We had a very close lightning strike at our house. While not directly hit, it did take out some of our home equipment. Topical to this forum, we had a Video Doorbell V2. After the strike, it stopped working. When I checked on it, the cover for the push button was about 8 - 10 ft from the unit itself. I purchased a new unit and when I took the old one out, it seemed that the stuffing had been knocked out of it. I attached a picture. My guess is that the concussion of the strike damaged the device.The SD card was still functional, but there weren’t any visual clues about what happened at the time. This part is posted for informational purposes.
After replacing the unit, I found that the mechanical chime was not working. I had left the original controller in place thinking they were generic. Since the doorbell to controller connection is wireless, is there a relationship between them such that a doorbell only works with one specific controller? Or did the controller also get affected?
Thanks.
I’ll address your questions first:
No. This is not like the 1:1 binding situation with Video Doorbell Pro and Chime Pro where the devices are paired at the factory and can’t be swapped with other Video Doorbell Pros or Chime Pros. I can think of at least two things that indicate this:
- My Video Doorbell v2 came with a Chime Controller, which I installed in my home’s built-in mechanical chime box when I installed the video doorbell. I later replaced Video Doorbell v2 with Battery Video Doorbell and left the Chime Controller in place, and the chime rings as expected with those devices (original Chime Controller and newer Battery Video Doorbell) connected.
- If a particular Chime Controller was somehow bound to a specific video doorbell, then it’s unlikely that Wyze would sell these separately as accessories.
That’s difficult to determine without testing. I’d probably do some circuit checking with a multimeter (especially the voltage at the transformer and at the doorbell button’s location) and confirm that the chime itself still works. If the chime itself works and everything is wired properly (Video Doorbell v2, Chime Controller) but a button press doesn’t actuate the chime, then I’d just replace your older Chime Controller with the new one you received with your new Video Doorbell v2.
Note also that part of Chime Controller’s purpose is to act as a fuse in the event of a power surge, so it may have blown during the electrical event.
Yikes! That’s apparently the rubber gasket you’re seeing/showing in the photo.
I don’t think this is correct. I’ve seen this asked or suggested elsewhere, but I’m not aware of any evidence to support the idea of a wireless connection between Video Doorbell v2 (or any Wyze video doorbell) and Chime Controller.
The loss of some of your home equipment sucks, but I’m glad you’re safe, and I hope you’re able to get your new video doorbell working!
Thanks for your response. I had already replaced the controller and all is working again.
