I ask this because I have a Ring Doorbell and don’t want to deal with their subscription anymore. The Ring Doorbell has a rechargeable battery and that battery is charged through the existing low voltage doorbell wires. I’ve had that doorbell for about 5 years with no issues and have never had to change the battery.
I really want to switch to the Wyze video doorbell but I prefer not to have to drill through my wall to wire up to an outlet that is pretty far away from the front door.
EDIT: The Ring Video Doorbell 2nd generation uses a low-voltage AC power supply, typically ranging from 8-24 volts AC.
I believe all the current ones can charge/run off 16-24VAC and they recommend minimum 10VA (would go higher if you can to have some wiggle room). It should say in the specs for each one.
I’ve been very pleased with the wired-only Video Doorbell v2 for over a year now without a subscription, using continuous recording to microSD. There are benefits to a subscription (AI-based detections, for instance, like person and package), but I’m content with the generic motion detections, local storage, and the fact that a button press rings my home’s built-in mechanical chime. (Note that some Wyze doorbell models bypass the chime when wire-powered and instead use their own wireless chimes.)
So, it’s my understanding that the Wyze video doorbells can be charged/powered via the existing doorbell wires?
This is interesting to know because I asked Wyze support this same question a couple years ago and they told me that the cameras were all battery powered and needed to be charged differently because the house doorbell couldn’t provide the right kind of power to their video cameras.
Given an adequate transformer, yes. As @dave27 indicated, if you poke around in the Video Doorbells section of the Help Center and/or check the Tech specs section on a product page of a given doorbell[1], you should see Wyze’s recommendation of a transformer with output of 16-24 V AC, ≥10 VA. My Video Doorbell v2 has performed well with a transformer rated at 16 V AC, 10 VA, though it shows me ~18.5 V AC whenever I measure it with a multimeter.
I can’t vouch for the information you say you previously received from Wyze Support and don’t know when the original Video Doorbell (v1) was released, but it’s always been wired, as far as I know. Video Doorbell Pro was released over 3 years ago and has both wired and battery-powerd configurations. Video Doorbell v2 was released last year and is wired only, and Duo Cam Doorbell was introduced several weeks ago with battery and wired power capabilities.
Now I guess you just need to decide what features you want.
I see this for the newer doorbells but not for Video Doorbell v1 or Video Doorbell Pro. ↩︎
The average house has a 16V one but often they put out in the 18-20V range since they know the thin wiring will cause some voltage drop.
There are usually two issues people run into:
The transformer has been there for ages and has started to die, either decreasing the voltage or the VA output
It doesn’t put out enough VA (similar to watts) for a video doorbell, either it never did, or it has worn out.
Luckly replacement transformers (16v, 20v, 24v ranging from 10 to 40VA) are cheap on amazon, but you need to be comfortable working with AC power to wire it in. The alternative is a plug in style transformer and just transfer the output/low voltage wires from your existing one over. Or you might just get lucky and find yours is already sufficient.
If you put your hand on the chime is it warm? If so something is wired up wrong and the chime will burn out in a fairly short amount of time (it basically thinks the doorbell button is always being pushed and the electromagnet is constantly active).
Regardless any humming on the chime is usually going to be some sort of wiring or voltage issue so it needs to be checked out, maybe trace/draw out your wiring and compare it to the wyze diagram. Bear in mind if you have a second button at like a back door there could be something going on there too, as it all ties in together.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing that you wired it into your low-voltage AC without installing a Chime Controller.
What kind of chime (mechanical or digital) do you have, and how did you wire the Duo Cam Doorbell in? Are you certain that the home chime was correctly wired before you started? I ask because when my Video Doorbell v2 developed some issues and I started doing some troubleshooting and testing, I discovered that the wires within the chime box (for my home’s mechanical chime) had been connected to the wrong terminals before I moved in.
I see this a lot. With plain old basic doorbells, it doesn’t matter as much (you might get a dong-ding instead of ding-dong but otherwise, works fine). When people started using digital chimes and then video doorbells that’s when the wiring started becoming a problem.
Unfortunately a lot of builders, electricians, and do-it-yourselfers stop at “it works” or “close enough” rather than actually making sure everything is correct. So someone down the road has to deal with it.
It is the one that the house came with. I imagine installed back in 86’. I just replaced the door bell button with the Wyze duo. So based on you guy’s feedback, I may have to replace the transformer, which I can hear buzzing. If I disconnect the Wyze dou, it stops buzzing. So which one should I get, 16 or a higher voltage output?
I’d probably go with 20V 20 or 30VA. The 20V will probably put out about 22 in reality. The 24 might be a bit too strong if your wiring is short, so the 20 is a happy medium.
Some hum from the transformer is normal but likely if it is audible that means the cam is stressing it to its limits.
Either 20 or 30VA will be plenty, the 30 gives you some room if you ever wanted to add another. Price difference is minimal.
Replacing the transformer may not be necessary, but you definitely want a Chime Controller if you have a mechanical chime and want to use that with Duo Cam Doorbell. See discussion in these topics:
At least part of the answer is going to depend on the origin of the unwanted noise, because you’ve indicated two sources:
If it really is the transformer, then that might be worth replacing. If the hum is coming from the chime box (i.e., if you have a traditional mechanical ding-dong! chime and that’s making a hum with the Duo Cam Doorbell installed), then I’m guessing you didn’t get a Chime Controller to put in there, so you’re having some of the issues described in the other topics I linked above.
Sorry @matosw I was confusing your response with the other poster.
If your chime and transformer are both humming, that is likely for the same reason, the transformer is feeding constant power to the chime thinking the button is always being pushed. That will kill both the chime and the transformer in fairly short order. There is also a mild amount of fire danger (unlikely, but possible) so I’d investigate as soon as possible.
That’s not to say a new transformer won’t help, but you need to resolve the other problem first. If the video etc is working fine then your transformer is probably sufficient, but you won’t know for sure until you get it wired correctly and try pushing the button a few times to see if the chime draws too much power and affects the video.
I checked and the transformer is way inside the wall. Cant even see it. I’m experiencing the same that the other person stated- random ding dong and humming sound. So Im guessing I need a chime controller. I believe that is doing what you describe, thinking it is being pressed. If worst come to worst… I will just leave the original door bell button and install a plug in transformer to the Wyze duo…
Usually it is near your electrical panel but not always. And sometimes those get boxed in and finished and it blocks access to it too. Builders and electricians don’t always think of future maintenance.
I checked and you were right. Mine was next to the furnace outlet. I think that is the one. It is only a 10 volt transformer. I guess the humming that I was listening was from
The Chime, echoing inside the wall instead of the transformer. I’ll get the wyze chime controler and change the tranformer for a higher voltage.
That’s incorrect. It’s 16 V AC (look at the imprint of the black part to the right of the terminals in the image) and 10 VA, which is at the low end of the power requirement for the Wyze doorbells but still within recommended specifications. You can replace that if you want, but I’m not convinced that it’s necessary, especially if that’s not the source of the unwanted noise.
That seems more accurate, and if you’re using a regular mechanical chime but want the buzz/hum/ding-dong to stop until you get a Chime Controller, then you can bypass the chime entirely and just use the Wi-Fi Chime that’s included with Duo Cam Doorbell. This is what I’d do:
Take a picture of the current wiring inside the chime box. Likely it’s got three terminals—FRONT, TRANS, and REAR—with wires connected to FRONT and TRANS.
It might also be helpful to label the wires with pieces of tape so you know how things were wired before you started. (Ideally, you’d test with a multimeter to make sure that the wiring is correct before you start, but at least this way you can reset things to original before doing other mucking about.)
Disconnect the FRONT and TRANS wires from their terminals and connect them together with a wire nut.
This way your Duo Cam Doorbell can continue to get power, and the nuisance noises should cease. Unfortunately, it still appears that the only way currently to order a Chime Controller as a separate accessory from Wyze is via the app. I’ve asked Wyze about this but haven’t received a response. I imagine they have other priorities, but I think it blows that they’re not making it easier for customers to buy this thing that would fix a lot of complaints about Duo Cam Doorbell.
Thank you for including the photo! Things like that really help.
If my recommendation about bypassing the home’s chime isn’t clear or if you have other questions, then please feel free to share a photo of what’s inside your chime box and ask more questions.
