Door bell transformer advise

[Muks]

hi, I’m new to the forum. I’m an engineer but don’t have electrical qualifications and need some advise on if I need a certified electrician to fit a door bell transformer.

I presently have a mains wired door bell with an integrated transformer which takes mains power supplied by what looks like my lighting circuit and converts to 12v. There is no separate CU bell transformer.

I have bought a new ring door bell which requires a 24v supply. The unit comes with a 24v transformer intended to be fitted to the consumer unit on a din rail. Given I don’t have a bell transformer / specific circuit in the Consumer Unit, I figure to just remove the existing mains powered door bell on my wall and replace it with a small din rail enclosure and supply it from the exisiting lighting circuit.

Does that sound normal? Also can anyone advise if that’s a job I can do myself as a competent person or does it need a certified electrician?

Many thanks for any advise and your patience.
Muks

 

[The Ghost]

Practical as against theoretical... There are enhanced hazards in going into the din rail of a consumer unit and particular methods of isolation and safety which you may not be aware of. Not knowing anything about you I would err on the side of caution and advise you not to go poking about in the consumer unit. Can you not get another bell that you can just wire the transformer on to the existing cabling (after having safely isolated) thereby keeping things much simpler? Or get a 12v bell.

 

[SJD]

Yes, you can put the Ring transformer in small DIN enclosure.

This is probably the simplest option assuming you don't mind having that visible on the wall.

 

[LankyWill]

I’d charge you about £40 to fit this, if you connect the new push it wouldn’t take an electrician 30 minutes to do this job. Saves you the heartache and danger of messing about in the CU.

 

[SJD]

NB for anyone who hasn't installed a Ring doorbell before, sometimes it finds the WiFi network and you can connect to it per the instructions, … but sometimes there are connectivity issues, the customer has to call up the support line, and it can take ages to get it working.

 

[Muks]

Thanks all,
The approach I’m looking to take is not to fit the transformer into the consumer unit. I’m looking to remove an existing wired door bell unit which is fed from the lighting circuit. Fitting a small DIN enclosure in its place and fit the supplied transformer into that which is fed by the lighting circuit.

Then connect the existing door bell wires to the output of the new transformer.

This approach will be cheaper for me as the transformer is already supplied with the new door bell kit (it’s just that it’s meant to be fitted to a DIN enclosure I guess). I’m happy to have the din enclosure on the wall as it will just replace existing door bell box.

I’m actually happy to do the job myself as I quite enjoy little projects like this. I just like to make sure I follow regulations correctly is all.

Thanks,
Muks

 

[Cadgey123]

Thanks all,
The approach I’m looking to take is not to fit the transformer into the consumer unit. I’m looking to remove an existing wired door bell unit which is fed from the lighting circuit. Fitting a small DIN enclosure in its place and fit the supplied transformer into that which is fed by the lighting circuit.

Then connect the existing door bell wires to the output of the new transformer.

This approach will be cheaper for me as the transformer is already supplied with the new door bell kit (it’s just that it’s meant to be fitted to a DIN enclosure I guess). I’m happy to have the din enclosure on the wall as it will just replace existing door bell box.

I’m actually happy to do the job myself as I quite enjoy little projects like this. I just like to make sure I follow regulations correctly is all.

Thanks,
Muks

Remember safe isolation. Don’t fry yourself

 

[gnuuser]

while wiring them in may not be difficult ,But dealing with a consumer unit is a task for a qualified spark and as stated above its not an expensive job!
wanting to learn how to do these projects should be handled through the proper path, becoming a spark is an investment in both your future and more importantly your life.
If you are taking the proper path you will get a lot of encouragement, a bit of ribbing, and most importantly access to the knowledge and experience of many great people here

 

[Spoon]

But dealing with a consumer unit is a task for a qualified spark and as stated above its not an expensive job!

The OP is not touching the CU mate. Read post #6. "I’m looking to remove an existing wired door bell unit which is fed from the lighting circuit. Fitting a small DIN enclosure in its place and fit the supplied transformer into that which is fed by the lighting circuit."

And I'm sure the OP has read post #7

 

[gnuuser]

as long as he follows the safe isolation procedures as stated above i don't see a problem with it. but there may be local regs that may be a concern.

 

[shaunfriend]

Is your existing 12v supply AC or DC? If it’s AC then you might not need to do anything more than fit a resistor. The Ring doorbell can accept 8v to 24v. There are instructions on the ring support site that show how to do this and to retain your existing doorbell (which you may prefer to do when you realise how impractical it is to only have the doorbell alert you on your phone)

 

[SJD]

Is your existing 12v supply AC or DC? If it’s AC then you might not need to do anything more than fit a resistor. The Ring doorbell can accept 8v to 24v. There are instructions on the ring support site that show how to do this and to retain your existing doorbell (which you may prefer to do when you realise how impractical it is to only have the doorbell alert you on your phone)

If I recall, there is a Ring mains-plug-in receiver/chime, replaces the original doorbell. The kits I've seen with the transformer also include this.