Wiring for one 1st gen wired Nest Doorbell and one 2nd gen wired Nest Doorbell, One Chime

[dingraham]

Hello Google Community,

I have had a 1st gen wired Nest Doorbell for a few years on my front door. Works great, and has no problem ringing the electronic chime. Today I attempted to add a 2nd gen wired Nest Doorbell to my back door. After installing the 2nd gen on the back door, all of the features of the doorbell work fine (camera, audio recording, notifications on my phone and other smart devices) **EXCEPT** the 2nd gen doorbell does not sound the electronic chime. The 1st gen doorbell on my front doorbell still works fine, and still sounds the electronic chime. Before I installed the 2nd gen doorbell on the back, the normal doorbell would sound the chime without a problem.

I have installed the chime puck for both the 1st gen and 2nd gen doorbell. The pucks for the two doorbells are different, however: the 1st gen puck has four wires, and the 2nd gen has only two. I've installed both according to the instructions the app gave me. But I wonder if I'm supposed to do something different with the 1st gen+2nd gen combination.

So, the question: is it possible to use a 1st gen wired doorbell and a 2nd gen wired doorbell on the same electronic chime, and have both ring the chime? If yes, how should I wire them?

[MplsCustomer]

@dingraham 

I think this is the second request I've seen in this forum for a diagram for a 1st gen chime connector combined with a 2nd gen chime puck, but Google Nest has not yet provided such a diagram.

On your Nest Hello Doorbell, under Settings | Chime duration in the Google Nest app, do you have the setting for electronic chime turned on? I don't know if there's an equivalent setting for the 2nd Gen Google Nest Doorbell in the Google Home app; they don't list it here: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9231819?hl=en#zippy=

Google Nest Support: are there any issues with connecting 1st gen and 2nd gen Google Nest wired doorbells to the same chime?

[EmersonB]

Hello folks,

@dingraham, thank you for reaching out here in the Community and for sharing the situation of your Nest Doorbell. We would suggest you check your transformer as well because the Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen) has higher power requirements than most doorbells. You need a transformer that is rated for 16-24 V AC, 10-40 VA to provide enough power to your doorbell. If you've already installed your Nest Doorbell and you see a blinking yellow light on the front, your Nest Doorbell isn't receiving enough power. Hit this link for more information.

I appreciate the help, MplsCustomer.

Regards,

Emerson

[dingraham]

Yes, there is a setting in the Home app to control the Chime duration. To get to it, I click on the Home app, then the doorbell in the list of devices, then the gear icon in the upper right, then "Doorbell" under "Device features." I had that set correctly.

My problem ended up being the doorbell transformer. I was previously using a 16V, 10VA transformer, which apparently was capable of powering both the 1st gen and 2nd gen doorbells simultaneously (with green lights, no yellow lights indicating low power), *and* allowing the 1st gen to sound the electronic chime, but not the 2nd gen. I replaced it with a 16V, 30VA transformer and now everything works great: doorbell smart features work, and both doorbells sound the chime. I didn't change anything with the wiring of the two pucks in the chime box--just had to replace the transformer.

One other tip: after installing the transformer and flipping the appropriate circuit breakers back on, both doorbells powered up, but neither was sounding the chime when I pushed the doorbell button. I went into the Nest app and turned the "Indoor chime On/Off" toggle off and then on again, and also switched the "Do you have an electronic chime?" toggle under "Chime duration" off and then on. After that, both doorbells were able to sound the chime.

Thanks everyone for your help. I am a satisfied customer now. 🙂

[janthadeus]

Hey dingraham,
 

Perfect! Thanks for posting and we appreciate your time in providing the Community the steps that fix your indoor chime that doesn’t ring — it's a big help. As we got our resolution here, I'm going to mark this thread as complete. I'll be locking this thread if we won't hear back from you again in 24 hours. Should that happen, feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future. 

Thanks for the help here, MplsCustomer and Emerson!

Best,

JT