I’ve been using the original Wyze Video Doorbell for a few years and just bought the v2 version. When installing the v1 I bypassed my physical chime with the included fuse wire and was using two digital ones, but since the v2 doesn’t support the v1 digital chimes I need to reintegrate my physical chime and I’m having trouble getting it to work because I lost the photo of my original setup before the v1 install.
I’m currently renting and my chime box is above the downstairs coat closet and there are TWO transformers inside the closet on the wall (see Photo 1).
Photo 1
I checked with a multimeter by placing the leads on the transformer screw terminals and each of those transformers is outputting ~18v.
Then at the chime box itself I have two separate pairs of wires coming in through the wall (see Photo 2). There is only a single doorbell in the house on the front porch, so I’m not sure why there are two transformers and two sets of wires.
Photo 2
I tested the wire pairs and one (pair a) is live and measures 18v and the other pair (pair b) is not live and has no measurable voltage. With the Wyze Doorbell v1 I had these two wire pairs connected together, totally bypassing the chime, using the fuse wire provided in the box.
From some testing it appears that pair b are the wires that are run to the doorbell on the front porch. I know this because unless I splice the two pairs together there is no measurable voltage at the front door.
With the two wire pairs connected together at the chime box I get 18v at the front porch and that powers the v2 doorbell, but I’m not sure how to integrate the physical chime in that circuit with it being “always live” when the wire pairs are connected.
Anyone have any suggestions? I’d really hate to have to pay an electrician to deal with something low voltage like this, but I can’t seem to figure out how to make this work
I don’t have a wired in doorbell, but did find this graphic on Wyze support pages.
Have you seen this?
It may be able to help with wiring.
Thanks for sharing that diagram, I realized I’d been making this more complicated than it needed to be. The fact that I have two transformers in the closet was throwing me off.
For those who are still having trouble, this is what finally worked for me.
- I connected the white wires from the two pairs together
- The red wire from Pair A I connected to the “trans” terminal on the chime
- The red wire from Pair B I connected to the black wire on the chime controller
- The red wire from the chime controller I connected to the “trans” terminal on the chime
- The white wire from the chime controller I connected to the “front” terminal on the chime
I then went into the app and set the chime option on the doorbell to mechanical and when I pressed the doorbell button the chime went off about a second after the one on the doorbell itself did
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I’m glad you got it!!! And thanks for posting the solution for others.
Just one quick follow up.
Following that diagram I got the chime controller integrated it was working initially, but stopped working after a few doorbell presses. I took the chime controller totally out of the circuit and just connected the red wire on Pair B directly to the “front” terminal on the chime and it works great now.
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I have one of my VDBv2’s working the same way (no chime controller). Honestly, the chime controller is only 100% necessary with some Digital chimes. It will work without the chime controller if you have a Mechanical Chime, the only risk of doing it this way is that without the chime controller there is no surge protection (the chime controller has a fuse in it). I suspect that this will void the warranty. If there is an electrical surge, and it damages our VDBv2 because we aren’t using the Chime controller, I don’t think we can technically get a warranty replacement because we didn’t used the safety piece they wanted us to. I have accepted that fact. I’m sure I could get my Home Insurance to cover it anyway.
Point is, yes, if you have a Mechanical chime, it will work without the chime controller, but you should just assume that it voids the warranty to use it that way since there is no longer any protection between the transformer and the VDB hardware. But at least it works great! I’m glad you got it figured out!
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Wyze failed to consider the possibility that a user without an existing chime box would be buying the doorbell and installing it without the need to use the Chime Controller. Rather than providing a simple Fused Link in the box along with instructions on how to install it, as they do with the VDBv1, they simply added a disclaimer to their site after the fact that using the doorbell without the Chime Controller would void the warranty.
If you are one of the many users like me, who do not have a pre-installed doorbell and are upgrading from the VDBv1 to the VDBv2, or if you are installing the VDBv2 without use of a chime box and have no use for the chime controller, this creates an issue with protecting your new Video Doorbell from potential power surges.
Wyze warranty replacement avoidance issues aside, the VDBv2 needs to be protected from power surges. If you are upgrading from the VDBv1, use the Fused Link that came with the VDBv1 in the Power Supply line from the transformer you are using. If you do not have that fused link, purchase a fused link from your local electronic or auto parts store and install it in the power supply line from the transformer. There are many styles available.
Because Wyze does not publish an exact Amperage limitation for the Doorbell, only a minimum required range of 16-24V @ >10VA, it has to be deduced that the minimum Amperage draw for the doorbell is .625A @ 16V and .416A @ 24V. Therefore, depending on the voltage of your transformer, the fuse rating should not be smaller than the calculated minimum Amperage value required for the doorbell to operate. Otherwise, you will be constantly overamping the fuse and blowing it. Given that the doorbell is rated to operate successfully below 1A, using a 1A fuse is most likely a safe bet until we can get Wyze to commit to publishing the actual Amperage limitation for the Doorbells.
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Thanks for the extra context, should be easy enough to add my fused link from my v1 into the circuit without the chime controller there
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Oh goodness! These thread saved my install. The old chime wasnt working and my wiring setup was like this thread, except 1 wasn’t used, but T and 2 were used. Thank you!
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I was wondering about this too, either by not having an existing chime or not wanting to change the original transformer, it would be easier to just get a new transformer that can be plugged in the wall and then connected to the doorbell. While looking at this I found the “alternate wiring instructions” from Wyze for the VDBv2 https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/19994563596699-Alternate-wiring-instructions-for-Wyze-Video-Doorbell-v2, it shows this option:
I wonder if that could work as your diagram by bypassing the chime board but still adding the controller for protection.
I wanted to add that even though I was ultimately able to get this working with my existing chime and transformer, the chime itself is just not loud enough and I still missed being able to have an electronic chime that I plugged in on the second floor.
I found that this Wyze doorbell has an integration with IFTTT (if this then that) and I was able to use that in conjunction with my smart home setup so that when someone presses the doorbell I get a chime notification broadcasted on the Google speaker in my office and the lights blink for a few seconds.
I’ve got a doorbell v2, and haven’t been able to figure out what you’ve managed to do with IFTTT to broadcast on a google speaker. Any hints? I don’t have a paid subscription to IFTTT. Lots of google nest devices around the house. I’m planning on bypassing a (broken) chime as well.
I had the same issue where it worked once then stopped, took the module out of the loop, and iot works every time now.
