My shop is 40 feet from the house. My wife's studio/office is 60 feet in the other direction. We use the cell phones to communicate if need be.
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My shop is 40 feet from the house. My wife's studio/office is 60 feet in the other direction. We use the cell phones to communicate if need be.
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Attached garage shop. Wife opens door, and whistles.
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
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Originally Posted by Jeff Mackay
PICTURES!!! We must have pictures!
I'll take a blinking light over any sort of sounding device that may startle me while I'm working with sharp things ;-)
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
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I would strongly recommend NOT to use a cell phone with the vibrator activated. I find that the vibration can startle me sufficiently to jerk my fingers that little crucial distance.
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Great post - I've been thinking about a solution to this problem for a while:
When my wife wants me to come in from my detached shop, she calls her mother, who calls back and lets the phone ring (I have an extension in the shop) until I figure out I'm supposed to answer it. When I pick up, I get to hear my MIL tell me to get my a$% in the house, and my wife is usually ticked that it took me so long to answer the phone (dust collection, air filter, and table saw + headphones are not a valid excuse). There goes all the relaxation I built up in the shop.
Did I mention that LOML always needs me to come in about 2 minutes after I start the glue-up?
[OP]
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Can any of the cordless phone/intercom systems be connected to a flashing strobe light?
Jason
Member
Well, I don't have a cell phone, and I don't want one. I always know when the LOML walks into the shop. She ALWAYS turns the stereo off. Not down mind you, off.Dead giveaway even with ear protection on.
The big trick is getting her to turn it back on when she leaves. About 50/50 with out me prompting here at this point.
Otherwise, I have one of the cordless phones (note to self...left on charger last night) that has an intercom feature on it where she can call me. There is the ringer and a light on the tip of the antenna that flashes. Jim.
+1 on the cordless phone. My wife intercoms me all the time (mostly for insignificant rubbish) but, it gives her a level of comfort knowing she can get a hold of me, whenever she needs to, without having to go out in the freezing cold.
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Almost every accident I have had in the past was triggered by being startled when concentrating 100% on what I was doing. Myself I would not want something like that that makes a noise loud enough to get my attention.
My wife knows enough to stand back out of my way, out of my sight line, until I see her or stop that particular operation. I have considered a light that is bright enough to notice, but not a flashing light that would alarm.
I have a sign on my door that tells people "NOT" to get my attention until I stop what I am doing.
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Unfortunately, cell phones don't work at my house... or maybe that is fortunate. Wireless phones dont work because of the metal pole building and 150 ft distance. Maybe it would work if I had a base in the shop.
I have the radio shack intercom. It works great when I am assembling or at least not running the DC and other equipment.
I dont hear it if I am running equipment and havent found a way to hook a strobe light to it. I normally just get my butt chewed when my wife has to walk out and get my attention.
Thank you,
Rich Aldrich
65 miles SE of Steve Schlumpf.
"To a pessimist, the glass is half empty; to an optimist, the glass is half full; to an engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be." Unknown author
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There is no reason why you cannot hook a self-powered strobe in parallel with the ringer, assuming that you can get into the phone.
A good electronics shop should be able to sell you something suitable.
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Just get a wireless doorbell at the BORG. Instead of (or in addition to) the bell, you can get a flashing light. They make that add-on for deaf people to know when someone's pressing the doorbell button. It's simple to install and fairly inexpensive.
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my shop is 500' from the house, so the cordless phones don't work that far. i have looked and looked for similar multi-phone systems which require you to connect each phone to a phone jack, but they don't seem to make them.
looked at some of the fm systems, but finally went with the cell phone solution - if she wants me, she turns on a cell phone (we mainly use them when we travel) and calls the house number so I don't have to carry a cell phone while in the shop. glad to know other people have similar problems!
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My shop is about 120' from the house (actually measured the other day rather than guessing as I have for 6 years) and a DECT 6.0 phone is on the ragged edge of working. If it wasn't for the fact that it once in a while doesn't work it would be an acceptable solution. I'm either going to run wire out to take both phone lines we have out there or going to a VOIP solution over the wireless network connection I already have out to there sometime this summer. Then my wife can actually call me out there by calling my office line from the home line. The office line has Caller ID so I can ignore it if its an after hours work call
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There are flashing light phone ringers made for deaf people, and they connect directly to the phone line, so there is no modification needed on the phone itself. If you change phones later on, you can still use the "ringer". This is just one example of such a device. You plug it into a phone jack. If you don't have a jack in your workshop, it's fairly simple to add one. I added one in my utility room by running some Cat5e cable. It's a two-wire connection, so you'll have three unused pairs left over in the Cat5e cable.
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