servant bells annunciator panel

[simonWillis]

can anyone help me, I have a 1929 house with servant bells and an annunciator panel with solenoid flags. The circuit is fed with a low voltage AC supply and a conventional AC ball is used. Unfortunately the bell has packed in and i cant find a 3V replacement bell. What voltage can I use on the circuit so that I get sufficient output to make a modern bell work. I have replaced the transformer but no good for a modern door bell. i want to change the bell to a period butlers bell but these all work on 6v minimum.

also i have read that a lot of these were DV originally. mine definitely hasnt got a rectfier. is that normal?

I have thought about using a small reed relay to allow the bell and solenioid flag circuits to be separated but this seems a bit OTT for a bell!!

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[breezer]

go for the relay option, but put it where the bell was, you will also need a diode in series if the reed relay is wound for dc