Jeff Prevett wrote:
This is quite simple to do. You can even keep your existing doorbell. Go
buy a single toggle single throw switch. If you have a plastic case (the
'cheap' type that builders put into houses), you can drill a hole in it and
put the switch in the case. You have two ways to electrically connect the
switch. You can interupt the power supply or the switch. Personally, I
would interput the power supply to the bell. Find the two wires that
connect the doorbell to the transformer disconnect the positive one
(probably the red one if red and green are the two wire colours). Connect
one side of the switch to the wire that you disconnected and connect the
other side of the switch to the terminal on the bell. It is good pratice to
interput the +ve line, but since we're working with very low DC voltage it
really doesn't matter. If the power from the transformer goes to the
doorbell button, you have to connect it like the later case. Simply put the
switch in as in the former case.
Here is a little ASCII schematic. It's the same schematic for both setups,
except in the second setup, the SPDT-switch is between the doorbell button
and the doorbell:
+ ---------------------|SPDT-switch|-----------
|
|
Doorbell button
|
12-24VDC |
Doorbell
|
|
- ---------------------------------------------------
NOTE: by doing this, if you have a light on the pushbutton (outside), it
will go off when you turn off the switch.
Give me a shout if you need a better picture or this doesn't make sense (I'm
an electrical engineering student -3rd year, so this is pretty basic stuff
to me and I sometimes forget that it isn't to others).
Jeff
If your doorbell is located where you can easily reach up and touch it
I'd suggest that an good spot you to mount a miniature toggle switch
would be right through a hole drilled in the doorbell's housing. That'd
eliminate the need to run any additional wires.
One like this from Radio Shack should do the job:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CT LG%5F011%5F002%5F015%5F006&product%5Fid=275%2D614
HTH,
(Another) Jeff
"JennP" wrote in message
news:J8Gvd.654778$mD.653931@attbi_s02...
"Chemqueries" wrote in message
...
Do any of you know whether there is such a thing as a doorbell that I can
shut
off and on from the inside of the house? On weekend mornings, I'd like
to
be
able to deactivate the doorbell or switch the sound off. I've been to
several
hardware stores and haven't found what I'm looking for. Thanks for any
suggestions.
I don't know, but what a fabulous idea! I'd love something like that to
prevent my barking dog from waking up the kids at naptime. The doorbell is
the only thing that makes her bark.
JennP.
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