So I got a doorbell (not pro) but cannot figure out the wiring issue. My house is not super old, but not brand new. 20 ish years old.
My doorbell chime has 6 wires, 2 (red and black) go to front , 2 (red and black) go to TRANS. There is also a rear with nothing wired and nothing at the rear of the house. Beyond that within the chime are a yellow and green wire that are wired together with a cap.
At the doorbell itself there are 2 wires, a red/black twisted together at top of terminal and then 2 wires, yellow/green twisted together at bottom of terminal.
The transformer in basement also has 4 wires, red,black, yellow and green. I have figured out finally the breaker (was wired to the stove vent and not labelled!).
I tried disconnecting just 1 red from front, chime still worked. Tried just the black from front. Chime worked. Did the same for trans, just red, chime worked, just black, chime worked. I’m just confused as to what to do to be honest.
I have pictures if helpful but it says new users can only post 1 which makes it less helpful.
great thank you. here are the 2 other photos, one is the schematics from the right side of the plastic within the chime. 2nd photo is from the doorbell outside.
I am by no means an electrician, I have basic knowledge, that being said here is my guess.
I do not see a photo of the transformer but there are usually two terminals, my thinking is one of those has your yellow/green and one has the red/black. If that part is correct I think (using the schematic you show) the yellow/green is going straight to the doorbell, that is why it is capped in the chime box, it by passes the box. The red/black coming from the transformer is going to the trans side of the chime and the red/black on the front terminal are the red/black at the doorbell.
If that is correct I have no idea why they doubled the wires and if I was doing it in my house I would use single wires, I would remove wither the yellow or green from the transformer, wire cap, and door bell, then remove either the red or black from the transformer, same color from the trans terminal, from terminal and doorbell. I would then see if my doorbell works with the single wire. That should make it easier to follow the instructions and set up at that point.
That is how I, not an electrician and having basic knowledge would go about it.
If anyone has more knowledge feel free to jump in.
Ok, I feel good that my way above is correct, you can do this an easier way by leaving the two wires intact at every point with the following directions.
Follow the direction in the app for the 2-wire setup. You will remove the red/black pair from Trans and wire cap it to one side of the wire fuse provided in the kit. Remove the red/black pair from the Front terminal and wire cap it to the other end of the wire fuse. On the setup at the doorbell you will treat the red/black as a single wire and the yellow/green as a single wire. Make sure the wire caps are secure since you will be capping 3 wires instead of 2.
sounds great, ill give it a go after work. So basically seems like you are suggesting (and seems likely) they for some reason used 2 wires for absolutely no reason.
I am not sure why they have the wires doubled everywhere but the wiring diagram you showed is correct they are just using double wires the whole way, so the red/black are transformer to trans terminal, then red/black from front terminal to doorbell. Yellow/green are going from transformer to doorbell but they are capped together at the chime box.
Years ago, when I had a Ring doorbell, the transformer overheated. Strong odor of burnt insulation. It was just like yours. These transformers are great for momentary contact doorbells, where current is flowing only when the button is pressed. If there is a light in the doorbell button, the draw is in the milliamperes. The Ring doorbell was loading the transformer continuously. The transformer was attached to a metal box that was screwed to a 2x10 floor joist. The other side of the joist was warm. The box was too hot to touch.
These universal transformers aren’t made for continuous use. After the doorbell is installed, feel the transformer from time to time.
The only reason I can think for the extra two wires is maybe at some point they planned on running an intercom system and ran the wires and then decided not to and just kept them intact in case they decided to run it later… Seems a bit superfluous but still… Stranger things have happened.
Or they had the wiring for the front and back door as the box indicated and only had a front doorbell, so they used both wires for the front. I am sure Jason’s instruction will work though.
i haven’t forgot abou this, but unfortunately I really hurt my back and can’t really do the ladder to get to the chime so it’ll need to wait a few days. Appreciate your help and I will reply either way so others know on the off chance someone else stumbles on it later (I hate finding THAT post with your problem that eventually ends with either no info or “it works now” with no context lol)
wanted to circle back and say thank you, this is working exactly as you thought/described. Wired up using the 2 black/red pairs with the fuse (leaving the green/yellow twisted in the chime) and then wired up the doorbell red/back on pole 1 and green/yellow on pole 2.
I’ll keep an eye on the transformer and if its warm, so far its fine but its been 20 minutes. again much appreciated and I’ve marked your suggestion as a solution.
Hey guys hope all is well. I came across this as i too am having a similar issue. At my tranformer i found red wire hooked up to one end and black wire hooked up to the other. The green and yellow have been cut and not hooked up at tranformer at all. At my chime box i found nothing hooked up at all as i recently purchased the home. Also at the doorbell nothing was hooked up at all either as they were using a wireless/battery door bell.
I have tested the chime box and it works and i have a good 18v at the tranformer. Can someone give me a little insight on how to hook thi
