My 50 year old "dumb" doorbell doesn't need to be recharged. More proof that "smart" technology isn't actually smarter and isn't actually making our lives easier.
this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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A doorbell like this requires recharging because it is wireless.
Meaning you don’t need to drill holes, just connect it to your WiFi.
Maybe screw the holder into something (or just command strip it to your door).
It removes to recharge.
Other smart door bells connect to existing power, and don’t need recharging.
I'm not sure you know what proof is
A dumb doorbell won't let me talk to or see anything from the third floor which makes it much easier to tell Jehovah's witnesses to fuck off.
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My digital thermostats have Alexa built in. When I first installed them I went around telling people "I know I live in the future because my thermostat can play the Beatles".
Also, I have a heated coffee mug. I have legitimately used the sentence "My coffee mug is doing a firmware update."
Imagine explaining in-vehicle-mounted devices which play sound recordings on giant vinyl discs to people from the 2030s.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/obsolete-car-audio-part-2/
You can just say the 70s, people.
There is zero percent chance someone is gonna confuse it with 1870 and 2070 is 65 years away.
Edit: lol math sheesh 45 years I might be high
We are currently in the roarin' '20s. Bring on the flappers and let's do the Charleston!
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I mean.. yeah, having all the electronic gadgets that spy on you and let you read the post of the worlds united village yokels is great, but, just as a thought... why do i need to recharge my phone at least once a day when the Atari Portfolio (which was / is a nearly full IBM PC compatible computer) that was build in '89 did last about A MONTH on 3 AA batteries that i could buy nearly everywhere in the world?
Imagine a world where not every consumer electronic is controled by layers upon layers upon layers of cruft running on an operating system that in its core still thinks it is powering an PDP11 and talking to a bunch of teletypes...
Most of the charge is consumed by bright big colourful screen. Atari Portfolio had a black and white screen that supports 4 lines of text with no backlight.
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They'd probably be confused as to why it needs charging. "I don't charge my doorbell, so why the manual process? Is running copper wire prohibitively expensive in the future?"
Wait, does this mean that if you have a smart doorbell, someone could just walk up to it, grab it, and walk away with it?
Whether it's hardwired or not, the answer is yes, but the mounting is generally protected by some awkwardness (a 'security' bit or a really unforgiving pinhole) which is enough to deter a casual theft, and for those that would actually make an effort, the risk and effort doesn't pay off because those things are relatively cheap nowadays (negligible resale value), record their own theft if it happens (uploading it on the way out, higher risk of being identified).
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Imaging explaining that to someone in 2025 would work too. Didn't know that either of these existed.
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Batteries got good enough and electronics efficient enough that for a doorbell it makes more sense to use a battery than to run a dedicated 12v wire.
My dumb doorbell has a little coin battery.
I couldn't be bothered to regulary take down my doorbell to charge it. I'd probably tell people to just text me, when they're at the door.
I have one, it's once every 3 months. Mostly it's about being notified of packages for me, and those guys will absolutely not message me.
My doorbell generates the necessary electricity when someone pushes the button.
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A couch that has an outlet integrated into it ain't as mind-blowing as you seem to think. In particular considering it is a low power outlet.