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IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

[Electrical] Doorbell troubleshooting

Need to know some basic steps for troubleshooting a hard wired doorbell. Mine doesn't trip every time the button is pressed.

I'm going to keep this on topic and not going to mention how I found out the doorbell is failing.

davidg
Good Bye My Friend
MVM
join:2002-06-15
00000

davidg

MVM

pull the switch out, repeatedly touch the wires together. if it rings everytime, the problem is the switch.

Msradell
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
Louisville, KY

Msradell

Premium Member

said by davidg:

pull the switch out, repeatedly touch the wires together. if it rings everytime, the problem is the switch.

That's certainly the first place to start troubleshooting and usually where the problem is. If that doesn't show a problem the next thing to do is go to the doorbell itself and basically repeat the process by jumping across the two terminals to ring the bell the doorbell. After completing these two steps you have basically troubleshot all the components except for the wires and the transformer.

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

2 recommendations

UHF to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
I replaced both the switches and the doorbell and mine does the same. The transformer is in the attic, so I haven't tried replacing it yet as I don't like attics, and access is through the ceiling of a small closet with a lot of teenage girls clothes shoved into it. Usually my dogs bark if someone makes it all the way to the front door anyway, so I recommend a dog with good hearing to fix this

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Did the troubleshooting that was suggested, did the same thing so I clipped back the Wires and stripped fresh wires out of the sheath since they were corroded and pitted.



Switch was in poor condition and needed a pry bar to remove because of rusted screws.




Finished it off with a new switch and only one trip to Home Depot. Cost: Less than $5. Don't need no stinkin decorative or lighted switch.


IowaCowboy

IowaCowboy to UHF

Premium Member

to UHF
My Alaskan Malamute is pretty quiet, he only growls at other dogs. Very people friendly though.

mattmag

join:2000-04-09
NW Illinois

mattmag to IowaCowboy

to IowaCowboy


So does it work?

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

It started working much better when I clipped the wires back, stripped them and touched them together. It's safe to say that 95 percent sure it's the switch. Before I cut the wires back and restripped, it was missed even when I touched the wires together. So I'm guessing that 26 years worth of New England weather did this switch in.

If it would have been the doorbell chime, that's in the kitchen those are easy enough to replace. The transformer would require poking around the circuit breaker panel. I've worked in the panel before (replaced a breaker) and it's tied into the bathroom GFCI circuit but it's before the GFCI as the GFCI is after the panel (mounted next to the panel) and the doorbell transformer is mounted directly to the panel. So I knew which circuit to cut when messing with this thing, even though they're low voltage, they can still be uncomfortable if you get that shock.

robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

robbin

Mod

said by IowaCowboy:

It started working much better when I clipped the wires back, stripped them and touched them together. It's safe to say that 95 percent sure it's the switch. Before I cut the wires back and restripped, it was missed even when I touched the wires together. So I'm guessing that 26 years worth of New England weather did this switch in.

OK -- if clipping the wires back and re-stripping them seemed to fix the problem, why are you thinking that the switch was the problem? Did you try reinstalling the old switch after cutting the wires back?

Tex
Dave's not here
Premium Member
join:2012-10-20

Tex

Premium Member

And miss going to the Home Depot? Besides, if he has the least bit of doubt about the doorbell chime or the transformer, he'll soon be replacing those, too. He's expecting a new iToy, so he wants to be sure he hears the doorbell when the FedEx delivery shows up, which is probably the only time the doorbell gets used anyway. I just hope, for his dear mother's sake, she doesn't have chemotherapy that day.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

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I busted the switch when I removed it (had to pry it off as the bottom screw was going nowhere) but I could check it with a multimeter just to see if the switch was in fact bad.
IowaCowboy

3 edits

IowaCowboy to Tex

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to Tex
Actually what happened today (strange but true) is the physical therapist showed up for grandma and she just opened the door, which happened to be unlocked (she said she knocked and rang the doorbell) and I didnt hear the doorbell and grandma was watching TV (which was rather loud, due to her hearing loss) and after that I said that the doorbell works. And then I tested it, it rang only 50 percent of the times I pushed the button.

As for the physical therapist, I said you must freak out when they don't come to the door because they could have fallen or be on the bottom of the bathtub. At least I didn't have fire and rescue bust in my door. That would have been a $200 labor intensive job.

They just come at random times because grandma is theoretically home bound.

I didn't mention this at first because I wanted to keep this on topic.

I was actually in the kitchen when this happened (where the chime is) so I would have heard it (even over the TV) if it worked.

If it works with the fix, I'm done. It would be nice though to put something in that doesn't sound like the doorbells on every TV show, when you hear doorbells on TV, you freak out and think someone is at your own door, especially when you're not the one watching TV.