
Wired surface mounted bell push buttons can also be used with any make or type of wired doorbell. When mounted on a plinth, there is no need for a large hole behind, just a hole for bell wire. However, for most of the round bell pushes there are options for wooden oak or mahogany plinths - Click here, or we supply bell pushes and plinth combinations - Click here. The term, Flush Fitting, means that the movement of the bell push button is behind the front plate, so there is always a need to have a hole made behind the plate to accommodate this movement. They can also be made to work with wireless systems if connected to a Wired to Wirefree Extender - Click here for extenders. Wired Flush fitting bell push buttons can be used with any make or type of wired doorbell chime unit. Unless they are sold as kits, a doorbell will need a bell push button and bell wire as well - the bell wire must be good quality to prevent "voltage drop" at these low voltages (a symptom is that the doorbell will sound feeble). Mechanical action doorbells have a hammer hitting metal to produce a ding-dong, ringing bell or buzzer sound, whilst electronic chimes have pre-recorded melodies ( up to a choice of 17 for some models ). Some units can either be powered by batteries or external transformers and the sound is produced by 2 different methods - mechanical or electronic. Battery wired doorbells are perfectly acceptable and for typical use batteries should last about 3 years - but they have the benefit of a simple DIY installation. Some units have internal transformers which only require a mains connection. Transformers are normally external to the doorbell and are often positioned in the consumer unit, but can be positioned anywhere (they are ugly boxes are not normally visible). The transformer drops the voltage to between 8 - 12v a/c - a safe voltage for external bell pushes. Wired Doorbells can be powered by batteries or transformers connected to a mains supply.
