Ring doorbell, house chime voltage isn’t enough

dirtychinchilla · 20 Dec 2019 at 19:02

As per the title really, got a ring doorbell and installed it. We’ve got CAT6 wiring to the bell and touching the wires together activated the chime.

but, it’s only 8V and I believe ting needs 16V. Can I just upgrade the transformer in the come? Or do I need to replace it?

if so, any idea what chime I could replace it with? I don’t want to have a redundant door bell.

Cheers!

BigBoy · 20 Dec 2019 at 22:47

Replace the transformer they are only £15 ish from your local electric retailer.

dirtychinchilla · 20 Dec 2019 at 22:50

BigBoy said:
Replace the transformer they are only £15 ish from your local electric retailer.

That won’t kill the chime?

BigBoy · 21 Dec 2019 at 08:01

I doubt it, my Nest bell will accept 8-16v it's being run by and 18v unit with no issues.

dirtychinchilla · 21 Dec 2019 at 08:03

BigBoy said:
I doubt it, my Nest bell will accept 8-16v it's being run by and 18v unit with no issues.

But was your indoor chime happy with increasing the voltage?

BigBoy · 21 Dec 2019 at 08:16

Yeah works no problem.

godinman · 21 Dec 2019 at 12:30

Have you looked at the chime? It might have a voltage rating on the back?

rubberduck · 21 Dec 2019 at 20:15

I think if you buy a 16v transformer you will need a new chime.

Marky · 23 Dec 2019 at 16:57

I had to upgrade my transformer for my Ring Doorbell also - Just got mine from Screwfix for around £15 I think.

dirtychinchilla · 23 Dec 2019 at 16:59

Marky said:
I had to upgrade my transformer for my Ring Doorbell also - Just got mine from Screwfix for around £15 I think.

oh nice. I was looking at this one:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-8-24v-8-va-bell-transformer-module/8707p

I’m just concerned that the chime might blow up

Marky · 23 Dec 2019 at 17:01

dirtychinchilla said:
oh nice. I was looking at this one:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-8-24v-8-va-bell-transformer-module/8707p

I’m just concerned that the chime might blow up

That’s the exact transformer I got from Screwfix!

I got it wrong in the first post - mine is the Nest Doorbell - but I suspect they both follow the same voltage ratings.

dirtychinchilla · 23 Dec 2019 at 17:02

Marky said:
That’s the exact transformer I got from Screwfix!

I got it wrong in the first post - mine is the Nest Doorbell - but I suspect they both follow the same voltage ratings.

Awesome. Well I’m more worried about the chime than the Ring, so I’m glad to hear yours was fine.

I will try and check for a voltage on it though.

Marky · 23 Dec 2019 at 17:05

dirtychinchilla said:
Awesome. Well I’m more worried about the chime than the Ring, so I’m glad to hear yours was fine.

I will try and check for a voltage on it though.

I just checked the specs on the Ring site and most of them ask for a 8-24 VAC transformer, apart from the pro that asks for “Requires a 16-24 VAC transformer”.

So I would say you’re good to go!

dirtychinchilla · 23 Dec 2019 at 17:06

Marky said:
I just checked the specs on the Ring site and most of them ask for a 8-24 VAC transformer, apart from the pro that asks for “Requires a 16-24 VAC transformer”.

So I would say you’re good to go!

yeah let’s just hope the transformer works for the chime. I called ring when I couldn’t get the bell powered and they told me my chime was underpowered so...

Marky · 23 Dec 2019 at 17:15

dirtychinchilla said:
yeah let’s just hope the transformer works for the chime. I called ring when I couldn’t get the bell powered and they told me my chime was underpowered so...

If I remember correctly, they have a forum on the Ring website - might be worth linking the transformer on there and getting it double checked. I’m pretty confident, and I would risk it with mine, but I don’t wanna give you duff advise and have you blow up your new doorbell

dirtychinchilla · 24 Dec 2019 at 09:02

Marky said:
If I remember correctly, they have a forum on the Ring website - might be worth linking the transformer on there and getting it double checked. I’m pretty confident, and I would risk it with mine, but I don’t wanna give you duff advise and have you blow up your new doorbell

My problem is the opposite. The Ring doorbell will be fine, but the chime in my house, that's wired in etc, could react badly to the increased voltage.

Hyburnate · 24 Dec 2019 at 10:03

Your best hope is to look at the chime and see what it says on it. You can get a new 12/16v chime pretty cheap.

dirtychinchilla · 24 Dec 2019 at 10:47

Hyburnate said:
Your best hope is to look at the chime and see what it says on it. You can get a new 12/16v chime pretty cheap.

True. I would have to distmantle the chime and hope there's something on the underside as the visible bit says **** all! This article suggests increasing the voltage to 16V would just make it louder.

I guess if I blow it up, a new one isn't very expensive.

dirtychinchilla · 3 Jan 2020 at 14:20

To complete the thread, I got home on Saturday and our normal doorbell was stuck inbetween the ding and the dong. I had a look at the actual doorbell, and somehow the two terminals which are normally push to connect had sort of got stuck together, almost through rust. So, time for a new doorbell anyway! So, I bought the Byron 776 from Screwfix, which is on Ring's list of compatible mechanical doorbells for the UK. Fitted it, which was OK, installed the Ring, and voila - it worked!

I do wonder now whether if I'd just flipped the connections the old one would have worked, as I had to do that when I did my second installation. But it's great. Now I can spy on the car park outside my house. The motion sensor is bloody sensitive.