Need Door Bell generator for whole house audio

[Eric]

I would like to hook up a door bell generator to the paging input of my
whole house audio system. The only thing I really need is something that
will generate a "ding-dong" when a contact is closed. I see some kits on the
web but I am wondering if anyone has actually done this and what they have
used. I am looking to buy this in the USA. I could probably wire up a
circuit with an IC but I don't know who sells this stuff retail, like in a
Radio Shack or whatever. Please advise. Thanks.

[Art Todesco]

I've done it, but it's not pretty. I
used a miniature Casio keyboard that you
can record a song. I built a simple
timing circuit with 555 timers. When you
press the doorbell, the circuit turns on
the intercom and connects all the inside
speakers to the amp. After a 1/2
second, the Casio is triggered to play the
song. The second timer shuts the whole
thing down after about 10 seconds.
See, it's not pretty, but it works and
you can hear the doorbell in any room.
As I will probably be selling the house
in about a year, I will probably replace
the Casio with a non-volatile recording
module. Now, when there is a power
failure, I have to re-program the Casio.

Eric wrote:
> I would like to hook up a door bell generator to the paging input of my
> whole house audio system. The only thing I really need is something that
> will generate a "ding-dong" when a contact is closed. I see some kits on the
> web but I am wondering if anyone has actually done this and what they have
> used. I am looking to buy this in the USA. I could probably wire up a
> circuit with an IC but I don't know who sells this stuff retail, like in a
> Radio Shack or whatever. Please advise. Thanks.
>
>

[Marc F Hult]

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:27:44 GMT, "Eric" <eric.ritchie@verizon.net> wrote in
message <Qqevf.8133$gq4.7605@trndny04>:

>I would like to hook up a door bell generator to the paging input of my
>whole house audio system. The only thing I really need is something that
>will generate a "ding-dong" when a contact is closed. I see some kits on
the
>web but I am wondering if anyone has actually done this and what they have
>used. I am looking to buy this in the USA. I could probably wire up a
>circuit with an IC but I don't know who sells this stuff retail, like in a
>Radio Shack or whatever. Please advise. Thanks.
>

The Elk 930 is a "doorbell and telephone ring detector" module that with
open-collector outputs that can be used as digital outputs or to control
relays. Each module can be used for two doorbells and one phone line. Elk
also has a variety of horns, chimes, and programmable and pre-programmed
voice modules that interface directly (no relay needed).

http://www.elkproducts.com/products/elk-930.htm

.... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.EControl.org

[Paul Dembry]

How about a Niles DBI?

[Robert L Bass]

Eric wrote:
>
> I would like to hook up a door bell generator to
> the paging input of my whole house audio system...

This should do the trick. It's an ELK recordable driver. The URL is on my
website:
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com/product_1484_detailed.htm

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
941-866-1100 Sales & Tech Support
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>

[autonut843]

I think Radio Shack has a 'ding dong' type piezo door bell element.
Most every radio shack I've ever walked in to has it hooked up to their
door announcer IR beam and when you walk in you hear it go
ding dong ding (because the pulse from the IR beam to power the thing
is longer than the ding-dong cycle of the piezo element.)

Anyway, since a piezo is just a speaker, I would go to RS, buy one of
those, tear it apart, you'll probably see the two lead in wires that
take 12VDC and they will go to a circuit board and from there it will
probably have 2 wires going to the piezo. I have a hunch that if you
just connect the two output wires to the paging input you will get the
ding-dong. Now the only trick is to power it for the correct length of
time. Probably using a 555 as a pulse stretcher would do it.

Hmm, on second thought, that may be more complex than you want to do.
Well, that's the free advice I can think of right off the bat.

Good luck, let us know how you work it out!

[Art Todesco]

Speaking of RS, you could use one of
those ~$10 keychain recorders.
They record about 10 seconds. I have
interfaced them for Halloween
spook noises to a larger amp/speaker and
an external trigger. It was
pretty easy and they seem to keep the
sound forever .... well, for at
least 3 or 4 years, so far.

autonut843 wrote:
> I think Radio Shack has a 'ding dong' type piezo door bell element.
> Most every radio shack I've ever walked in to has it hooked up to their
> door announcer IR beam and when you walk in you hear it go
> ding dong ding (because the pulse from the IR beam to power the thing
> is longer than the ding-dong cycle of the piezo element.)
>
> Anyway, since a piezo is just a speaker, I would go to RS, buy one of
> those, tear it apart, you'll probably see the two lead in wires that
> take 12VDC and they will go to a circuit board and from there it will
> probably have 2 wires going to the piezo. I have a hunch that if you
> just connect the two output wires to the paging input you will get the
> ding-dong. Now the only trick is to power it for the correct length of
> time. Probably using a 555 as a pulse stretcher would do it.
>
> Hmm, on second thought, that may be more complex than you want to do.
> Well, that's the free advice I can think of right off the bat.
>
> Good luck, let us know how you work it out!
>

[Patrick Griffin]

I used the page input on my audio system, an amplifier, and a Nutone Chime
Module.The parts cost less than $50 and found the instructions on the
www.worthingtonsolutions.com website. Just search the knowledgebase for
"doorbell". You can also purchase the equipment from them. It works great.

"Eric" <eric.ritchie@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Qqevf.8133$gq4.7605@trndny04...
>I would like to hook up a door bell generator to the paging input of my
> whole house audio system. The only thing I really need is something that
> will generate a "ding-dong" when a contact is closed. I see some kits on
> the
> web but I am wondering if anyone has actually done this and what they have
> used. I am looking to buy this in the USA. I could probably wire up a
> circuit with an IC but I don't know who sells this stuff retail, like in a
> Radio Shack or whatever. Please advise. Thanks.
>
>

[Eric]

The Nutone Solution looks great Patrick. Thanks for everyone's input.