0

Doorbell chime - red and white leads on right run to transformer, red and white leads on left run to doorbell

tldr; totally new to doorbells, I just need some help figuring out the connection here at the chime. The red and white leads on the right run to the transformer - the red lead was connected to the Trans terminal. The red and white leads on the left run to the doorbell - the red was connected to the Front terminal. Both white leads were already spliced. What's the best course of action here?

transformer wiring A photo of the transformer wiring at the electrical panel. Is it underpowered for the Ring Doorbell Wired?

Some context: The previous owner of the house did a lot of DIY projects but he made some really dangerous wiring decisions which I've had to fix. I don't know that the chime was wired correctly before, because the doorbell would only activate the chime about half the time, and the spliced white leads had both been connected to the Rear terminal, and that seems very wrong. The Ring's installation instructions came with a jumper to connect the Front and Trans terminals, but when I did that it caused the doorbell to ring constantly.

I'm gonna stop trying my "best guess" configurations before I break something. What do I do here?

P.S. yes, the previous owner installed the junction box so close to the return vent that the chime's cover sits on top of it.

Improve this question
2
  • Do you have both front door and rear door buttons? If not, forget about the rear screw, A pic of the transformer and how it is wired would help here.
    – RMDman
    Commented Oct 21 at 0:17
  • @RMDman Nope, just the front door. I've edited the question with the photo of the transformer. It was spraypainted at some point and it's fixed to the side of the electrical panel in a dark-ish space, so I had trouble reading it. Taking the photo clarifies the lettering. It's a NuTone 515-T 10v; it may very well be that the transformer is underpowered for the Ring Doorbell Wired(?). I took voltage readings before I even started installing the doorbell, and was getting ~13v, so I thought I was good to go.
    – swingsoneto
    Commented Oct 21 at 12:45

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

You need to correct some issues. You said the red and white leads went to the transformer, yet the transformer has wires that are blue and white with blue stripes.

There should be one wire from the transformer to the doorbell box, attached to the "Trans" screw.

The other wire from the transformer should go to a screw on the doorbell button.

From the doorbell button another wire needs to go to the "front" screw on the doorbell box.

This allows pressing the doorbell button to complete a circuit and the "chime " results.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.