Electronic/Computer Engineering

Question

How do doorbells work?

Answer

Hi there,<BR><BR>Doorbells usually have a transformer to take the 110 or 220 volt house voltage and step it down to a safer 12 or 24 volts so that doorbell wiring can run outside the wall between outside the door to inside the house.<BR><BR>The button outside is just a switch, which brings the power to the sound-making device inside. That device can be anything from a simple electric bell (electromagnet that pulls the clapper towards the bell, which breaks the circuit, releasing the clapper, over and over again to make ringing) to a more modern electronic bell (with a circuit like in an electric piano).<BR><BR>For more information on "how things work" type of questions, do as I did and type "doorbell how it works". I got this URL:<BR><BR><A href=http://home.howstuffworks.com/doorbell.htm">http://home.howstuffworks.com/doorbell.htm</A><BR><BR>which gives more detail.<BR><BR>Good luck!<BR><BR>&nbsp;-- Tom Harris (t.harris@ieee.org) http://home.howstuffworks.com/doorbell.htm http://vrd.askvrd.org/services/answerschema.xml