My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:02:40 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

How about replacing the button cell battery in the button unit(s).
When the voltage drops so does the signal strength and thus the range.

"Robert Green" wrote in
:

My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them
close to the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of
the door frame. We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and
the 12V cells in the two buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.




Any Wifi wireless ethernet around?
Or a wireless camera somewhere?
Look in those kind of culprits.
A lot of them are on the same or closeby frequency.

"Robert Green" wrote in message
...
"IGot2P" wrote in message
...
On 1/26/2012 3:02 PM, Robert Green wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them
close
to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door
frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in
the
two
buttons but still no joy.

12V cells?

http://www.atbatt.com/a23-batteries.asp

A23 or 23A (23AE) 12 volt Alkaline batteries are 1.08 inches length and
.38
inches width in cylinder. These 23A 12v batteries are typically used in
small RF devices such as garage door openers and keyless entry systems
where
only infrequent pulse current is used. Sometimes the A23 batteries are
enclosed like a normal battery but sometimes a stack of eight LR932 button
cells shrink wrapped together.

--
Bobby G.

Bobby.........Check the batteries under load while in the items. Volt meter
won't "load" a battery enough for proper reading. I have had 1.5 volt cells
check as 1.4 volts no load and same battery check as 1 volt under load. I
built a load tester for this because I have so many devices that are
battery powered. WW

On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:52:16 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

"Reed" wrote in message
m...
On 1/26/12 4:02 PM, Robert Green wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close
to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door
frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the
two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.



Has she or a neighbor added some other new wireless device that is
interfering with the doorbell ?? Does the bell have any capability of
using a different channel ??

Good tip. I do believe she's had a wifi hotspot installed. I'll have to
see if that's the cause of the problem. It would explain the recent sudden
onset.

I have a wireless doorbell where the ringer plugs into the wall.
Cost about 2.50. Worked for my mother for about 10 years and me for
about 3 and one day the ringer part "burned up". No visible damage
inside, but wouldn't work wth duplicate button. I don't know if a
ringer tha runs on batteries can do that.

On Jan 26, 5:50*pm, "Robert Green" wrote:
"bob haller" wrote in message

...
On Jan 26, 4:02 pm, "Robert Green" wrote:

My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the
two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

are you certain the new batteries are really good?

Checked them all out with a voltmeter, first thing.

--
Bobby G.

Did you just check the open-circuit voltage, or did you test them
under load. I usually put a100 ohm resistor across the battery
terminals when I test them, that puts a 10 - 30 ma load on the 1 - 3 V
battery which usually is enough to show either good or weak.

On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:40:09 -0800 (PST), Joe wrote:

On Jan 26, 3:02*pm, "Robert Green" wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. *The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

Blame the current sunspot storms. Or a neighbor's giant radio
transmitting rig. Or an overpowered badly designed computer
peripheral.
If the doorbell is important, simply get a dead reliable hard wired
unit installed. End of problem.

Buying one is simple but installing one might not be.

Joe

On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:11:25 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:02:40 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

How about replacing the button cell battery in the button unit(s).
When the voltage drops so does the signal strength and thus the range.

Note to self: Read the origiinal post to the end.

(I have that problem too.)

are you certain the new batteries are really good?

Checked them all out with a voltmeter, first thing.

--
Bobby G.

under load or open circuit voltage?

bad batteries connected to a digital voltmeter may test fine but still
be bad

On Jan 26, 1:02*pm, "Robert Green" wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. *The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame..
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

If the battery of the button (transmitter) is removed or loses contact
the bell (receiver) may have to be re-programmed. I don’t know about
your doorbell but I know the brand IQ America does.

"Molly Brown" wrote in message
...
On Jan 26, 1:02 pm, "Robert Green" wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the
two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

If the battery of the button (transmitter) is removed or loses contact
the bell (receiver) may have to be re-programmed. I don’t know about
your doorbell but I know the brand IQ America does.

Good point and a reason to hate some of the newer gadgets that have volatile
memories, no way to read the current settings and are programmed by button
pushes. Fortunately this unit uses DIP jumpers (little black Berg clips) to
set the unit's parameters. I didn't have my trusty tweezers with me
yesterday to pull them nor a magnifying glass to read the teeny, tiny
instruction booklet that's been folded about 16 times and stuffed into the
little package containing the replacement doorbell button that my neighbor
bought because she thought the button had gone bad.

All three buttons (two original and one replacement) activate the unit, but
not from outside the house!

--
Bobby G.

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:02:40 -0500, "Robert Green"

stuff snipped

Those wireless doorbells are a pain in the ass. I've dealt with several
of them. A place I worked has them because the brick building was too
hard to run the wires, but as their maintenance guy, I think I had to
tinker with at least one of them at least twice a month. There were 3
units, since the building was too large for one receiver and separate
buttons. this was in the late 1990s

I've had them, and they mostly suck, I agree. The worst was a RatShack unit
that kept falsing.

About 6 years later I bought one for my home, which has aluminum siding.
Due to the metal siding, it would not work at all.

It's clear these are flea-powered transmitters.

They are unreliable and a pain in the ass. If at all possible, put in a
wired doorbell.

Not possible here. Finished and rented out basement.

Till then, check the batteries with an actual battery tester. Clean
contacts, and pray...... Also, if it's real cold outdoors, most
electronics tend to run poorly, batteries drop in voltage, etc.

Actually, in DC, in midwinter, it's 63F and was about that high for most of
the night. Maybe global warming's for real. (-: I've been here for
almost 40 years and have NEVER seen such a warm winter. Not that I am
knocking it - it's nice not to have enormous heating bills.

I'll be adjusting the unit's operating frequency next. I didn't get a good
look at the manual since I was on my way to get a new car battery. I've
have more time this weekend.

--
Bobby G.

In ,
Robert Green typed:
"bob haller" wrote in message
...


are you certain the new batteries are really good?

Checked them all out with a voltmeter, first thing.

--
Bobby G.

under load or open circuit voltage?

bad batteries connected to a digital voltmeter may test
fine but still be bad

I've not seen that with alkalines. Lead acid and NiMH
cells are far more likely to read good and be bad. Since
they were new and tested higher than nominal, I very much
doubt that it's a dead battery problem.

Change them out agan and put the issue to bed. Not costly nor time consuming
& takes out some guesswork.

HTH,

Twayne`

On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:12:43 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

"micky" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:52:16 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

"Reed" wrote in message
m...
On 1/26/12 4:02 PM, Robert Green wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them
close
to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door
frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in
the
two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.



Has she or a neighbor added some other new wireless device that is
interfering with the doorbell ?? Does the bell have any capability of
using a different channel ??

Good tip. I do believe she's had a wifi hotspot installed. I'll have to
see if that's the cause of the problem. It would explain the recent
sudden
onset.

I have a wireless doorbell where the ringer plugs into the wall.
Cost about 2.50. Worked for my mother for about 10 years and me for
about 3 and one day the ringer part "burned up". No visible damage
inside, but wouldn't work wth duplicate button. I don't know if a
ringer tha runs on batteries can do that.

The unit, the original two buttons and a third spare all work "close in" but

Gioid point, and you said it already. Never mind what I said.

they no longer are able to "reach" the chime base unit from the front or
side door, only from within the house about 15' away from the unit.

When my remote wouldn't work with my Powerid pyramd IR relay , it
turned out the Powermid transmitter in one room, the device I was
supposed to aim the remote at, was overloaded..

People told me that the CFL lamps or the incancescent lamps would do
that, so I started being more careful to turn lights off in t hat
room, and then on the whole floor. But I would wake up in the
middle of the night, no sun outside either, to see the red indicator
light that said it was receiving IR flashing on and off. I changed
to another transmitter and it did the same thing. So I had to
disconnect the whole thing. I'm going to try a third transmitter,
but there must be some IR or maybe a harmonic of it? somewhere.

So the nexrt step is to put a swtich on the transmitter and turn it
off whenever I leave the room. That will probably help me, but not
you.

On Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:02:40 PM UTC-7, Robert Green wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

I had one of these units. Made in China POS construction. Will work for maximum of two years and then the electronics are kaput in my estimation. Chuck it and replace or put in a wired unit.

"micky" wrote in message

stuff snipped

When my remote wouldn't work with my Powerid pyramd IR relay , it
turned out the Powermid transmitter in one room, the device I was
supposed to aim the remote at, was overloaded..

People told me that the CFL lamps or the incancescent lamps would do
that, so I started being more careful to turn lights off in t hat
room, and then on the whole floor. But I would wake up in the
middle of the night, no sun outside either, to see the red indicator
light that said it was receiving IR flashing on and off. I changed
to another transmitter and it did the same thing. So I had to
disconnect the whole thing. I'm going to try a third transmitter,
but there must be some IR or maybe a harmonic of it? somewhere.

Powermids are very susceptible to strong RFI, which is a serious issue
considering people use them most often with TV sets. Trying moving the
Powermid away from anything that might generate strong RFI. My old tube TVs
were big offenders, but stereos and LCD/LED TV's can do it, too. I set up
my X-10 to turn off all Powermids ) except the link currently in use so that
they don't pick up stray light or RFI and put it "on the line." I had to do
that because with six Powermids spread throughout the house the stray
reception becomes cumulative and really intolerable

I've found that if the LED stops flashing when I put the unit inside a large
pot (with the sensor facing out) then the problem is not stray IR light, but
RFI. I also was able to use my Homevision log (it records IR events, even
those it does not recognize) to determine that at certain times in both
spring and fall that strong, late afternoon sunlight in the room with the
"blasterMid" (-: screwed up Powermid reception.

So the nexrt step is to put a swtich on the transmitter and turn it
off whenever I leave the room. That will probably help me, but not
you.

Yes, that should certainly help you. With X-10 and HomeVision I can set it
to turn off the Powermids when the roomlights are turned off unless I want
to turn them on manually. After I installed my third powermid, things got
totally unreliable so I had to institute some way of turning off units not
in use. Almost all of my IR receivers - the ones without the external
antenna - are located in "alleyways." I try to place them inside things
that create shadows - as in velcroed upside-down in a bookcase at the very
back of a row of books. I've concealed one in a planter - with plastic
flowers - so that I have to fire directly at them to make a hit and so they
are protected from stray light. X-10 is notorious for scaling
difficulties. The more units, the more issues. Each X-10 unit absorbs a
little bit of the signal and the more you have, the more each signal
degrades. How did we get from wireless doorbells to X-10? (-"

Anyway - first test with the Powermid is move it around or Faraday cage it
to see if the LED stops blink. Both units (illogically) respond to stray
light and nearby RF. IIRC, the folks in comp.home.automation or the
AVSFORUM concluded it was bad shielding on the unit's IF transformers that
made them blink when near a strong RFI emitter. That information is subject
to being completely wrong.

--
Bobby G.

"Roy" wrote in message
news:32421173.303.1327784047978.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@prhb20...
On Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:02:40 PM UTC-7, Robert Green wrote:
My neighbor asked me to look at her wireless doorbell, which suddenly
stopped working properly. The buttons still work if you move them close
to
the unit but they no longer work mounted on the outside of the door
frame.
We've replaced the 3 "D" cells in the base unit and the 12V cells in the
two
buttons but still no joy.

Any ideas?

--
Bobby G.

I had one of these units. Made in China POS construction. Will work for
maximum of two years and
then the electronics are kaput in my estimation. Chuck it and replace or
put in a wired unit.

The electronics look simple enough to last forever. Obviously they don't.

--
Bobby G.

Followup:

The neighbor's problem was solved by replacing the front door unit with a
wireless unit from Carlon/TruValue for $20 that alleges to transmit to 150
feet. Model # upon request. The $10 unit alleges 75' so I splurged and
bought her the $20 one, which also plays Dixie, the Star Spangled Banner and
some other tunes that are easily (maybe too easily) changed from the
doorbell button. It worked well enough that I'll be getting one for us, too
because our side door unit failed and we just never bothered to replace it.

The range is yet to be thoroughly tested, but it works from the side of the
door where the old one didn't. The method to vary the frequency is very
odd - five exposed through the case metal links you can clip with very small
wire cutters or nail clippers. One way changes only for many people.

The old unit now serves as the side and basement door bell. The new unit
also uses much cheaper batteries - 4 AA's and two button cells instead of 3
D's and a 12V alkaline "stack" battery. The tradeoff is that the new unit
sounds tinnier and isn't as loud. It comes with a beltclip and that made me
think I might get two of them - mount one inside and clip one to my belt for
when I am working in the backyard where I sometimes can't hear the doorbell.

--
Bobby G.

On 2/8/2012 1:43 PM, Robert Green wrote:
Followup:

The neighbor's problem was solved by replacing the front door unit with a
wireless unit from Carlon/TruValue for $20 that alleges to transmit to 150
feet. Model # upon request. The $10 unit alleges 75' so I splurged and
bought her the $20 one, which also plays Dixie, the Star Spangled Banner and
some other tunes that are easily (maybe too easily) changed from the
doorbell button. It worked well enough that I'll be getting one for us, too
because our side door unit failed and we just never bothered to replace it.

The range is yet to be thoroughly tested, but it works from the side of the
door where the old one didn't. The method to vary the frequency is very
odd - five exposed through the case metal links you can clip with very small
wire cutters or nail clippers. One way changes only for many people.

The old unit now serves as the side and basement door bell. The new unit
also uses much cheaper batteries - 4 AA's and two button cells instead of 3
D's and a 12V alkaline "stack" battery. The tradeoff is that the new unit
sounds tinnier and isn't as loud. It comes with a beltclip and that made me
think I might get two of them - mount one inside and clip one to my belt for
when I am working in the backyard where I sometimes can't hear the doorbell.

--
Bobby G.



I can see it now, some smart ass kid like I was in the middle of the
last century will swipe the outside doorbell button and torment you
and your neighbor until you knock the main unit off the wall. Darn,
if all this technology had been around back when I was a mischievous
little brat, I could have been a very effective sophomoric terrorist.
o_O

TDD

"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 2/8/2012 1:43 PM, Robert Green wrote:
Followup:

The neighbor's problem was solved by replacing the front door unit with
a
wireless unit from Carlon/TruValue for $20 that alleges to transmit to
150
feet. Model # upon request. The $10 unit alleges 75' so I splurged and
bought her the $20 one, which also plays Dixie, the Star Spangled Banner
and
some other tunes that are easily (maybe too easily) changed from the
doorbell button. It worked well enough that I'll be getting one for us,
too
because our side door unit failed and we just never bothered to replace
it.

The range is yet to be thoroughly tested, but it works from the side of
the
door where the old one didn't. The method to vary the frequency is very
odd - five exposed through the case metal links you can clip with very
small
wire cutters or nail clippers. One way changes only for many people.

The old unit now serves as the side and basement door bell. The new
unit
also uses much cheaper batteries - 4 AA's and two button cells instead
of 3
D's and a 12V alkaline "stack" battery. The tradeoff is that the new
unit
sounds tinnier and isn't as loud. It comes with a beltclip and that
made me
think I might get two of them - mount one inside and clip one to my belt
for
when I am working in the backyard where I sometimes can't hear the
doorbell.

--
Bobby G.



I can see it now, some smart ass kid like I was in the middle of the
last century will swipe the outside doorbell button and torment you
and your neighbor until you knock the main unit off the wall. Darn,
if all this technology had been around back when I was a mischievous
little brat, I could have been a very effective sophomoric terrorist.
o_O

I'm sure you did your best with the tools you had. (-: We used to make
thermite in high school. And zip guns. And contact explosives. And
rockets.

--
Bobby G.

On 2/9/2012 7:10 AM, Robert Green wrote:
"The Daring wrote in message
...
On 2/8/2012 1:43 PM, Robert Green wrote:
Followup:

The neighbor's problem was solved by replacing the front door unit with
a
wireless unit from Carlon/TruValue for $20 that alleges to transmit to
150
feet. Model # upon request. The $10 unit alleges 75' so I splurged and
bought her the $20 one, which also plays Dixie, the Star Spangled Banner
and
some other tunes that are easily (maybe too easily) changed from the
doorbell button. It worked well enough that I'll be getting one for us,
too
because our side door unit failed and we just never bothered to replace
it.

The range is yet to be thoroughly tested, but it works from the side of
the
door where the old one didn't. The method to vary the frequency is very
odd - five exposed through the case metal links you can clip with very
small
wire cutters or nail clippers. One way changes only for many people.

The old unit now serves as the side and basement door bell. The new
unit
also uses much cheaper batteries - 4 AA's and two button cells instead
of 3
D's and a 12V alkaline "stack" battery. The tradeoff is that the new
unit
sounds tinnier and isn't as loud. It comes with a beltclip and that
made me
think I might get two of them - mount one inside and clip one to my belt
for
when I am working in the backyard where I sometimes can't hear the
doorbell.

--
Bobby G.



I can see it now, some smart ass kid like I was in the middle of the
last century will swipe the outside doorbell button and torment you
and your neighbor until you knock the main unit off the wall. Darn,
if all this technology had been around back when I was a mischievous
little brat, I could have been a very effective sophomoric terrorist.
o_O

I'm sure you did your best with the tools you had. (-: We used to make
thermite in high school. And zip guns. And contact explosives. And
rockets.

--
Bobby G.



Some of the things me and the other pipsqueak terrorists pulled off were
quite memorable and made our butts hurt. The pain had something to do
with the high speed collision of a belt/paddle with our buttocks. ^_^

TDD