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Don‘t tear the wires out
Some newer doorbells are going wireless. But this is not a universal trend. Better doorbells are actually wired, because they do things that take power. They are lighted (like, the button glows), they have cameras or WiFi, motion sensors, microphones, speakers, etc. Those things are not possible on battery.
Also, the ...
answered Sep 17 '19 at 22:11
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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As indicated by Ecnerwal the picture you show is an old style telephone line hookup. When you go looking around for your doorbell transformer it may look like one of these:
Mounted on cover of an electrical junction box similar to the following. Liable to be found in garage or basement fairly close in distance to the bell button and bell unit.
Picture ...
18
Nope. That's a phone line terminal block. Old school. May have rudimentary surge supression built in. The heavy black wire is drop cable (from the pole to your house)
It's not your doorbell transformer.
13
The answer is NO. All wired doorbells must be low voltage by NEC. You can find chimes with the transformer in the chime box, or mounted in a jbox behind the chime box, and you run 120 vac to the transformer, but all the actual chime and buttons must be wired from the low voltage side of the transformer. It's a simple series circuit.
12
Play it safe. Replace the receptacle. What else can you get these days for 71 cents? $1.24 if you get tamper-resistant (which nobody likes but you're supposed to use in many places now) and $2.18 for commercial-grade instead of residential-grade (electrically the same but built a bit better).
answered Dec 30 '20 at 16:46
manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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12
I don’t use back stabs and although code allows them this is by far the largest cause of failed wiring in my experience (worse than aluminum wiring).
Since I don’t see a release I would NOT reuse because if the worst happens and the stranded wires start backing out they may contact the transformer or grounded box.
It would be a good idea to pigtail the Hots ...
10
Those wires going to your doorbell button hook up to a transformer somewhere. Maybe it's behind your chime, or maybe its in the attic, but it's there somewhere. Find the transformer and completely disconnect it (but leave it there in case anyone wants to hook it up again), and then you can bury the doorbell wires in the wall. Again, try to make the wires ...
8
Do not replace the junction box. It is a standard junction box and there is nothing wrong with it.
Backstab connections fail more often than transformers
Look at the receptacle. See how the wires are connected? They're "back wired" with a backstab style connection. That is only allowed for 14 AWG solid wire, the receptacle's labeling plainly says
...
answered Oct 27 '19 at 1:23
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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The worst hazard here is snagging your clothes. The transformer is low-voltage, so you can touch the wires and probably not feel anything. If your hand was wet, you might get a buzz, but it's not dangerous.
Some transformers can get warm, but doorbell transformers normally do not because they are very low power devices. You could hang a shoebox on it or ...
8
The best way to eliminate transformer noise is to purchase a quality transformer.
The noise is because the laminated core is heavily loaded or overloaded and the plates are actually vibrating because of eddy currents. I can’t quite make out the size, but it looks like 24V, 20VA. I would bump it up to a 24V, 40VA unit that would be compatible with video ...
7
Those certainly looks like doorbell electromagnets, so my guess is you are correct in assuming it is a doorbell chime unit. Maybe a previous owner removed the door button.
Doorbell chime with electromagnets visible, for comparison:
My idea at the moment is to shut off the main breaker (since I don't
know which one this is on), unscrew the wires, put ...
7
You don't need a relay and you don't need two transformers. You do need a transformer powerful enough to operate both chimes, so you can't buy doorbell kits with transformer included. You'll need to select the transformer separately.
You should purchase two identical chime units. If the chime units are different, their voltages must match. The transformer ...
7
That's telephone. It's not a transformer. It's a terminal block.
Call up the phone company and ask them to have someone come out and show you where your point of demarcation is. That's where the wires stop being their responsibility and start being your responsibility (unless you have an in-house service plan as part of your bill). It looks like an ...
answered Mar 31 '18 at 23:01
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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6
You won't want to install the transformer inside the panel. Instead you'll install it on the panel.
Remove the retaining nut from the threaded fitting on the other side of the transformer (the bit in your hand).
Feed the wires and threaded fitting through an appropriately sized knockout in the panel.
Thread the wires through the retaining nut, and tighten ...
6
Doorbells in Europe use mains voltage. The far better way to do this is to disable the supply transformer or other voltage source, or disconnect the doorbell at the transformer if it shares the transformer with the furnace/thermostat.
For that matter, nothing keeps you from putting the doorbell transformer or other power source onto a cord-and-plug ...
answered Feb 14 '17 at 20:07
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In the UK, the vast majority of doorbells are battery-powered. On my old-school mechanical doorbell, two alkaline D-cells are lasting me around 3 years.
As for why there's an external transformer, that's simple. It's not "antiquated", it's actually a modern phenomenon. All mains-connected equipment needs safety testing (CE, TUV, or whatever your local ...
5
Yes your selecting an AC voltage setting is correct for a typical doorbell transformer.
If you can find the transformer itself the first test would be to remove one or both low voltage wires from the transformer output and then measure the output with the meter. This will tell you if the transformer is OK or if there is some problem with the AC line ...
5
Your multimeter is set to measure ac voltage in the range of 0-200V as pictured which is fine (your doorbell transformer is probably AC).
First measure voltage at the doorbell. If you get ~16V the problem is with your doorbell. If not you need to determine the root cause.
Disconnect the doorbell wires from the transformer and try measuring the output ...
5
There are "wireless" doorbells that can actually take power from the low voltage doorbell wiring, though you may need to adjust the wiring to make it a power delivery circuit instead of a "short-circuit to ring" circuit.
These have the advantage that you don't have to worry about charging the battery every so often.
5
The old transformer has identical wire colors for hot and neutral. The new one differentiates them.
To connect the new transformer, connect the black wire from the new one to the same black wire where your old transformer was connected with the wire nut. Connect both the green and white wires to the same spot where the black and green are connected together ...
5
First, even though the exposed wires are low-voltage, likely 16 VAC, they should be covered for esthetics (if the transformer were accessible to children, not inside a closet, it is likely required). That said, the buzzing noise is likely being transmitted to the metal plate and wall, which make it much louder. A few things to reduce the buzz:
Remove the ...
4
I would doubt it that you will find the exact replacement.
All doorbells that I am aware of, are wired pretty much the same, 2 wires, doesn't matter which screw it goes to. You will be able to find a doorbell that may fit the same drilled holes, that chance is better than finding the exact same doorbell.
Any big box store, or local hardware store will have ...
4
Here is my suggestion of what you can do.
Go to good old eBay and purchase a kit that looks like this:
You can find these for very reasonable prices using a search string like "wireless remote control".
The fob is battery operated and activates a relay on the receiver board when the buttons are pressed. The particular model shown comes with a nice ...
4
From the description of odd voltage readings, and the fact that you shorted the connection and still couldn't get the bell to ring, I'm guessing the transformer failed. It wouldn't be the door bell button or that wiring since you eliminated that with the shorting. And since you later tested with another power source and verified that the door bell chimes ...
4
I disagree with connecting it direct to a bus... we don't use circuit breakers for normal conditions, we use them for problems, and even a small load can have a big problem.
Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but don't put the transformer inside the service panel, low-voltage power in the same boxes, conduits, etc. as 120/240 is a code violation. Look ...
answered Mar 6 '16 at 5:54
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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For safety's sake you should mount the bell transformer in a manner that the low voltage wiring does not come into the same enclosure as the mains wiring. There are available bell transformers that come already mounted on a electrical box cover. The transformer is on the outside with the low voltage leads exposed. The transformer primary leads project down ...
4
No. The NEC requires a distinct separation of low voltage wiring and high voltage wiring, so you cannot have any part of the low voltage wires or the transformer itself inside the electrical panel.
National Electrical Code 2014
725.136(A) General. Cables and conductors of Class 2 and Class 3 circuits shall not be placed in any cable, cable tray, ...
4
OK, this may be a side-effect of the way the Ring powers itself.
The Ring is in series with the chime. In series circuits, the same amount of current (amps) flows around the loop through both devices. And by the way, this problem crops up with Nest thermostats and dimmers too.
How does the Ring power itself? By deliberately letting a little bit of ...
answered Mar 11 '16 at 23:55
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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4
This is where the low voltage and high voltage sections of the UL code interact in an odd and problematic (for you) way.
The wire from the chime to the button is low voltage. You also want the chime itself to be powered directly from high voltage. The two voltages cannot be placed in one junction box.
So your desired doorbell chime unit must support ...
4
The door bell transformer is mounted to a mains electrical box. Electrical code requires that all electrical boxes remain accessible. You cannot bury or hide an electrical box.
This translates to the fact that you cannot cover the electrical box + transformer behind drywall.
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