Wired nest doorbell

[Ali_K]

Hi All

I wanted to check a couple of things. I recently had a wired nest doorbell installed by a local electrician who supplied the doorbell and did the installation.

1. The box says wired and battery at the bottom. The battery is ticked and in bold, but the installation is wired. Is this a problem or not?

2. When the doorbell rings, I can't hear it inside, what do I do about this? Is there a missing piece? Is the chime connector something that goes in the doorbell itself or in the house where you can hear the doorbell ring. 

[MplsCustomer · Accepted solution]

@Ali_K 

I'm just another Google Nest customer, but it depends on what doorbell you actually had installed.

This page from the Google Store shows both doorbells; the battery doorbell is larger:

https://store.google.com/us/product/nest_doorbell

The battery doorbell CAN be wired to your doorbell wires, so that the battery is always being trickle-charged, as explained here: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989

The chime connector (aka "chime puck"), when used, is connected to your indoor doorbell chime, but as noted here, "The Nest Doorbell (battery) doesn't need the chime connector for wired or battery-powered installation": https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247132. For non-battery 1st or 2nd gen wired Google Nest doorbells, "The chime connector allows the chime’s wires to deliver constant power to the Nest Doorbell (wired) and protects your chime from damage." If you actually have a 2nd gen Google Nest Doorbell (wired), you would need a chime connector, but it is NOT a doorbell chime.

You say you can't hear your doorbell inside. When your electrician wired your doorbell did he connect it to existing doorbell wires that are connected to an existing indoor doorbell chime? Or did he connect it only to a transformer (either a conventional doorbell transformer or a plug-in adapter designed for video doorbells)?

If your doorbell is NOT wired to an indoor doorbell chime, then you would need to buy a Nest Mini or a Nest Hub and turn on "Visitor announcements" in the Google Home app for your doorbell to get announcements when your doorbell is rung.

I'm surprised your electrician didn't explain all of this.

[Ali_K]

Thank you so much for you comprehensive reply.

So I think it's a battery doorbell, which can also be wired.

There was no existing wiring as no previous doorbell, so he put some new wiring going from a plug in the hallway, not far from the front door and there's a transformer which is currently near the plug.

It looks like to hear the doorbell indoors, I have to connect to a google home product. Luckily, I already have a google home Max, so I've connected it to that, just have to wait for a visitor now 🙂

For the price, it should come with an indoor chime item, I think that's a bit ridiculous to be honest.

Ideally, I wanted to keep costs down, no subscriptions, minimal electricity use. I should have just got a traditional doorbell and an outdoor security camera ha ha. That would have met my requirements lol

[EdmondB]

Hi Ali_K, 

Checking in — we hope you've got the answer you're looking for. Let us know if you have more questions in mind.

Thanks for the help, @MplsCustomer. 

Best,
Edmond