Ross Irvine said:
Hi Trevor,
I have a 1.5VDC wireless doorbell (the 'bell' runs on 1.5VDC) that I
want to hook into my Alarm/Home Automation system. The easy solution is
to attach a relay to the wireless 'bell' which loops a NC or NO contact
back to the alarm panel. There are plenty of contacts on the wireless
bell's PCB which energises 1.5VDC (It runs on 2 * 1.5 D size batteries)
when the doorbell "rings" which I can use to close a relay. The relay
closes, the alarm panel 'sees' the zone change then I can act on it.
The problem is finding some type of relay system that'll work with such
low voltages.
As the doorbell itself (not the remote that you push) just runs on it's
own batter power it would be good to be able to utilise its own power
rather than running 12-24VDC to it just to power a relay or some other
device
**Then I would consider using one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/4aba2
Although it states that it is suitable for 3 Volt operation, I am pretty
certain that it works down to 1.5 Volts. DON'T spend any money, 'till you're
certain though. I built one a few years ago, I think it worked OK on 1.5
Volts. I'll try to find it and let you know.
At present I am mucking about with some solar powered garden lights, which
were on special at Flower Power
http://www.flowerpower.com.au/ last
weekend. A pair of lights was marked down to 13 Bucks. They had a couple of
hundred in stock on Sunday. Anyhoo, they operate a white LED from a 1.5 Volt
battery. There's a little PCB inside, which I assume converts the 1.5 Volts
to something a little higher. I'll let you know how I go. I wanted to 'hot'
mine up, using some Lumileds. One of these might be useful for your
purposes.
BTW: Most of the light seems to be lost by the (crappy) diffuser in these
things.