Wired Ring Doorbell not Triggering Original Chime

I installed my ring doorbell this weekend, using the two wires from my original doorbell. It’s up and running properly, but not ringing the original chime as the Ring button is pushed. In addition, the app says battery power as source, no indication that it’s hooked to power source. I think I’ve done something wrong, but I don’t know what kind of doorbell transformer I have. So my question is how do I know how to wire the Ring and what trial and error can I do to get to the solution? Thanks in advance.

Good question @Joshjani . The best first step is finding your transformer and checking it’s power output rating as well as how old it is. Taking the wires at the door off the Video Doorbell, and connecting them together for a brief second, should sound your internal chime. If it chimes, this means the chime kit is at least working and there is enough power to power the chime kit.

That being said, it does not mean there is enough power to operate both the chime kit and the Video Doorbell with a trickle charge. Additionally, please ensure the wiring used is not old, fraying, corroded, or thin (cat5/6). Let me know if this helped :slight_smile:

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We’ll, as it turns out, the circuit breaker needed to flipped and turned back on. I apparently didn’t flip it back on completely, which I discovered when trying to turn another light on in my home. Once I flipped it on again, the ring light came on, and the app now indicates that it’s getting a trickle charge. Oh, and the chime works too!

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Hey @Joshjani that is great to hear! Just to confirm, everything is up and running as it should be? If so, feel free to accept your latest post as the Accepted Solution so neighbors who may be experiencing somethign similar know exactly what helped you!

Based on this reply, it is obvious that the terminals on the back of ring should connect when the button is pushed, thus doing the same thing as manually touching the wires together. The terminals on my ring do not make when the button is pushed and I cannot get anyone at ring to understand this.

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Hey @RE1! Other than troubleshooting power variables, it’s always good to make sure the chime kit you are using is on our Chime Compatibility list. I hope this helps! :slight_smile:

My question has nothing to do with compatibility - simply do the contacts on the back of the ring connect when the button is depressed. Like any other door bell, push the botton and the terminals connect thus activating the chime. One Ring Tech told me they should, mine doesn’t. I am trying to verify if that is correct and what to do about it if it is correct.

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I am experiencing same issue.
The terminals on the back of my Ring Doorbell 2 are OPEN whether or not the button is pressed. I verified this using the continuity function on my multimeter. The terminals never conduct. There is likely an issue with the Ring output drive transistor.

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I also just need the bell wire terminals on the back to the Ring unit to just close and complete the circuit. I don’t need any voltage across the terminals. If I touch the existing bell wires together the chine sounds. I need the Ring to just complete the4 contact as if the wires were touched together. Can it ever work that way?

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I have two Ring door bells and the terminals on the back do not connect when the button is depressed. I also checked my neighbors and it is the same. I have no idea how that would ever activate any existing door bell, but given that I have two that do the same thing, Ring must have something we don’t know about. I sure would like to hear from someone that actually has a ring that works with their existing door bell.

Update: Despite being originally told by a Ring customer service agent that my chime system was digital and therefore the placing of a diode across the terminals would solve the problem, this is not the case. My system merely requires a simple make and break bell push and the Ring is an AC device which supplies 16-12V AC when the button is pushed. This does nothing for my system and with or without a diode never could. I found a Ring tech guy who knew a little more than the support agent who only knew what was written on his answers sheet. My guy told me what the terminal output was and using that information, with a little help from a YouTube video about incompatible chimes with the the Ring unit, I was able to put together a modification which allows the Ring Video Doorbell 2 to close a simple make and break bell push.

You need a component called a bridge rectifier which converts the alternating current to direct current and a miniature relay where that current can operate a simple electromechanical make and break contact which replaces the hundred year old bell push. So instead of expecting the Ring unit to work as the switch for the chimes, it acts as a switched power source for a simple electrically operated bell push substitute. Overall cost, under $10 and I still have four spare bridge rectifiers. If only I could find a good use for them!

Do you have the link for the YouTube video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6YswmDNVyI

The video is not specific to the Ring doorbell but it does explain the way to create a relay bell connection. To be honest I haven’t yet made it work but I am beginning to doubt the information coming from Ring regarding the operating current from the terminals on the back of the unit. If I owned a good electrical test meter, I’d have tested the output myself instead of struggling to find someone in Ring who could give me catagorical assurances of the output values. I think I’ll bite the bullet and buy a good test meter now and check that I have fitted components with the correct electrical values and failing that pay an electronics enigineer to install the Ring with my household security system. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to make the Ring wired outputs behave like a simple hundred year old bell push!

The youtube video is of another door bell system, not ring and therefore doesn’t apply to Ring. Save your money on the test meter - I have a very good one and there is no voltage output on the ring terminals and if there was, it would be DC, not AC. The terminals on the back of the Ring do not “make” when the button is depressed therefore you can put all the relays you want on there and it won’t do any good if they are never activated - which requires the terminals to “make” connection when the button is depressed. All a relay is good for is using one voltage to close a circuit that has another voltage. A relay could be “closed” with a 12v circuit while the main terminals are 24v, 110v or whatever the relay is rated for. This is not going to solve the problem. If the ring terminals were to “close” then you could just connect your old door bell and be done with it. If you want your old bell to work, get something other than Ring.

Now I am totally at a loss. Ring say the Doorbell 2 does work existing bells. They provide the terminals on the back of the unit for this purpose. They also say that the terminals pass 16 to 24 Volts alternating current when the button is pressed. Why that would be a feature I cannot understand but if it is true, the circuit from the video would operate a relay to close a null circuit to ring the chimes so long as the electrical values of the components matched ther out put from the terminals and what the chimes were in the video doesn’t really matter. It’s only a simple bell push function to complete a circuit without injecting any other current into it. Why would you think that the terminals on the back don’t have some function for original chimes? Ring even give you a diode to use on digital chimes and make a fuss about telling you how to connect it. Why would they go to that bother if the Ring Doorbell 2 cannot ring original chimes? And lastly, if they have some circuitry in the unit for ringing original chimes, why cannot I make it ring my chimes? Ring do not seem to have researched the possible needs of the rear terminals and they do not have staff who can give viable information and advice to enable original chimes to be operated. If to provide a simple contact closure requires a supplementary circuit, they should make it available as a customer service function. They give the diode so why not a suitable interface for simple circuit closing? I hope they read this forum and take notice because I’m nbot impressed with their customer service in this matter.

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You have to understand that what they told you about passing the current through is a lot different than producing current. What they are saying is that the system is rated up to 24v - so in theory when you activate the button, the ciruit closes and whatever voltage you have coming in to one terminal (up to 24v) will pass through to the other terminal. No different than your existing door bell. When you push the button, you close the circuit thus passing the voltage to the other wire and activating the bell. Exactly the same as any light switch. The problem is - and Ring will not admit it, that no matter what you do those two terminals never make connection. It is a simple test with an ohm meter - it either works or it doesn’t and I have two Ring bells that both test the same. I think Ring monitors these posts but they won’t admit it is a problem - so they don’t comment. Or the only comment they have is make sure your old door bell is compatible - which is BS because those two terminals have to connect to activate any device, bell, relay or anything else you attach. They will say buy one of their inside chimes and that will work. Of course it will becuase it is connected through your Wi-fi - nothing to do with the terminals on the back of the Ring.

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I’ve replied to the Ring Community Outreach Team who emailed me on this matter and have put your comments to them and await a response. I’m not going to just roll over and let them walk all over me if what you say it true and expect that they would not want the sort of bad publicity that would be incurred should they fail to handle this in other than a responsible manner. We’ll see!

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Good luck. Hope you post the results. You can rely on my comments being accurate. Just boil it down to one thing - if the two terminals on the ring never “make” it will never work to activate anything. I have two that will not and you apparenlty have at least one - so its unlikely they are all defective. It is a design problem and my guess is they know it. Moreover, you may not get much help right now as they probably have all hands on deck figuring out the security breaches they’ve had lately. They’re getting a lot of press about that. If I had it to do over, I would choose another brand of video bell and save myself all this grief.

So I have now had an answer from Ring and they admit that their unit cannot operate my existing chime network:

‘Thank you for answering all the questions and getting back to me so quickly. The way our Ring Device works is holding down a doorbell button directs one of the household electrical currents to a transformer. The transformer greatly lowers the current from the standard 120-volts to 10 volts. Once it has been lowered, it then passes through the wires of the electromagnet, which creates a magnetic field and in turn powers the piston causing the Ding Dong sound we know. Looking up your system I can tell that it won’t work the way have it designed. Considering, for so many years we relied on our homes internal chime. I would like to offer the idea of a Ring Chime to help assist with sound throughout your home. If you are interested, fill out the information below.’

Since I actually would require 3 wireless chimes to duplicate the coverage of my existing system and even then the ringing of the wireless chimes would not activate a listing in the security log for the property, the offer is insufficient to convince me to use the Ring 2 unit. Accordingly I have asked to return the unit for a full refund so that I can source an alternative. I await their response.

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All he is saying is things we already know. There is a transformer to lower the voltage from 110v to 10-12v - nearly all door bell chimes work on 12v so that is nothing new. He describes the voltage going to an electromagnet thus activating a piston and the Ding Dong - nothing new there. What he fails to address is there has to be someway to send the voltage to the electromagnetic and therein lies all the problem with the Ring system.