31 January 2016

REVIEW: miChime Battery Free Wireless Doorbell

Rings a bell.

Ding dong. Who's there? Nobody, because it's all in your mind. That's because you don't actually have a doorbell, leaving your visitors to painfully rap their sore knuckles against your cold door until you drag yourself from your pit of self-loathing. Not all homes have a doorbell... FACT. But if you want one, but have been put off by the idea of wiring and drilling holes through your front door, read on. We review the miChime Battery Free Wireless Doorbell.


Have another read of the name of this product: 'Battery Free' 'Wireless' Doorbell. Hang on, how does that work then? We can kind of understand the wireless aspect of it, with most things we review on this site boasting some kind of wireless capability... but battery-free?

In a nutshell, the miChime Battery Free Wireless Doorbell consist of two elements; the weatherproof bell push, which can be either screwed-in to wood (screws and plugs included – score!) or stuck to a uPVC door frame via the 3M sticky pad, and also the chime unit which lives inside and makes a pretty sound when someone comes a-calling.

The chime unit plugs directly into a wall socket, giving you the option to place it anywhere in your home that you need it to be. It can also therefore be moved around, so if you're spending all day in the garden, away from the front door, you can plug the chime unit in somewhere closer to you to ensure you never miss the postie calling. There are 25 preprogrammed chimes to select from, from the standard 'ding dong' to more melodious ones, and to select one you simply press the unit's only button on the front to cycle through them.

The bell push unit is the really clever bit however. Once easily installed (we just stuck ours to the door frame with the 3M – that stuff is like concrete) you, and indeed your visitors, have to simply give it a press to activate the chime inside. The waterproof unit uses no batteries whatsoever and is in fact powered by the kinetic energy of being pressed. Being pressed in, and then springing back out, generates all the electricity it needs to send a signal to the chime unit on a 433MHz frequency, with an effective range of up to 85 metres.

And it works a treat. In use we found the chime unit to be loud (but not frighteningly so) and the bell push to work every time, even straight out of the box. This thing is wonderfully simple and solves lots of problems. We can see it being super handy for students in houses they can't alter all that much, for adding a door bell facility to the likes of outside offices and garages, and just for those who don't already have a door bell. Also, the miChime Battery Free Wireless Doorbell comes with the ability to add further bell push units, so you could cover your side door as well. Can't quibble at the price either.

£24.95

Available from  QVC for £25.00, Scotts of StowAmazon and Response Electronics



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