To enable you to know whether your pets want to go outside or not, you can simply install a pet doorbell. Some of the different styles of doorbells in the market ranging from a pad motion sensor that detects the dog steps, a wireless collar that produces a sound whenever your pet is within the distance of the door, or the traditional doorbell where your pet can just ring it using its paw or nose. Below are some of the steps that you can do in order to install a pet doorbell.
What you need:
- A hook or nails or screws
- Hammer
- Masking Tape
- Screw Driver
- Pet Doorbell or Pet Chime Kit or Wireless pet doorbells
- Safety Equipment
- Drill
- Pen
- Drill bits
- (2) 35 mm jingle bells or 6-8 of a smaller size (for manual pet doorbells)
- More or less 3 feet of ribbon (for manual pet doorbells)
Method:
- First of all, you have to make sure to turn off the power of your main electrical panel if your pet doorbell is not using battery operated power. Normally, pet doorbells uses at least 10 to 16 volts of electricity and up to 120 volts goes to your transformer. The transformer will in turn, transform the voltage to ensure that the doorbell is not overload.
- The next step is to carefully unscrew your existing doorbell mounting screws out from its original position and then, pull its button switch away from your wall. You also need to disconnect wires from the old button switch and also make sure that the wires will not slip back into the wall cavity, therefore you can use a mounting tape to tape them to the wall. After that, you have to hook-up the wires onto the screw terminals of the new switch.
- Then, take off the cover plate of the existing unit, find its screws that secure it to the wall and unscrew them before removing it. Take note on how you remove the wires so that you can identify the screw-terminal connection and its correct location. These wires need to be taped in order to keep them from slipping back into the wall cavity. You also have to be careful when threading the wires through the base of the new pet doorbell\’s unit.
- Next, you need to mount the new pet doorbell unit onto the wall using the screws provided by its manufacturer. If the screws do not line up against the old one, you have to drill a little holes so that the screws can be secured.
- After that, you can connect the labeled wires properly according to the correct terminals and then attach the new cover plate before turning back the electric on.
- Other option is to use a wireless doorbell which can be easily installed where it can either be battery operated or the chime can be plugged into an electrical point. Wireless doorbells comes with a variety of sounds such as DingDong, Westminster Chimes, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Hail, Hail The Gang\’s All Here, and My Country Tis of Thee and it also can be activated by sensing the motion of your moving pet.
- If you do not have a doorbell in the first place, you can create one which is controlled manually by just sewing or tying a few jingle bells near the bottom of a long ribbon of different heights. The ribbon needs to be tied onto your doorknob or placed it on top of your pet door. Whenever your pet is going out through the pet door, it will go through the do-it-yourself doorbell thus making noise of the bells so that you will know that your pet is going somewhere.
Additional Reading:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-install-a-pet-doorbell
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2026474/how_to_install_a_doorbell.html?cat=6
http://www.wikihow.com/Replace-a-Doorbell-Chime
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21423006@N05/3996748341/
