now and again to try
and keep out damp -- but after a period of solid functionality, it
always becomes unreliable again.

So the problem is a poor quality bell push button?

Why not track down a better quality push button, which is waterproof
and connect it in parallel with the existing one?

I have two remote controls for my roller shutter garage door, one in
the house, other in the car. The buttons of which became iffy after a
few years and I could never lay my hand on them. I simply wired a
centre off, up / down switch to each and fixed the switches one in the
car, one in the house.

Lots of these sort of things use 'tactile' switches. My car remote control
does. And they all seem relatively short lived. Luckily replacements are
very cheap. Even although there are variations. I bought an assortment box
from Ebay which covers most.

BTW, a new remote for my car costs over £400 from a dealer including
coding. I suppose no option if you'd lost it. Bought a new case for my
iffy one and replaced the push buttons for about £20 (from Ebay). Good as
new.

I've done that too, very easy.