Existing Doorbell Chime Box

Newbie here needing expert advice. When installing the Wyze Doorbell, what is the purpose of disconnecting the wires inside my existing chime box and twisting them together? Is it a deal-breaker to leave my existing chime box alone? Will that cause catastrophic damage or major malfunction? My existing chime box is not easy to get to, and I’m considering not touching it if possible. Thank you all in advance for the expertise!

The change in the chime box is to bypass the existing chime and add a fuse. It’s so the doorbell gets full power from the transformer. The way the doorbell wiring needs to be is not involving your existing chime, unlike other doorbell cameras which some do use the existing chime.

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Thank you for explaining. My amateur interpretation is the Wyze Doorbell will not be damaged if I do not bypass the existing chime. However, my wiring setup will be missing a fuse, and as long as I am ok with this risk, it’s ok to do it this way. Is that correct? Thank you!

the doorbell will not work without bypassing the chime. Bypassing the chime is not a option, it’s a must. The fuse is just to protect the doorbell in case of high voltage

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The Wyze Doorbell does not use the existing chime, it has its own. Why would you not want to bypass it? It’s needed to close the loop.

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Thanks for continuing to entertain my newbie question. The reason I want to avoid modifying the existing chime box is because mine is very hard to reach. I assume the electrical loop is already closed because my door bell wires show 18VAC on my voltmeter. I am uncertain how the electricity flows if I leave my old chime box alone. Will something in my old chime box cause the electricity flow to be inconsistent? Will something in this setup damage the Wyze Doorbell? I was hoping the experts here with more electrical knowledge can help me figure it out. By the way, after measuring 18VAC, I connected the Wyze Doorbell to my old doorbell wires. And the video turns on. Everything works (connects to app, rings the new Wyze Chime, LED turns on, etc). After I confirmed that, I quickly took it off. Now I am just wondering if I should install it this way. Or if there’s a critical reason to modify my old chime box before reinstalling. Thank you guys again!

Circling back to conclude this saga, hoping to help out someone else…

I hooked up everything without touching my house’s original chime box, and everything works! But there’s a very low buzzing/rattling noise at the chime box. The noise comes and goes but it’s very quiet. If I wasn’t looking for it, I may have never noticed. I think (speculate) it’s because the constant electrical current going thru the chime is causing it to rattle. An old school door bell gives the chime a major current when pushed so it produces a loud sound, but the constant low current of the video doorbell doesn’t induce the chime, just this low level rattle. Again, just speculating…

So I finally bit the bullet and spent a ton of effort to open the chime box. Once opened, I connected the bypass wire as shown in the Wyze instructions (I have the 2-wire style). And everything now is hooked up as recommended, and works perfectly normal. The End,

…I hope

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A follow-up to your last post - when you say everything works, do you mean the old doorbell and chime are still working?

A mechanical doorbell almost never fails. We cannot say the same for Wyze or any electronic doorbell.
For example, I have an additional wireless chime on an upstairs floor - which just stopped working. The wired doorbell and chime are 23 years old, Never had an issue.

Hi Ravi, regarding my last post, when the Wyze door bell was installed without modifying the old chime box, the Wyze chime will ring but the old chime box will not ring. This is just my experience of my house’s chime box setup. I cannot say every chime box will work this way. Hope your door bell install goes well!

Hi Zhang
Thanks. I will update once I set this doorbell and camera up. I have two chimes for my doorbell so I can hear it anywhere in the house. The Wyze chime is going to be a hard one to get used.

My question is the reverse. When we installed the Wyze DoorBell v1 a couple years ago, we DID do the wiring bypass as instructed by Wyze. But now we are replacing the Wyze DoorBell with a Blink DoorBell. Wiring is optional because it uses batteries but I would prefer to connect it to the two wires when I disconnect them from the Wyze DoorBell.
So can I just leave the fusewire modification I made for the Wyze in place? I don’t feel like climbing back up to undo it if I don’t have too, and all Blink says is:
In a “wired” installation, the Blink Video Doorbell is connected to chime-wiring that you already have. When the Blink doorbell button is pressed, the wiring circuit is closed, and the chime rings. The Blink Video Doorbell is always powered by batteries not the wiring."

I asked Blink support and they said “ask Wyze.”

The wyze vdb re wiring job bypasses the legacy chime, so if the blink vdb uses the existing legacy chime then I am guessing you’ll need to remove the Wyze fuse and return to the old way it was. Double check with your blink wiring instructions though, if it says to leave your legacy chime wiring alone then I’d say remove the Wyze fuse.

Disclaimer:. I’m not an electrician but based off my experience with the wyze VDB I believe the above to be the case. As always with electricity be very careful when rewiring stuff it makes sure things are de-energized before making any changes. :slight_smile: Don’t want no zappy zappy on the fingers.

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Actually I’m not planning to use the existing legacy chime, just Alexa for sound. It’s just that I read that the Blink camera will turn on slightly more quickly if connected to power rather than relying only on its batteries, in which case my tentative assumption is:

  1. that if the present setup powered the Wyze DB it should also power the Blink; and 2) if the present Wyze modification was safe with the Wyze it should still be safe with the Blink.
    (I do intend to flip the breaker switch while connecting the two wires at the door frame outside while disconnecting them from the Wyze and reconnecting to the Blink and do appreciate the reminder.)
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What are the power requirements of the blink vdb? If it’s range is similar to the output of the doorbell wires at your door then I’d say it could work. Test the output of the wires with a multimeter if you can to know for sure.

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