What I want to do is make a wireless doorbell placed on my back gate trigger my house’s mechanical doorbell chime via a relay. Running wiring to this location would be difficult, especially without making a mess of it. And I have enough stuff that eats batteries to worry about already so I’d very much like to avoid that.
So why not use the electronic chime the doorbell comes with? Well, apart from a personal preference for the sound of a mechanical chime, range has proven to be a problem. The distance from the back gate to a central location in the house where the chime can be heard everywhere is enough that the button doesn’t seem to actuate it reliably. It does work for the most part, but it misses events often enough that it’s a problem, and I’ve tried a few different units too.
With some kind of relay receiver though, this would be a non-issue as I could put the receiver in the attic on the far edge of the house (the wireless doorbells do seem to work reliably with the receiver in this area) and easily tap in to existing wiring that goes to the mechanical chime.
Since this is a doorbell, it’s also important that it looks like a doorbell so people who approach my house from that side (very common since my driveway is back there) will actually ring it. It also needs to be weatherproof because it will be exposed to rain. That’s why I really don’t want to go with some kind of DIY button here.
I’m open to suggestions though. If you have a better idea, let me know!
The problem with light switches is that they are latched relays that typically only output line voltage, whereas I need a momentary relay that passes through 16V AC from the doorbell transformer. Do you know if some way to adapt this to my needs?