Electrician comfortable with Nest doorbell wiring

Hello all,

We went all in on Nest products for better or for worse. I now have 2 Nest “Hello” doorbells on my brownstone that are unusable. None of the Nest Pros we’ve had out here (and we’ve had a few) can fix them because they’re not familiar with wiring in old houses. I had two electricians that are unfamiliar with Nest products. Both doorbells have gotten power at one time or another, and we’ve seen the cameras work intermittently, so we really think this is about re-wiring and fixing up our chime boxes. We don’t have WiFi connectivity issues.

So I’m hoping that if there’s someone out there who is (1) an electrician and (2) familiar with wiring Nest Hellos in old houses, and installing new chime boxes, we might re-gain “house with working doorbell” status. Please let me know if you have any ideas! And no, we can’t ditch the Nest and start over (unfortunately).

Thanks!

shannon11201

in General Discussion 5 years and 11 months ago

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stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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i took a gander on amazon real quick last week to see if any were made to plug into the 120 ac (a household plug) and turned some results. take a look. these may be newish as most of the ones i have seen over the past couple of years were being installed by low voltage technicians (hence the lack of replies).

WRPListings | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Can someone suggest a brand or provide a link to a doorbell/intercom system that is easy to install but provides video? We are about to fix our old fashioned doorbell and it makes sense to install this instead.

georgelacr | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Brooklyn brownstone owner, did my Hello install myself. Works great for my Garden level doorbell replacement. Don’t mind trying to help diagnose point(s) of failure but you asked for an installer/electrician, which I am not. Are you open to some DIY diagnosis? (you might be able to install it yourself) Or do you just want someone to come get it done? Better I ask than just offer DIY suggestions.

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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and OP, if you look for things like this, try to find things that plug into standard household outlets (no panel box, no hard wiring to a transformer, no junction box) with connections and power supplies sort of like what we use with
modern computer equipment. this way not only do you not need a licensed person to install it but you can move it around and do things sort of like what we would all do with our computers and printers, etc; i think this is the way things like this are moving anyway.

angelique.m.west | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Return the Nest stuff. It’s not suitable for a brownstone in NYC, especially given the potential security risks and the fact that our city isn’t exactly crime free. I know a few very low-level tech bros who can hack into these with their eyes closed. Spend the money and get a real intercom system that will keep the building safe and sound.

Nest systems are designed for nice suburban middle class housing developments where a little mouse crossing the street would be noticed by the neighbors.

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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and boo, sorry. some of these are hard wired with no switch. sometimes they piggy backed the wires onto another circuit in the box and the op will have to find out if that is the case and open the circuit. and you will not believe this and it is so bizarre i have to share it: i once saw an alarm panel wired to the incoming con ed feed before the meter. no breaker and con ed knew about it and billed us based on the power consumption stated on the panel, so anything is possible.

op and anyone else here might not want to work on anything live and boo is correct, they shouldn’t. but for what its worth, when we have trouble with equipment while we are working, we keep it powered as it is easier to find the fault. i know, i know …

I do not work on electric in anyone’s house. but sometimes we have to contact a circuit or work around a wire or touch a cable and it makes me nervous. First, we assume everything is live and then, i carry a circuit tester. keep in mind that op may not have the option of plugging a light into an outlet – so we check the line with the tester after checking the tester on known live circuit. these are $15 items and every hardware store carries them. HD has them.

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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FWIW none of the houses in our neighborhood have the transformer at the panel. They’re all attached to the main beam in our basements mid-house, in a small metal box.

And I’m not sure if there’s anyone who advocates working on a live transformer even if low voltage or any other electrical equipment of any type.

If you have the transformer setup we do, turn the circuit it is on, off first, confirm that it is off, THEN poke around!

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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and FYI: people open boxes and work on live equipment all the time. it is risky. if this were my house and i wanted to shift wires around to look for a loose connection, this is what would do and i have done it a lot (we have a lot of equipment that switches fail on, wires come loose, solder breaks, etc):

1. take off all jewlery;
2. wear thick rubber shoes;
3. stand on a rubber mat;
4. use something non conductive (i would not even know what to use because i use my fingers, i know; they do make electricians screwdrivers with a plastic shield on them).
5. do not touch the housing to the unit as it should be grounded and do not touch anything or anyone else.

all of the above said, i am friends with a union electrician and i had once put the question to him (after watching a very old electrician who was already missing a finger, and guess how that happen, test a live 120 circuit with his knuckles) if it is acceptable to work on live equipment. he told me “it is against union rules to work on live equipment”. the problem for the OP or any of us (including m e) is if we do not realize what side of this is the primary power (110 AC) and what is the secondary (low voltage) and the other thing is, if we short something or a wire pops off and energizes something that should not be energized (we can damage circuits).

if op or anyone else begins to think that the issue is on the 120 side of the unit, especially if that transformer is on the box as boo is referencing, they should consult a service provider (if it is a self contained unit with a plug) or even an electrician if it is the kind of transformer on the panel that boo has referenced.

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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allow me to elaborate a little more. when looking for the power supply for this, it may be: 1. the way boo is suggesting, a little transformer on the panel; 2. a power supply inside the control box in the same way the power supply is inside the chassis of a desktop computer; 3. or it may be outside the box and on a line like the transformer is for a laptop. if the OP is lucky enough to have something that is not hardwired but has a plug, they should be able to run through this sort of the same way we do when, say the plug comes out on the laptop computer. if there is a plug but the transformer is inside, they can locate it by looking at the picture boo referenced and checking the wires coming from it (or possibly those into it; the ones into it are the ones that will hurt if you touch them); be careful doing something like this plugged in as you may not know which are the low voltage wires.

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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@boo, keep in mind the power supply for older equipment of this sort and doorbells is a little transformer usually mounted on the service box; the transformer for this new stuff is part of the package and is often even set up with a household ac plug which (i think makes) it legal for the homeowner to mess with in the same way i might play with the wiring for a lamp or my computer. op should check and see if there is a 110 v ac plug for this and then plug it in elsewhere to try to narrow the issue.

sorry if i am missing something here, as i have not read all of the thread.

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Actually since you mention you have intermittent power, first step should actually be just checking the condition of the transformer and making sure connections are tight and not corroded. Intermittent power could be caused by loose wire or dirty terminals at the transformer. It will save you/your handy person a lot of work if that’s the issue.

Your transformer looks something like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-16-VAC-Transformer-Wired-Door-Bell-HB-122-03/304225270

If you do find loose/corroded issue just be sure to turn circuit to transformer off first before trying to rectify anything

stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago

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what others are saying, you can do this your self. FYI: you do not need a full on electrician for this but someone with a low voltage electrician’s license. Locksmiths who do this work carry this kind of license.

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Oh and it may be as easy as replacing your transformer so before you go about re-running all the wire, try replacing the transformer first

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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OP rewiring your doorbell/chime is at best a project for a semi-dopey handyman if you don’t want to DIY. I know there are Brownstoners who just LOVE to overpay and over-hire for certain projects so if you’re one of those, go ahead and hire an electrician but really, this project doesn’t require much skill.

I know, we did it.

Running doorbell wire is VERY different than running BX. Doorbell wire is super thin and easily fished and not standard voltage. It is low voltage. Use the old wire to pull the new by attaching them together at the ends. Find the transformer, and follow the wire from there. Everything you need is at your local hardware store.

We didn’t opt for the power adapter type devices because it 1) takes up a plug somewhere in your house and 2) at some point, you will see the adapter power cable running thru the house. We went thru a lot of effort to make our house look nice and pull 8,452 miles of old visible wires run by the old owners out of the home, so we weren’t about to add a new one that you could see. Especially if we already had the infrastru cture to power the doorbell. If you can find a way to run the adapter cable to the basement and plug it in there invisibly, go for it, but we didn’t have that option. And the power adapters we looked strongly advised against using extension cords but that was a while ago.

GreenThinker | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Could be an issue with the wires themselves, (frayed/damaged, not the right gauge) or the transformers are burnt/not the right voltage. You really have to tell your electricians that you don’t want them to try to fix whats there, but to replace it with new wire and a high quality transformer. A more DIY friendly route would just to buy the Ninety7 Indoor Power Adapter for Google Nest Hello Doorbell. You plug it into a normal outlet, the wire is 20 feet long, so you should be able to find an outlet close enough to both entrances. Simply invest in a long 1/4 inch drill, and drill a hole through a wall or floor and then to the exterior where the bell goes.

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Re-wired! Autocorrect!!

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Oh we retired the chime too –

There are plenty of wiring diagrams if you google for guidance.

greenworks | 5 years and 11 months ago

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Wiring a doorbell is a pretty easy DIY project, you just need some patience. We re-ran the wiring and replaced the transformer so we could install our SkyBell, then nest hello. , both of which required power, in our old house. All you have to do is locate transformer and fish the lines. You may have to remove door casing to route it but it just took a little planning and much patience.