Replacing old doorbell with no chime in sight

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

I got given a ring doorbell (hardwired) and an Amazon echo as it was part of a bundle. In my house i can't see any chime box at all, but after taking the old button off the wires once again look utterly ancient/super flimsy. I think they are also dead, because i wrapped them round the 2 screws on the back of the bell and nothing happened. Shall i get a multimeter to test them? And what shall i do if they are in fact dead? Thanks.

P.S I would be using the echo as my chime once i got it working.

Mikegh · Oct 5, 2021

There seems to be a decent level of complexity to ring doorbell installation, I was just looking it up

I would say with your uncertainty over the wiring you should hire an electrician with experience of fitting these

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

Mikegh said:
There seems to be a decent level of complexity to ring doorbell installation, I was just looking it up

I would say with your uncertainty over the wiring you should hire an electrician with experience of fitting these

I believe it can still be installed if you lack a chime box, but only if you've got an Amazon Echo device like me as that can be the chime. But if you've got a chime box i think you use the wires to bypass the old bell (the ones that come with the ring one) and it works, but i don't need that.

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

They are massively brittle and i've never seen wires this weak in my life. Because when i first tried to bend one around the screws on the bell the end of the wire snapped off.

Mikegh · Oct 5, 2021

There's a bit of damage there ,but there could be a big timesaving if the drop to the push is reuseable

snowhead · Oct 5, 2021

That is just standard single strand twin bell wire, as supplied with the likes of Friedland door bell kits in the past.
Or available in Wilkos etc.

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

snowhead said:
That is just standard single strand twin bell wire, as supplied with the likes of Friedland door bell kits in the past.
Or available in Wilkos etc.

How can i use my ring bell with it? Or isn't it possible? Because the old bell button was full of gunk/a bit rusty too. As i'd obviously rather use my Ring bell with the echo because it's brand new.

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

Miguel_92 said:
They are massively brittle and i've never seen wires this weak in my life. Because when i first tried to bend one around the screws on the bell the end of the wire snapped off.

The wires have veeery little give in them to be honest. Even breathing on them just makes them snap, so i can't fiddle/adjust the wires very much at all.

Miguel_92 · Oct 5, 2021

I've also got no idea where those wires go. So they could be disconnected as well actually at the other end

newfutile · Oct 7, 2021

Your better off getting a suitable transformer for the ring door bell and plug that in , the voltage of our old bell transformers are bit low anyway and need addition components to work correctly

Miguel_92 · May 3, 2022

newfutile said:
Your better off getting a suitable transformer for the ring door bell and plug that in , the voltage of our old bell transformers are bit low anyway and need addition components to work correctly

Sorry for the late reply but that's what i did. Had to drill a hole in the door frame and it works fine. The old wires had been cut, as i could see them under the floorboards under the fuse box.