Will Doorbell V2 work with no existing wiring or chime?

Cameras
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Welcome to the Forum, @chipdog! :wave:

I’ll start with my standard disclaimer that I am not an electrician, but I think your proposed solution would work. If I were doing it, though, I’d consider a couple of modifications to the plan:

  1. If you’re not planning to have the Video Doorbell v2 connected to a chime at all—thus not powering a chime—then I’m not sure you need that much power from your transformer. I’ve been using my Video Doorbell v2 for nearly a year with this house’s pre-existing 10VA/16V transformer and built-in chime and just recently tested it again (though not under “ring” load) and read 18.5 V AC at the transformer and 18.9 V AC at the chime box. I say that just so you’re aware that a lower-power transformer might be a place to save a little money, but I believe that what you’re proposing would work just as well.
  2. Because one of the Chime Controller’s functions is to protect the doorbell, I’d go ahead and install it by connecting the Chime Controller’s red wire to your transformer’s “line” side and the Chime Controller’s black wire to one of the wires in the conductor pair going to your doorbell’s screw terminals, leaving the white wire unattached (kind of like you would if using the alternate wiring instructions). I’d personally feel better having some kind of fuse in the loop, just in case.

Having said that, you can find other Forum topics where users have connected Video Doorbell Pro to plug-in transformers and reportedly had success with that, and other users report installing Video Doorbell v2 without the Chime Controller (mostly out of frustration, it seems) and have gotten the chime to work, though that wouldn’t apply to the scenario you describe; that’s just to say that Video Doorbell v2 can work without the Chime Controller installed.

As far as getting some kind of chime sound, I think the “Cameras as Chime” feature can sometimes be flaky, though that’s potentially getting better, and there are other options (like Google Home devices and potentially Amazon Alexa/Echo devices) if you’re looking for something besides notifications on your phone whenever someone presses the doorbell button.