We are doing renovations and I upgraded our battery powered Ring Doorbell 3 Plus to a hardwired Ring Video Pro 2. We did not have a mechanical doorbell chime (our original doorbell was a battery-powered button with a wireless connection to a remote chime) so I had the electrician install a generic doorbell transformer and wire the Ring to the transformer. After a few weeks i noticed that the transformer was very hot and made a terrible buzzing sound. That’s when I looked on line and saw that Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2s require a special transformer 16-24V and 30VA (my transformer was only 20VA)…so I ordered the Ring Transformer. Then the fun started.
A few days after I switched transformers my Ring doorbell stopped working…in the App, under Device Health, it tells me that Transformer Voltage is poor. I assumed that the transformer was bad so I ordered another one. In the meantime, I switched back to the 20VA transformer and the Ring started working again. I swapped out that transformer for a new 30VA ring transformer and same problem…after a couple of days the App tells me that Transformer voltage is poor and the Ring stops working.
I called Ring tech support…after probably 2 hours on the phone they decided that my Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 was defective and they sent me another one. In the meantime I upgraded the doorbell wire to the recommended 18 gauge wire (previous wire was maybe 22 gauge) in case this was an issue.
I installed the new Ring Doorbell and connected it to a new Ring Transformer with the 18 gauge wire…and it worked perfectly for about 2 days. Today it stopped working again with the Device Health telling me…you guessed it…poor transformer voltage. I spent another 90 minutes on the phone with Ring Tech Support and they are going send me yet another new device…but the engineer in me tells me that there is some other problem
- Why does it work ok with a supposedly out-of-spec 20VA transformer ? (If it wasn’t for the heat generated and the buzzing, I would just keep using the under-powered transformer)
- Why does it work ok for a couple of days on Ring’s own in-spec 30VA transformer…before it stops working.
I see online that previous generations of Ring Doorbells required a 25W 50 Ohm resistor to be soldered in series with the transformer when you don’t have a pre-existing doorbell…but all of the Tech support people tell me this is not required with my Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2
Anyone with any ideas.?..I am about ready to abandon Ring and try Arlo or Nest