Baby Alarms !!!

[MauriceMynah]

Right, although most of  you know my situation, some don't so for those folk here it is.

I am staying with a friend of mine and his elderly mother. The house is a converted chapel, with many solid walls. Radio signals are at best, unreliable so not practical.

Last evening Rufus's mother fell out of bed and called for help. We couldn't hear her as her bedroom is at the front of the house, and the TV room is at the back. The house layout cannot be changed so that option is out.

Panic button's for the elderly is a non starter as she would be unable to find it on her bedside table in the dark and will not wear one. Also all she wants to contact is Rufus or me. not some stranger at the end of a telephone line.

So, my next idea was a baby alarm. It's on all the time and all she has to do is shout. Problem, They all seem to be radio or internet systems. What I need is a system that uses the mains circuit as the conveyor of sound. I know I can get the entire internet delivered in this way, but seem to be unable to find a baby alarm that works this way. Or an intercom, or anything else (apart from the internet)

Does what I'm looking for exist? Does anyone have any other ideas given the restraints I've listed.

HELP !!!

PS. I'm not having a baby! 

[Regulo]

Having kittens, sounds like! Could you somehow use an ethernet over the mains? You know, those plug in units that use the mains to extend your ethernet from your router. Don't know enough about baby monitors to know if that would work.

[Ray]

Would it be possible to run some cable from her room to the required room(s), not through the thick walls but along them? If so you could probably install a simple mic/speaker setup.

[ExSurveyor]

We have a wireless baby monitor for the aged mother in law,  it has sound and a camera,  the camera can be covered for privacy but still retaining the sound.

Her rooms are some distance and on a different level to ours but it works well.

Another option might be a wireless door bell she could press if she needed help.

[WherryNice]

If I have understood correctly then this might be what you are looking for

https://www.electrosupplies.co.uk/Tools-and-Power-Intercom-Systems-Station-Intercoms/c7_95_2038/p10116/White-Hands-free-3-Channel-Wireless-Intercom/product_info.html

I have no idea if it's any good or whether it's cheaper elsewhere or anything like that, I just Googled the phrase "intercom using ring main". The same units came up on Amazon but they were showing as unavailable.

Hope that's of some help.

[Wussername]

24 minutes ago, psychicsurveyor said:

We have a wireless baby monitor for the aged mother in law,  it has sound and a camera,  the camera can be covered for privacy but still retaining the sound.

Her rooms are some distance and on a different level to ours but it works well.

Another option might be a wireless door bell she could press if she needed help.

The wireless door bell is an option you might wish to consider. 

It was used successfully by our family, in a large house when my father was terminally ill. Several sounders were used in different parts of the house and provided that degree of protection and above all else the comfort in knowing that we were providing support over and beyond that which couldn't have been achieved by any other means.

Andrew

[Regulo]

In my experience wireless doorbells can be patchy as regards range. MM is in a place with thick walls, so that might be a problem. I think I'd go for the solution proposed by WherryNice. Looks a useful bit of kit (assuming there's a convenient mains socket to hand).

[grendel]

they dont seem to think people want a plain basic baby monitor - sound only that can be wired, after all you dont need video, a simple microphone and speaker system would do the job.

[YnysMon]

We used a wireless doorbell as a panic button for my Mam when she was with us. The trouble with baby monitors is they pick up so much sound. If you are concerned about the person at the other end of the monitor it can result in disturbed sleep.

[JanetAnne]

We have a wireless doorbell for when my daughter is laid up however, we also have Alexa in her room, our room and downstairs which is a superb intercom system. She says "Alexa drop in on mum" and it opens communication between the two stations.

The doorbell is there as reserve.

[Timbo]

First of all MM, get a bed rail or bumper for the bed to stop her falling out! Local GP will put you in contact with a free supplier. I bought Dad his for £59 so they matched his bed and didn't look like a hospital for him.

For the alarm I went with two systems. First the free system provided by the health visitor. A two part device that worked via the household electrical wiring and the telephone. One bit plugged into the wall, the other part was a string around his neck that had a button on one end. If he pressed the button it would ring an alarm in the house AND alert a 24 hour manned service. The service cost something like £2 a week.

The best system was cheap, cheerful and LOUD! I bought a £10 'Personal Attack Alarm' from Amazon. Just clip the alarm to his pyjamas at night and all he had to do was tug the alarm to pull the pin out.

[MauriceMynah]

13 hours ago, WherryNice said:

If I have understood correctly then this might be what you are looking for

https://www.electrosupplies.co.uk/Tools-and-Power-Intercom-Systems-Station-Intercoms/c7_95_2038/p10116/White-Hands-free-3-Channel-Wireless-Intercom/product_info.html

I have no idea if it's any good or whether it's cheaper elsewhere or anything like that, I just Googled the phrase "intercom using ring main". The same units came up on Amazon but they were showing as unavailable.

Hope that's of some help.

Thanks for that WherryNice, I'll look into that one. Also, thanks everyone else for the advice given.

Sadly, the cordless doorbell is a non starter. It was the route I first thought of as we used that system with my father some years ago. The problem is that the lady concerned fell away from her bedside cabinet where such a button would be placed. At that point she wasn't even sure which bit of furniture was her bed!. No, we need a system that requires NO action on her part short of crying out for help... which she did.

In my original post I mentioned...

14 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

Panic button's for the elderly is a non starter as she would be unable to find it on her bedside table in the dark and will not wear one. Also all she wants to contact is Rufus or me. not some stranger at the end of a telephone line.

She has a mobile phone with auto dial set up and instructions "If you need Rufus, press 1. If you need John press 2." She hasn't quite got the hang of this yet, her eyesight is such that she finds it difficult to find the phone anyway.

No, I think the route to go is a mains powered baby alarm, with one nursery unit (sender) and two monitors (receivers). One in the TV room the other in Rufus's bedroom. the signal from the "sender" unit to be sent round the ring main to the receivers.

Does such a unit exist? If not, why not? It's such a simple system with so many applications!

[petersjoy]

Hi John,

i have a basic 'tomy' baby monitor, it is wireless with a mains charger for each unit.

It's in the garage doing nothing, if you would like to borrow it to see if it would do, you are more than welcome.

I'll be on the boat from this Sunday for a couple of days if you are interested.

[grendel]

John , I believe this may be what you are searching for -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-MBP8-Audio-Baby-Monitor/dp/B009OZMQYU

it says this in the description - 

Quote

The Plug N Go function means that you simply plug the monitor and parent unit into any socket in the house, no cords required ; Plug straight into the wall for simple plug and go

whether that means it works through the wiring or not i dont know, worth a look at maybe.

[grendel]

Ah, just found the user manual, yes its plug in, but still uses a radio between units - sigh

[OldBerkshireBoy]

5 hours ago, grendel said:

Ah, just found the user manual, yes its plug in, but still uses a radio between units - sigh

Might, just might use the ring main to comunicate between the two?

[Siddy]

On 24/09/2019 at 18:34, WherryNice said:

If I have understood correctly then this might be what you are looking for

https://www.electrosupplies.co.uk/Tools-and-Power-Intercom-Systems-Station-Intercoms/c7_95_2038/p10116/White-Hands-free-3-Channel-Wireless-Intercom/product_info.html

I have no idea if it's any good or whether it's cheaper elsewhere or anything like that, I just Googled the phrase "intercom using ring main". The same units came up on Amazon but they were showing as unavailable.

Hope that's of some help.

We had a model via Maplins in the 90's which was 3 chan and via mains and couldn't fault the system, handsfree worked ok as well.

The added bonus for us was the outside pir's I put also buzzed chan 2 to let us know when triggered.

ONLY issue to check is the electrics are on the same circuit if it's a bigger place.

 

[VetChugger]

I miss Maplins!!!     

[ranworthbreeze]

8 hours ago, VetChugger said:

I miss Maplins!!!     

Maplin's was great if you only wanted one or at best two of an item because on components that would be all they kept in stock, online was a different story. I was devastated when our local electronics store in Sheffield N.R Bardwell's closed down a few years ago, I had been getting many of my parts from there since adolescence for my electronic projects for well over 55 years.

Regards

Alan 

[KaptinKev]

On 25/09/2019 at 23:44, VetChugger said:

I miss Maplins!!!     

So do I, "Hi de Hi.