Can you help me identify these?

TheSheriff · 16-01-2021 7:34pm #1

Hello all,

Currently doing quite a bit of renovating in our house we moved into and have stripped back all the walls in the hallway to be re-plastered.

The house was built in the 70's, so I am trying to strip out anything which is not needed.

I am hoping someone can tell me what the below items are.

Image 1 is located in the hallway, above the door into the kitchen.

Image 2 is located immediately behind the object in Image 1, on the kitchen wall.

One of these is presumably the wired bell.. (which we don't use/need), but not sure what the second may be.

Maybe this is really straightforward....

Any help appreciated!:)

Avns1s · 16-01-2021 7:37pm

No 2 is your doorbell.
No 1 is possibly a ringer extension for the phone.

Calahonda52 · 16-01-2021 7:40pm

The second one is a door bell, defo, which you should keep, the wireless stuff is crap.

TheSheriff · 16-01-2021 7:49pm

Thanks, yes, was fairly sure #2 was the door bell.

Number #1 has me baffled, really not sure what it is. It also has space for AA batteries?

The house is wired with an alarm (which I've currently disconnected in multiple spots due to all the work we are doing)...but does this look like part of of a wired alarm system?

Alun · 16-01-2021 8:48pm

Number 2 is an old fashioned ding dong mechanical door chime. Number 1 looks like a more modern electronic door chime to me.

Stigura · 17-01-2021 11:57am

As you know you have an alarm system, ask yourself what a speaker may be doing.

That round thing's a speaker.

The bell? Yep. A little bolt, set in that central box, shoots left and right, striking the two long plates. One's tuned to " Ding ". The other to " Dong ". Seriously.

Alun · 17-01-2021 12:16pm

Stigura wrote: »

As you know you have an alarm system, ask yourself what a speaker may be doing.

That round thing's a speaker.

It looks to me that there's a bit too much electronics in there for it to be a simple alarm siren though, plus I don't think I've ever seen one with space for AA batteries. Alarm systems have their own 12v backup batteries. I still reckon it's an electronic door chime.

Stigura · 17-01-2021 1:06pm

Fair point, Alun. Do ye reckon it was one of those things that played, like, half The Blue Danube in electronic buzzes, or what ever?

I'd love to make it work. Just to find out. Suspense would kill me otherwise!

TheSheriff · 17-01-2021 1:15pm

Stigura wrote: »

Fair point, Alun. Do ye reckon it was one of those things that played, like, half The Blue Danube in electronic buzzes, or what ever?

I'd love to make it work. Just to find out. Suspense would kill me otherwise!

Yup, when I opened it first I thought, alarm! But those AA battery slots make it look more like another bell. It's located immediately on the other side of the wall as the ding dong bell.

It has power running to it, but can't for the life of me figure out what for.

Stigura · 17-01-2021 1:21pm

Sherrif; Come on, this Needs sorting!

Have we a Spark in the house? Someone who can decipher those four wires? It would seem passing power through that PCB will send the sound to the speaker. " Name That Tune! "

Wonder if shoving a couple of batteries in might do anything? How to complete the circuit would seem to be the key. No?

Alun · 17-01-2021 1:29pm

TheSheriff wrote: »

It has power running to it, but can't for the life of me figure out what for.

Have you actually measured a voltage across the two wires connected to the PCB?

If not, it could be that the two wires are just contacts for triggering the bell and it needs two batteries to operate. Try disconnecting the two wires from the PCB, popping two AA batteries in and then shorting across the two screw connectors with a short length of wire.

stoneill · 18-01-2021 10:35am

Do you a pic of the front cover?

GreeBo · 19-01-2021 1:12pm

Is #1 the keypad/buzzer for the alarm?

I had one like that years ago that would buzz while the alarm was arming/disarming.

the batteries are to stop someone snipping the wire

stoneill · 20-01-2021 10:22am

It may be an doorbell extension in another room as the primary doorbell wasn't loud enough to hear in the other room.
Small PCB configured for it to play a tune rather than just ding-dong.

The Mulk · 20-01-2021 10:30am

No. 1 looks like those musical bells with the battery back up option alright.

where is the cable going?

GreeBo · 20-01-2021 10:52am

If it was a doorbell it wouldn't be using that cable though, thats used for alarm/phones.
A doorbell would just have L & N.

The Mulk · 20-01-2021 10:55am

GreeBo wrote: »

If it was a doorbell it wouldn't be using that cable though, thats used for alarm/phones.
A doorbell would just have L & N.

In an ideal world you'd be correct.

There's no right or wrong cable to use for some DIY'ers

Doorbells usually use a white/white-black solid core cable. I've seen alarm cable, speaker cable and Cat 5 used before

It's stepped down to 8-12 v

aido79 · 20-01-2021 10:57am

GreeBo wrote: »

If it was a doorbell it wouldn't be using that cable though, thats used for alarm/phones.
A doorbell would just have L & N.

They only used 2 of the 4 cores of the cable so they do only have live and neutral. They probably just used whatever cable they had available.

GreeBo · 20-01-2021 11:40am

aido79 wrote: »

They only used 2 of the 4 cores of the cable so they do only have live and neutral.

ah yeah I know that, but I'd find it strange that someone other than an installer would have this cable just lying around, but wouldnt have had some 1.5m2 for example.

Flying Abruptly · 20-01-2021 11:41am

Could it be for a wireless door bell? Looks similar to the image below which also has a compartment for batteries. The one in OP may have option to be wired.

GreeBo · 20-01-2021 11:42am

I also dont see how batteries would help a non wireless door bell, those 2 AA are not going to push much current through that length of wire...

GreeBo · 20-01-2021 11:43am

OP, stick two batteries in and hook them up and see what you get!

chooseusername · 20-01-2021 4:18pm

70's doorbell /intercom

TheSheriff · 03-02-2021 10:34pm

Hi All,

OP here, thanks to all who responded to this post.

We had a plaster coming the other day, so I decided to chase the wire a bit into the plasterboard, as I figured I'd never get a shot to do it again.

Anyway posters here were correct, this was indeed another door bell. Inside the plaster I found it connected to some sort of wire splitter, with the other "split" wire going into the main "ding dong" doorbell in the kitchen.

Its been ripped out now and I have some lovely new plaster over it, like it was never there.

Thanks for all the help!

Can you help me identify these?

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