This morning at 1:30 am we were awakened out of a sound sleep by the sound of our doorbell running through 1 of it's cycles. More on that, later. I reached into the night stand and secured Mr. Colt to accompany me to the door to see "Who's there ??". Mr. Colt and I reached the door, approached it very cautiously, turned on the porch light, looked through the glass, and slowly opened it, left handed, while Mr. Colt held back a respectable distance in my right hand. Nothing, no one there, nada, zip, zero ! I flipped the porch light off and stepped out onto the porch to give us a look around. Still nothing. I stood there for a while to make sure there was no motion of any kind taking place under the fairly bright illumination of the street light. More nothing.
Back in the house the only unusual thing I noticed was all the electric clock displays flashing on and off as if there had been a recent power failure. Power was "on", of course and there was no way to tell when it had been interrupted. Later, after replacing Mr. Colt into his cozy leather resting place, I began to wonder what really happened, since there had been no sign of anyone or anything at the door. Then I remembered hearing only 1 complete cycle of Westminster chimes, all of 16 notes and no more, as if the doorbell button had been pushed precisely, only, once. The deluxe, chiming doorbell, is, of course "electronic"; and there had to have been a brief power "hit". Now I am about 50 /50 into the idea the power hit was interpreted by the doorbell's electronics as one push of the button. This seems feasible if the doorbell's trigger is seeking a "low" such as might be simulated by a power dip right before an interruption.
That is my post mortem. Opinions anyone ?
Bob Swinney