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What does the nest doorbell 2md gen puck do?

LindaR0902
Community Member
  • We just installed the nest doorbell 2nd gen and have been working on it for 3 days because our indoor chime would not ring no matter what we did. So tonight we took the white puck off and the indoor chime works and the camera also works. Do we need that puck?? This is unbelievably frustrating 
57 REPLIES 57

Plaxe29
Community Member

What happens if the chime puck is not installed? Chance of fire? So frustrating to find out the indoor chime finally worked without the puck. What risk is there to not have it installed?

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey Plaxe29,

 

Good question, the chime connector allows the chime's wires to deliver constant power to the  Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen) and Nest Doorbell (wired) and protects your chime from damage. In addition, without the chime connector, you might experience chime buzzing or unexpected chimes. If your chime works fine without the chime connector, you can have it that way.

 

Let me know if there's anything else.

 

Best,

JT

Thanks for the response JT.  It's great to see that you feel I can leave it off.  The info you provided is straight from the manual which I saw. What kind of potential damage to the chime? Physically breaking or fire? I'm confused that the puck prevents the chime from working for many people and then the chime works without it. How did the engineers come up with this chime puck? I remember installing a ring doorbell at another house and there was a similar chime puck device that was needed to ensure more power to enable chime to work. That made more sense to me. 

ruiza4
Community Member

I installed the wired Nest Doorbell 2nd Generation. It is powered up with no issues and connected to Wifi, I receive notifications on my phone and visit announcement works on my Nest Mini Speaker. I tested the voltage on the transformer and its at 21.5 volts. The indoor chime works with manual/original doorbell with no issues but when the chime is set up with provided chime puck it will not ring with either the nest or original doorbell. I have confirmed all wiring is correct on the transformer, doorbell and chime. I made and modified the settings in the Home app to various options and combinations with no success. Meaning on/off with "Ring indoor Chime" option and "Have an Electronic Chime" Yes/No and the various "length of ring" times. 

When I contacted support, we went through their extensive checklist for troubleshooting.... of course nothing worked. Their last suggestion was to buy a new chime puck online. They would not offer me a replacement. The puck online is $80. Sort of outrageous they would suggest that I would have to pony up more money to get this to work. In the end, I totally removed the puck because of suggestion from another post and now everything works with no issues. I am leaving it off and will continue to check this post to see if there is any issue with leaving it like this. Thank you all for the contributions. This was very frustrating to me and I am glad it got resolved but no so happy with Google/Nest on the support and responses received. 

mcmanuspop
Community Member

So just to confirm it is okay not to have the puck, according to the installation video it was important to keep it on. Google support has me buying a replacement Nest wire 2nd Gen to get a new puck. I also had a professional installation from Ontech (recommended by Google) they said my voltage was good. but said I needed a new puck

I recently got a replacement Google Nest doorbell 2 gen wired. I replaced the doorbell and chime. The chime now works. My doorbell is 16 V

To clarify I replaced the chime puck not the chime

nike12330
Community Member

I'm going to just say Google is never going to give you a straight answer on this - they talk circles around it and spew back the same things. They won't say it's okay to operate without the puck - should just assume you are taking on risk and potentially voiding any warranty. I've been using it without the puck and it seems to be OK for now.

Plaxe29
Community Member

I had Google send a replacement doorbell to see if I originally had a bad chime puck. Installed new chime puck and that worked. Now we know that defective chime pucks are the problem. It would have been a lot easier to just send a new chime puck. Problem solved for me.

ruiza4
Community Member

Wow, they gave you a new Chime Puck? They refused to even consider this with me. They said it was not an option and that I would have to find my own online and pay for it myself. Talk about bad customer service. Very dissappointed in Nest/Google regarding their response on this issue.

Plaxe29
Community Member

They sent a whole new doorbell package which I only used the chime puck. Put a hold of $179 until I sent it back.

ruiza4
Community Member

Wow, you must have had a really nice rep that worked with you. Mine said no and then said we don't have an option to support sending you a new puck and than refused to send a replacement. Not sure why its inconsistent.

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@janthadeusand @Brad

Is Google Nest going to address the problem with its "chime pucks" for the new 2nd gen Google Nest Doorbells?

Some customers are finding that the "chime puck" they received is defective, and only a replacement "chime puck" works.

Other customers, who can't get Google Nest to replace their defective "chime puck", are finding that their doorbell chime works only when they remove their "chime puck". But Google Nest has no documentation that the "chime puck" is optional.

mmelgarejoc
Community Member

Hi guys, I’m just installed my Doorbell last Friday and did not work with the puck. I removed the puck and worked perfectly; however, today I started hearing some buzzing during the night. What should I do?

I would recommend reaching out to Google Nest support. They will send you a complete replacement including a new doorbell even though you need a new puck.

The puck is needed to stabilize the voltage. A normal doorbell uses closed loop circuit. The puck protects the google nest doorbell

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi mmelgarejoc,

Checking in — have you had the chance to speak to our support team as suggested by mcmanuspop? If so, how did it go? Let us know if you need more help.

Thanks for the help, mcmanuspop.

Best,

JT

Buckeye1
Community Member

So I’m having the same non-functioning chime problem with the gen 2 puck. I have 20v at the doorbell from my transformer and an old mechanical Nutone L38 NL 62G chime. Is this all a result of defective pucks and is the solution to keeping buying and returning doorbell sets until I get one with a working puck?

Sbaird02
Community Member

Tagging onto comment made by @Plaxe29 I installed Nest Doorbell wired gen 2. I have mechanical 16v 10va mechanical doorbell. Everything installed correctly with puck no chime, without chime worked fine. Contacted support and the only option available was to have them send whole replacement for just a puck issue. Also had to accept $180 card hold. To their credit the replacement device was received 3 days later. I installed new puck and everything is working as expected now. I am sending back the defective unit today.