There is no need to explain what a doorbell is because, by now, we all know what it is and what it does as every household has one. The doorbell is actually one of the most useful parts of a home because it helps with our overall safety and security. But do we really know how a doorbell works? Do we know where the doorbell sound comes from?
The sound of an electric doorbell comes from chime bars struck by a magnetic hammer or from a buzzer or an electric bell. Meanwhile, older doorbells such as clapper doorbells have sounds that come from a clapper striking a small electric bell.
For as long as we have been using doorbells, it may seem odd that not all of us know how they actually work and where the doorbell sound comes from. Thankfully, we are here to talk more about how these neat household contraptions work so that you won’t end up wondering your entire life where the doorbell sound comes from especially whenever someone hits that switch found at your door.
Where Does The Doorbell Sound Come From?
We’ve had doorbells our entire lives in many of the different houses we’ve lived in. And we all know what sound they make whenever someone comes over to visit. It’s become a neat contraption that is just as useful as any other tool in your house because it adds an element of safety and convenience on our part.
However, it is also true that not all of us have ever tried to check how doorbells work and where the sound they make comes from. Unless you have studied this or unless you have actually tried to take the doorbell apart and trace the source of the sound, you probably don’t know how they work. And, in most cases, there are those of us who probably don’t care how they work and where the sound comes from as long as the doorbell actually works and makes a sound.
There are even those who just aren’t interested in where the doorbell sound comes from because of how simple and comparatively primitive this tech is compared to the digital world and internet age we live in today. But it is actually the simplicity of the doorbell that makes it interesting enough to try to get to know more about as this primitive yet still very much useful device has been a mainstay in homes around the world for as long as we can remember.
The truth is that doorbell sounds come from different sources depending on the type of doorbell that you have. A classic clapper doorbell, which can still be found in a lot of older homes, uses a more primitive style of technology that makes use of a metal bell and a clapper. The sound will come from how the clapper will strike the metal bell.
Meanwhile, a chime doorbell, of course, produces its sound by making use of a chime. What happens here is that the sound is produced as a piston or a hammer-like object strikes two-tone bars that deliver that chime-like sound. One bar makes that “ding” sound while the other produces that “dong” sound. Hence, the “ding-dong” sound that doorbells are so famous for.
A buzzer doorbell, which is also one of the most popular types of doorbells that a lot of American homes have, don’t have the bells or the bars that most other doorbells feature. Instead, the sound comes from the contact harm that makes contact with the electromagnet in the doorbell mechanism thereby creating that buzzing sound that buzzer doorbells are widely known for.
However, electronic doorbells that make use of digital sound are now making their way into a lot of homes today as more and more new homes are built to integrate this modern type of doorbell. Like most of the digital gadgets we have today, digital electric doorbells don’t make use of physical objects that produce the sound of the doorbell. Instead, they make use of a pre-recorded sound that is triggered whenever the doorbell’s button is pressed.
Do Doorbells Have Speakers?
That said, you may be asking by now whether or not doorbells have speakers where the sound of the different objects that produce the doorbell sounds come from. Well, for starters, the “speakers” that doorbells do have are not entirely speakers per se but are actually chimes that allow the sound produced by the bells and the tone bars to be blasted all over the house for the owners to hear.
In that sense, it really isn’t a speaker because the traditional speakers function differently compared to how we describe the insides of what is happening in the doorbell’s chime. But that is when we are talking about traditional doorbells and not the modern ones.
When we are talking about the modern doorbells that make use of digital sounds that were previously recorded, yes, they do have speakers because the speakers are actually the ones that produce the digital sound.
How Do Doorbells Make A Sound?
Now that we know where the sound of a doorbell comes from, let us try to learn more about how they actually make those sounds. As usual, the way a doorbell works actually depends on the type of doorbell we are talking about because different doorbells produce their sounds in a unique way depending on how they were built.
How Does A Wired Doorbell Work?
A wired doorbell is one of the most common types of doorbell that a lot of different homes have. As the name suggests, wired doorbells rely on an electronic mechanism that works by making use of the wired components connecting the different objects that produce the sound of the doorbell. There are many different types of wired electronic doorbells but the most common ones are the chime doorbells and the buzzer doorbells.
However, what you have to understand is that the one thing that is common in wired doorbells is the electromagnet. This is simply a piece of wire coils that wrap around a magnetic metal. What happens here is that, when you press the button on the doorbell, electricity passes through the electromagnet, which produces the magnetic field that serves as the power that will be used by the mechanism that makes the sound regardless of whether it is a chime or a buzzer.
Chime doorbells make use of the magnetic field to power the piston that will strike the tone bars that will create the ding-dong sound chime doorbells are known for. Meanwhile, buzzer doorbells work by using the electromagnet to power a contact arm, which hits the electromagnet thereby producing the buzzing sound that buzzers make when you press the button. The cycle of the contact arm hitting the electromagnet will never stop until you stop holding the doorbell button down.
However, a digital doorbell works differently in the sense that it makes use of an integrated circuit instead of an electromagnet. The integrated circuit is triggered when you press the doorbell button as the digital doorbell plays a pre-recorded digital sound that does not make use of bells or chimes.
How Does A Wireless Doorbell Work?
Wireless doorbells are more often used in larger homes where people won’t be able to hear the sound of the doorbell coming from the main door itself. In such a case, they need to make use of a wireless doorbell so that the doorbell can be placed somewhere closer to where the people usually are.
A wireless doorbell works in the same way as a wired doorbell. However, the difference here is that it uses a radio transmitter that will send a signal through the desired frequency to the doorbell receiver once the button is pressed. As soon as that happens, the doorbell will work in the same way as a wired doorbell does by making use of electromagnets.
However, if you are using a digital wireless doorbell, it won’t make use of electromagnets but will instead use an integrated circuit that is similar to how a wired digital doorbell works.
How Does A Mechanical Doorbell Work?
Mechanical doorbells are the oldest types of doorbells. As the name suggests, these doorbells make use of analog mechanisms that produce a sound. These are also called clapper doorbells because of how the clapper in the mechanism is what hits the bell.
Clapper doorbells work by pushing a button that allows two electric contacts to complete a circuit. These doorbells mainly use three objects: a battery that powers the mechanism, a clapper, and a metal bell. What happens here is that the moment you press the button, the battery powers the clapper, which will repeatedly strike the metal bell to produce the doorbell sound until you let go of the button thereby interrupting the circuit.