Today, I fixed something. Well, I fixed a couple of things. I put the plumbing back together for our kitchen sink. It is coming along pretty well. I repaired a dimmer switch that was overheating in our dining room as well. But the thing that really got me going today – well, tonight – was the doorbell. We had the siding replaced about a year and a half ago. When those cats removed the old siding they naturally had to remove the doorbell button as well. They didn’t take care doing it. Honestly, they didn’t take care doing much. The siding job was slightly less than what I would call “on par.”They got it together after a couple of redo attempts. But the poor doorbell just never did work right after that.
I don’t know much about doorbells. Let me restate that. I didn’t know much about doorbells until today. I thought that you pushed the button and all the electricity did its wonderful “goodness” and presto-bingo you have Westminster chimes ring-a-ding dinging in your hall. The sad truth to it is, I think that a lot folks are in the same boat that I was in. I am a little determined on occasion. So I figured, they just shorted the button or chime. That is all. So I took the button down. It only worked if you depressed it and held it. Otherwise, you got this awful buzzing sound that contained only a short note or two of the homage to the Church of St. Mary the Great. To hear the Cambridge Quarters you had to hold the button down. Who was rude enough to do that?
Apparently, when the doorbell was originally installed it had a nice little diode that crossed the terminals and held the note for you. But my friendly demolition team neglected to keep that diode. And, of course, I had no knowledge of its existence. I studied the wiring and played with it. Muwhahaha. After reading the sticker on the chime itself, I found that you needed to have a diode.
Now to my rant.
After I tried out a few new doorbell buttons, I found out the truth. You couldn’t buy the stinking thing where you might buy a doorbell. After a bit more research, I found a few references to a couple of different diode configurations that could help me out. I went to Radio Shack to get one. Maybe they know something about these things. I walked into my local Radio Shack and ask the store manager, “I need a diode for my doorbell. Do you have any?” I expected a quick grin. But you know what I got instead? You probably know already if you have walked into a Radio Shack in the last year or two looking for something having anything at all to do with electronics. He didn’t know what a diode was. I didn’t believe him at first. I just grinned and asked him a question about what voltage and amperage diode that I might need. I couldn’t really believe it. The manager of a Radio Shack didn’t know what a diode was or did. For those of you who don’t know either -it generally is used to prevent the flow of electricity in a particular direction. Sort of like a one way valve for electricity. He showed me to the pull out bin of ALL of their electronic parts and pieces. Radio Shack used to be the place to go if you needed a quick part for something electronic. Now they have the equivalent of a large toolbox with bags of electronic components that the employees have not even a single clue as to what they are. Anyway, I bought a grab bag of 1 amp diodes and went home. I installed the 50v 1Adiode. Now, I have my magic back. You press the button, like any normal human and just wonder at the amazement of the Westminster Chime. We can also pretend that we didn’t hear it and hide. Like we did before it was repaired.
Have a great day.