door chime for workshop in basement

[tung tied]

Well, my basement renovation (including woodshop) is near completion. Flooring, lighting, plywood walls and electrical are in (not ready for pictures yet). Still need DC. Also, I want to wire a doorbell chime into the basement so I can hear the front doorbell ring (my dog doesn't bark). I've seen some systems that use wireless button (I don't want two buttons at the front door), and a wireless one button two chime system at BORG. However, the existing transformer for the hard-wired front door bell is in the basement. Can I hook up another chime to it? That would save having to change batteries with wireless systems. What do I need to know?

[gerti]

If you can, try the wired way. We had wireless chimes for a while, and between a cheap button, possible interference and who knows what else half the time it wasn't working. Maybe this article will help:

http://www.rd.com/19529/article19529.html

[herb fellows]

Absolutely right, stay away from the wireless, they should be called 'worthless'. I bought a high end one to make sure it would be ok; it was supposed to be good for 100 ft, never worked more than 25 feet, and that was in a straight, no interference line.
From my experience, a basement would never work.

[Woodshark]

I added a second doorbell for the basement office. We wired it in with the existing one upstairs. To make it work, we had to get a larger transformer for a bit more power.

[Mr__Bill]

Every one is right! Wireless is likely a waist and you may need a larger transformer, try it first to see. You can also wire in a timed relay (turns on for a set time and not just for as long as the bell button is pushed) and the relay can turn on a light or flashing/rotating light, sound a horn or some other thing to get your attention when the machines are making noise. If you go this route just be sure to have a way to switch from loud to soft when you are doing something quiet so you don't scare the heck out of yourself. I always liked the flashing strobe for this reason. You can have the new doorbell sounder switched through the basement light so it only works when someone is down there. Years ago Radio Shack had a relay device that switched on when it heard loud noises. Had a little rheostat to set the level. I set one up for a friend to turn on a strobe to remind his kids that they were getting too noisy. If it or something like it is still available a loud doorbell could be routed through it and only be loud when you were loud.

On the other hand, do you really want to be disturbed when getting some quality time in your shop? Consider too, if you startle easily, if you want something going off when your hands are close to sharp moving tool parts.

Bill, who is envious of your dog who does not bark at the doorbell

[tung tied]

Door chime in basement

Thank you for your experience and willingness to reply. Thank you Gerti for the link. That is exactly the type of thing I need to start. I appreciate others' experiences, I have enough batteries to replace semi-annually in the fire alarms than to worry about little NiCad retaining screws, etc.

I'm going to give it a whirl.

Tung tied

[vaking]

What good is a door bell when you have hearing protection on? Door bell in the basement would not do me any good at all. How good is your sound and vapor insulation in the basement? My biggest problem is smell of my wood finishes reaching to my wife's nose.

[tung tied]

The noise level isn't always high! I sometimes measure, layout, plan or even use hand tools. The ventilation for my workshop is not mixed with the home HVAC, (It is a window and/or door). I'll do a solvent or burnt cookie test at a later date. The planned doorbell isn't just for someone in the workshop, I might be in my sauna! (please don't form mental images on that one). I'm not saying I'm far away in the east wing, but consider if someone is running a vacuum cleaner upstairs, and can't here the bell, I might hear the auxillary in the basement. I could go on and on, but I'm . . .
Tung tied.