Wireless doorbell without a battery

[PeterFW]

Hello!
I just came across a wireless doorbell design without a battery in the transmitter,
at first i thought, this might be a bit of a simple circuit, but it is quite sophisticated:

https://youtu.be/5cKhyGMZbq8?t=65

Sadly i can not just send you one but if you come across one, it seems to be a interesting piece of low current design with energy harvesting.

There is a electromechanical thingie in there wich generates the power, a µC, RF chipset and a DCDC converter.

[RGB255_0_0]

Just watched that video reply also. I LOL'd at their advertising stills.

http://www.banggood.com/Linbell-G2-Waterproof-IPX7-Self-powered-No-Battery-Wireless-Door-Bell-p-1023669.html

[ataradov]

Philips Hue Tap uses the same principle - http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/productdetail/philips-hue-tap-switch

It has 3 buttons, so design is a bit more complicated. You press a button and keep on pushing until entire base goes in. That generates enough energy to transmit a frame corresponding to a button.

[rfeecs]

These are becoming very common with "internet of things".

Just google "energy harvesting switch".

[Zbig]

Philips Hue Tap uses the same principle - http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/productdetail/philips-hue-tap-switch

It has 3 buttons, so design is a bit more complicated. You press a button and keep on pushing until entire base goes in. That generates enough energy to transmit a frame corresponding to a button.

I got one of these just recently. There's a teardown available online: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/gallery-dissecting-the-philips-hue-tap-wireless-battery-less-controller/
While it's undeniably cool and sophisticated ("look ma, no battery!"), for me, once the initial wow-factor wore off a bit, I think I would have preferred more conventional, battery-powered solution. From personal experience, batteries in such things tend to last forever. The force and amount of travel needed to activate it, while not a problem for an adult by any means, is fair amount larger than what we're used to while operating other modern devices. And there's this "you've pressed the smaller button but have to keep pressing harder for the whole thing to click" you've mentioned. I have yet to see how a person not familiar with Hue Tap's operation copes with it. On top of that, the mechanical construction is that you apply the force off-center and the other half tries to pull itself in asymmetrically, lagging a bit behind. I'm not sure how to explain it properly but picture the space key on the computer keyboard that has its "stabilizer bar" missing. Feels kind of weird and makes you wonder about the mechanism's reliability (even when the module's manufacturer, Enocean's figure is reassuring).