Tuesday, 18 August 2020

Illuminating a bell push

 I have this bell push which most people don't seem to see. They knock with their knuckles on the door's window which, if I'm out the back of the house, is useless. I'm not sure if it's the hight that puts it in most people blind spot. It's a brass bell on white wood so contrast wise should be easy to spot. 

I decided to illuminate it to see if that would make it more noticeable. I have to say that delivery people still knock at first but seem to spot the bell and ring after.

  

This is the bell push. The push itself is transparent plastic with a brass button 

 

From the rear you can see the white paint from the door frame but there isn't a lot of room to fit bulb.  I should also say that the bell is powered via a transformer at 20v ac.

First I covered the inside with insulation tape. 

 

 

 I thought I was going to have to mount 4 LEDs around the outside  and was going to use a glue gun to hold them in place

 

However, I discovered that there were two almost perfect holes to fit the LEDs 

Because the power supply is 50Hz ac the LEDs would flicker. I also needed to reduce the current through the LEDs to stop them overloading and also stop them shorting the push and having the bell ring continuously.

This is my solution.




 

After some soldering and wire bending 

 

Then in situ just before trimming and connecting.

And finally working




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