01-12-2025 08:58 AM
Good evening everyone, happy 2025! I'm writing from Italy.
I have a doubt that I haven't been able to resolve for 2 days, not even with Google support! Something isn't clear to me, something doesn't add up...
I purchased the battery-powered Nest Doorbell.
I've come to the installation: as you know, having 2 clamps I know that I can connect the bell sound and the electricity to keep it always charged. The point is this: only by connecting the 2 clamps will both the electricity to power it and the sound of the internal bell already present in the house pass simultaneously? My intention is to exclude the possibility of charging it via USB-C and therefore use the 2 terminals both to keep it always charged and for the bell sound.
They told me that it can be done, but in this case wouldn't it short-circuit? How is it possible that only through the 2 clamps I can have it charged 24 hours a day and the bell sound? Shouldn't one of the two options exclude the other?
Thank you very much.
Greetings from Rome
Answered! Go to the Recommended Answer.
01-13-2025 08:55 AM
It seems to me that you are asking for a scientific explanation for how a doorbell works.
I am not a scientist or an electrician, but my understanding is that a conventional doorbell is really just a switch; when you press the button you close the switch and current is momentarily sent to your indoor doorbell chime to ring the chime.
With the battery doorbell, the electrical current is always flowing through the doorbell to trickle-charge the doorbell's battery. The battery on the doorbell then powers the status light, the ring around the doorbell button, and the camera in the doorbell, which is normally in standby or "Idle" mode. In addition, when you press the doorbell button, the battery in the doorbell sends electricity to the indoor doorbell chime to ring the chime and to the doorbell's camera to record the event. (In addition, the battery powers the doorbell's camera if you view it in the Google Home app or on the home.google.com website.)
Things work a little differently With Google Nest's wired doorbells. There, the electrical current is always flowing through the doorbell to power the status light, the ring around the doorbell button, and the camera in the doorbell (which is always "Live" and recording). Both the 1st and 2nd gen Google Nest doorbells also have a chime connector that helps to deliver constant power to the doorbell and protect the indoor doorbell chime from damage. (I don't understand the details of how this chime connector works.) When you press the doorbell button, a small internal battery provides power for the doorbell--including the camera--during the instant when power is diverted to ring the indoor doorbell chime.
01-12-2025 11:49 AM
Maybe I'm wrong: I circled one clamp in green and one in red. One goes to the doorbell and one to the power supply? Is this the correct configuration to ring the internal doorbell and continuously power the Nest Doorbell at the same time? If so, that's because I previously thought both clamps would go to the doorbell or the power supply...
I don't know what the right thing to do is...
01-12-2025 12:21 PM
Yes, it's the correct configuration.
Google Nest's battery doorbell is designed to be connected to the same two doorbell wires to which your previous doorbell was connected (via the clamps they provide). One wire goes to your doorbell transformer and the other goes to your indoor doorbell chime. (The battery doorbell does not use the chime connector used for Google Nest's wired doorbells.) This setup should keep your doorbell's battery charged (except in cold weather: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989) and ring your indoor doorbell chime when the doorbell button is pressed (provided that you turn on the "Indoor chime" option for your doorbell in the Google Home app).
01-12-2025 12:49 PM
Thank you so much! I am not an expert like you, but I have a lot of good will. No one has managed to give me an answer like yours in these last few days. Thank you!
Having overcome this first step, I still have to understand something else: I live in Rome, therefore in Italy. Surely the power supply, buzzer etc. are made differently. And this is precisely where I am having difficulty.
I opened the box on the wall with the buzzer and I saw that it is connected with 2 wires called PHASE and NEUTRAL (here is the alternating current). Can this type of buzzer work or do I need another type to be able to connect it to the transformer that I still have to buy.
Finally: please, can you recommend a transformer that is compatible for the Nest Doorbell that can work in Italy? I read that an 8-24 V AC transformer is needed.
01-12-2025 02:20 PM
I am not an expert, just a Google Nest doorbell customer with 1st gen Google Nest Hello Doorbells, starting in 2019.
I have no knowledge at all about European electrical power standards and practices.
These are Google Nest's recommendations, which include this statement: "In Europe and Australia, you’ll need to have a licensed electrician install a new transformer before installing the Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen)."
We upgraded to a 16V 30VA transformer a couple of years ago, replacing our old (45 years plus?) transformer, which had no markings on it but I think was probably 10V. I've seen numerous other posts from U.S. customers who have done the same.
01-13-2025 01:40 AM
Ti ringrazio ancora.
Il mio grande dubbio che non riesco a risolvere è questo: come può ricaricarsi la batteria interna tramite i morsetti (escludendo quindi l'USB-C) se non arrivano i due poli ai due morsetti?
01-13-2025 05:44 AM
I am not sure what your concern is. The USB port on the battery doorbell is only used if the doorbell is NOT connected to your doorbell wires (that is, to your indoor doorbell chime and to your doorbell transformer) and instead is dismounted periodically and plugged in to charge the doorbell.
I do not know how doorbell chimes and transformers work outside the U.S. In the U.S., standard doorbells have two wires; one is connected to the indoor doorbell chime and the other is connected to a doorbell transformer.
Maybe the second video on the Help page below (showing a wired installation for a battery doorbell) will help:
01-13-2025 06:00 AM
Grazie molte! Sei gentilissimo! Si si, so la differenza tra caricare con USB-C e caricare in modo cablato fisso.
Il dubbio enorme è questo:
se collego i 2 fili, uno va al trasformatore e uno va al campanello, non capisco come possa ricaricarsi il Doorbell con un solo cavo in un morsetto.
Al Doorbell in questo caso andrebbe UN SOLO CAVO ELETTRICO (o solo il Fase o solo il Neutro) proprio perchè l'altro morsetto andrebbe al cicalino. Ho sentito alcuni amici quì a Roma e mi hanno spiegato che non è possibile proprio perchè ai morsetti dovrebbero andare UN CAVO FASE E UN CAVO NEUTRO solo per alimentarlo!
Quindi in teoria o lo carico mediante cavo ed elettricità, ma in questo caso non avrei il collegamento al cicalino proprio perchè i 2 morsetti del Doorbell sono occupati da un Fase e un Neutro per l'alimentazione.
01-13-2025 06:43 AM
We have a language difference and a cultural difference that is making it hard for me to understand your concern.
Maybe this will help, from the Google Nest Help topic below:
"If you’ve connected your Nest Doorbell (battery) to your existing doorbell wiring, the wires don’t directly power the doorbell. Instead, the battery is trickle charged by the power that comes through the wires, and the doorbell runs off the battery charge."
01-13-2025 06:46 AM
Si, è vero. Hai ragione. Effettivamente non capisco come fare a scrivere e farmi rispondere da qualcuno in Europa. In Italia sembra che io sia l'unico ad avere un Nest Doorbell a batteria (ovviamente non è così).
01-13-2025 06:57 AM
Well, you can't be the only one; the Google Store is advertising the battery doorbell in Italian, and they do not seem to note any special wiring concerns for Italy:
https://store.google.com/it/product/nest_doorbell_battery?hl=it
Because I am in the U.S., Google Search will not display any installation instructions in Italian for me.
01-13-2025 07:16 AM
Si, infatti, lo dicevo in modo ironico poichè non trovo nessuno (nemmeno su Youtube) che effettua l'installazione del Doorbell a batteria ma cablato qui in Italia.
Sono d'accordo con te della difficoltà sia della lingua che dei sistemi elettrici ecc. diversi tra i nostri paesi, con conseguente difficoltà.
Vediamo se riesco ad essere più chiaro. Ce la metto tutta...
Per quanto ne so, per collegare ai morsetti un'alimentazione, dovrei utilizzare entrambi i morsetti (e il nostro Doorbell ne ha infatti 2 nel retro). Invece dalle spiegazioni che vedo in giro, sembra che un morsetto possa andare al cicalino e l'altro morsetto possa andare all'alimentazione. E questo non credo si possa fare perchè (come ho scritto sopra) l'alimentazione avrebbe bisogno di tutti e due i morsetti del Doorbell. Quindi com'è possibile che al Doorbell basterebbe occupare un solo morsetto? Quì in Italia per funzionare un'alimentazione c'è bisogno del cavo FASE e del cavo NEUTRO (questi sono i loro nomi) che in teoria andrebbero nei due morsetti disponibili nel retro del Doorbell. Se guardo invece le varie spiegazioni sembra che possa bastare un solo morsetto: in questo caso o il cavo FASE o il cavo NEUTRO. Ma in queste condizioni un'alimentazione non può funzionare, perchè ha bisogno di entrambi.
Ecco, questa è la mia difficoltà. Non so se sono riuscito a rendere meglio l'idea. In tal caso scusami ancora...
01-13-2025 07:27 AM
01-13-2025 08:55 AM
It seems to me that you are asking for a scientific explanation for how a doorbell works.
I am not a scientist or an electrician, but my understanding is that a conventional doorbell is really just a switch; when you press the button you close the switch and current is momentarily sent to your indoor doorbell chime to ring the chime.
With the battery doorbell, the electrical current is always flowing through the doorbell to trickle-charge the doorbell's battery. The battery on the doorbell then powers the status light, the ring around the doorbell button, and the camera in the doorbell, which is normally in standby or "Idle" mode. In addition, when you press the doorbell button, the battery in the doorbell sends electricity to the indoor doorbell chime to ring the chime and to the doorbell's camera to record the event. (In addition, the battery powers the doorbell's camera if you view it in the Google Home app or on the home.google.com website.)
Things work a little differently With Google Nest's wired doorbells. There, the electrical current is always flowing through the doorbell to power the status light, the ring around the doorbell button, and the camera in the doorbell (which is always "Live" and recording). Both the 1st and 2nd gen Google Nest doorbells also have a chime connector that helps to deliver constant power to the doorbell and protect the indoor doorbell chime from damage. (I don't understand the details of how this chime connector works.) When you press the doorbell button, a small internal battery provides power for the doorbell--including the camera--during the instant when power is diverted to ring the indoor doorbell chime.