Assembly: Connect your low voltage, two-strand electrical wire to the two screws at the bottom of the remote end of driveway box (gray box). I recommend an 18 AWG stranded wire. Connect the other end of your two-strand electrical wire to the two screws at the bottom of the Milton bell.

Next connect the black driveway hose to the silver tube on the bottom of the end of driveway box by pushing the hose over the silver tube until it is snug. Do the same for the Milton end-of-hose anchor on the other end of the black driveway hose.

The bell must be positioned so that the name Milton reads upright to work properly. Also, the gray box must also have the hose and electrical wire connections mounted so that they are facing down toward the ground to work properly.

The air switch is located in the gray box and could possibly need to be adjusted due to changes in humidity / temperature between Houston and your location. I have adjusted it to be sensitive and it should ring the bell when something as light as a bicycle crosses the driveway hose. Adjusting the sensitivity is described on my website under the link “Servicing you Bell”. See Figure 6.

Next, plug the bell into a standard 110V electrical outlet to test.

Be sure to mount the Milton bell in an area that is not directly rained upon as it has electrical components inside. A spot with an overhang or inside of a garage, that does not get wet, is the ideal location.

Do you need to be notified each time a truck drives up to your scale?  We have systems that can produce a soft chime or a clear bell ringing each time a truck drives up.  Our hose systems are rugged and dependable.  They transmit a signal each time the hose is compressed and activate the bell or chime.

We offer a couple of monitoring options, the first is the Milton and Original bell kits; the second is a wireless chime kit. All of the kits including the wireless kits use a driveway hose to activate the bell. The hose crosses the driveway that you want monitored and connects directly to the bell or, in the case of the wireless kit, to a transmitter box.

The difference between the Milton and Original bell kits and the wireless system is that the hose is not needed to run all the way to the receiver/chime. This can be an advantage for longer distances. The wireless kit is rated up to 600′ however this distance can be reduced with thick vegetation, trees, and buildings between the transmitter and receiver. The wireless kits activate an electronic chime that is capable of playing four different sounds. This chime is also able to ring a low-voltage bell for situations that require something louder than the chime alone. When a bell is used in conjunction with the electronic chime both the chime and bell ring. The low-voltage bell has to be wired to the chime using low-voltage wiring. This low-voltage wiring is not included with the kit and needs to be purchased separately.

The standard Milton bell kits can be used with up to 300′ of driveway hose and the Original Bell can be used with up to 150′ driveway hose.

All three systems will help alert you to vehicles arriving and leaving your scale.

It’s very simple.  They are not dependable.

We have tested several motion detector driveway patrol sensors and we have found that they send false signals.  They ring when there are no vehicles in the driveway or worse, don’t ring at all even when a vehicle has entered the driveway.  These monitor alarms can produce false signals like when a leaf falls from a tree, cats or dogs cross their path, and sometimes even when the wind blows.  We have received several calls from frustrated owners of motion sensor driveway alarms who need our assistance in getting a dependable driveway notification system.  The owners of these passive infrared (PIR) sensors often describe them as “Cheap plastic toys”.

The most reliable driveway alarms use the black rubber tubing to send the signal to the bell.or transmitter.  These are the only systems that we sell at www.MiltonsBells.com.  These drive-thru monitoring systems are physically activated each time a car or truck compresses the driveway signal tubing.  This simple design has been around for 50-70 years depending on the type of system and many of these bells have been continuously working, with some regular maintenance, for 40+ years.

We have recently had a customer use one of our driveway bells in the most interesting way. They have created a hockey goal ringing bell. The hockey goal has been outfitted with two plumbers plungers one on each of the upper corners. A thin piece of rubber was stretched across the end of the plunger and a bulls-eye was painted on it. When the hockey puck strikes the bulls-eye on the end of the plunger the pressure change activates the bell to ring.

According to the team’s coach it has taken the boredom out of what had been a very repetitive practice.

Here is a close-up photo of the plumbers plunger connected to the driveway tubing.

Below is a photo of both plungers that connect back to the driveway bell: “Ding-Ding”