Ethernet doorbell - any recommendations?

johnrd

Hi everyone

I work down the garden, and I can't get the range from a wireless doorbell, so my neighbour is getting a bit annoyed with taking lots of Xmas pressie deliveries I've bought online!

I don't want to run new wires, but it just occured to that my ethernet cable is already in place, so I was wondering if anyone had ever come across an ethernet doorbell? There are lots of intercoms for £300+, but really I just want to spend a few quid on a doorbell & don't need the intercom part or the door entry part.

Thanks, John

PS - or a decent alternative would be a wireless doorbell that makes my phone handset ring. Siemens do 1 but that's £200 too!

trcooke

Are you using the Ethernet cable for anything else? I.e. do you have a network running on it?

If you're not using it for anything else then you could just use a pair of wires from it as bell wire. Hook up one end to the bell push and then put the bell chime on the other end down your garden.

johnrd

Should have said - yes, I'm running a network over it, jd

DatabaseError

buy a cheap, wired doorbell and a decent wireless doorbell. take a wireless doorbell apart, attach the wired bell (button) to the door and run the bell wire through to the back of the house, attach the wire to the contacts on the wireless bell, the signal now doesn't need to travel through the whole house, and can (if placed correctly) have clear line of sight to your shed/office.


10/10 for lateral thinking
04/10 for practicality?
02/10 for moneysaving?!

johnrd

I like your thinking, will try that if nobody comes up with an ethernet doorbell. I find it so frustrating that there's no doorbell that will just make your phone ring, but almost all cordless phones can page each other. I was going to experiment with a standard cordless phone, but I couldn't find a decent way to link th ebell to it while leaving the handset inside the door ...

DatabaseError

same thing...link a wired bell to the page button (requires a screwdriver and a soldering iron )


If you can smell smoke...it's not my fault...

espresso

If you are prepared to modify the existing Ethernet cable at each end or make an adaptor etc, you could use an unused pair for your door bell. RJ45 pins 4 & 5 and 7 & 8 are not actually used.

DatabaseError

^ trust you to come up with a sensible solution

espresso

DatabaseError wrote: »

^ trust you to come up with a sensible solution

Sorry!

Avoriaz

espresso wrote: »

If you are prepared to modify the existing Ethernet cable at each end or make an adaptor etc, you could use an unused pair for your door bell. RJ45 pins 4 & 5 and 7 & 8 are not actually used.

What current is Ethernet cable designed for?

Can you be certain that the bell push current won't cross talk or interfere with the Ethernet signal and screw it up everytime someone presses the bell?

bob_a_builder

and screw it up everytime someone presses the bell?

Hes going to have to have ordered a hell of a lot of pressies & parcels for that to be an issue - surely
tcp/ip error correction should handle that shouldn;t it