New doorbell not working

Berty

Hello All,

I bought a wired doorbell by Siemens today to replace my own which is on the fritz. It is a new build house so had two split wires coming out of the wall.

One split wire from the door and the other...........who knows because I always used batteries.

None of them appear to be live and the fuse box has no listing for the doorbell.

Now I cannot get it to work. Even ignoring the house wires and using the batteries it still will not work.

Ask me questions if I'm not clear because I don't know where to start.

meercat

picture of the bell connections
and picture of the wires
and picture of the fuseboard will help

meercat

Beer Baron wrote: »

One split wire from the door and the other...........who knows because I always used batteries.
.

possibly a transformer mounted in the fuseboard(might not be marked)

Berty

I will have a look meercat tomorrow. I'm away in a hotel right now. From memory the fuse board is marked with only the sections which have switches. All the others just have blanks on them.

I'll take a picture of the wires, bell housing and fuse box and post.

Berty

Here is the unit itself:

Its a Siemens DCW2 Wired Door Chime Kit

You can see there are 3 wires but there are actually 4 wires. One is hidden from the view.



Here is the transformer - booklet says it IS a transformer



Here is the fuse board



Here is the legend



The Manual booklet says:

For Battery Operation

Strip the twin bell wire from the bell push. Take a single wire and connect it to Terminal # 1 on the Transofrmer and the other to terminal 2. Insert 4 x C Batteries. Done.

Nothing.

For Transformer Operation:

Strip the wire from the bell push. Connect one to Terminal 0 and the other one to any one of the other 8 volt terminals on the transformer. Done

Take the remaining single wire from the other terminal and connect to terminal 3. What other wire are they referring to if they only supply one split wire that connects from the doorbell push to terminal 0 and one of the others.

Mr. Presentable

Swap the wires on T1 and T2. Use battery power only

Berty

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Swap the wires on T1 and T2. Use battery power only

If it were only so easy. First thing I tried both on the unit and in the bell push.

Bruthal

Beer Baron wrote: »

The Manual booklet says:

For Battery Operation

Strip the twin bell wire from the bell push. Take a single wire and connect it to Terminal # 1 on the Transofrmer and the other to terminal 2. Insert 4 x C Batteries. Done.

Nothing.

For Transformer Operation:

Strip the wire from the bell push. Connect one to Terminal 0 and the other one to any one of the other 8 volt terminals on the transformer. Done

Take the remaining single wire from the other terminal and connect to terminal 3. What other wire are they referring to if they only supply one split wire that connects from the doorbell push to terminal 0 and one of the others.

Ok, you can do a quick test on the unit by shorting terminals 1 and 2 with a short piece of wire or a coin etc. The bell should ring once the batteries are fitted. That will tell if the bell unit is ok or not.

If it works then the bell unit is ok.

That will tell us if the door push button loop is possibly faulty, or if there is a problem with the bell unit itself.


If you want to try working it with a transformer (which is a separate item that would be in your MCB board), and the bell push wiring is ok, then bring the twin pair from the door pushbutton, and the other twin pair from the transformer. Take one wire from the pushbutton and one from the transformer and just connect them to each other in a connector block, or twist and tape(which wire you pick from each pair doesnt matter). Now just get the other 2 wires, and connect one to terminal 0, and one to terminal 3. And that should work.

I think confusion is being caused by the fact that unit in the bell you have a close up of is not a transformer, its a solenoid that moves the plunger to hit the two metal bars on each side to give the chime when the bell operates. It has an open circuit between terminals 1 and 2 to facilitate using the unit as battery or transformer operated.

Maybe it says transformer in the manual because it means that`s where the transformer connects to if being used, or else its one of them badly translated or written manuals. Your board has no transformer in it by the look of it, or its not in view.

So for battery operation its a simple matter of getting the twin pair from the door pushbutton, and putting one wire into terminal 1, and the other into terminal 2. Which is which doesnt matter.

As i said, if that doesnt/didnt work, then short the terminals 1 and 2 with a coin, and if the bell unit it working it should operate. If it does and the pushbutton connected as mentioned does not work, then the pushbutton or wiring to it has a problem

Berty

Okay with the bell push wires in place in one and two I tried it and it doesn't work. I was able to short it, I think, I could see a sparked connection anyway but no bell push. The wiring is fine from the bell push because I tried the old doorbell unit and it works(changing it because it only has half a ring)

So wiring from the door is fine, batteries are fine.

One final thing and you may kill me. I left te old door push on the door. I didnt think it would make a difference. Should I change this now?

Bruthal

Beer Baron wrote: »

Okay with the bell push wires in place in one and two I tried it and it doesn't work. I was able to short it, I think, I could see a sparked connection anyway but no bell push. The wiring is fine from the bell push because I tried the old doorbell unit and it works(changing it because it only has half a ring)

So wiring from the door is fine, batteries are fine.

One final thing and you may kill me. I left te old door push on the door. I didnt think it would make a difference. Should I change this now?

Did you try shorting the terminals 1 and 2 directly on the bell unit. This will ring the chime if its working, and is a simple test to confirm the bell operation.

The old pushbutton should be ok for now if its operating the old bell.

Berty

Yes tried shorting it like I said above but it did not ring.

mark renton

Are your barreries inserted correctly there?

Bruthal

Beer Baron wrote: »

Yes tried shorting it like I said above but it did not ring.

Did you notice any tiny sparks when you shorted it? This would tell us the batteries are connected ok.

Often batteries dont make a great connection on them spring wire connections, and twisting them a little might help, as well as closely visually inspecting to see the battery contacts are touching the metal wire contacts of the unit properly.

Also, notice the striker in the photo, on the left had side of the balck solenoid unit, its white with a spring.

All that happens is, shorting 1 and 2 completes the circuit (from batteries) to energize that solenoid and pull that striker over to hit the black chime bar on the right hand side, and releasing the push button causes that spring to propel the striker into the bar on the left side, to give the double chime from hitting the 2 bars.

Just check with a small screwdriver etc, that the striker is free to move, and not jammed.

Berty

Yes there was a spark. I have concluded the problem lies internally and have replaced the old bell, mysteriously now working perfectly and will return the unit to the shop.

Bruthal

john47832 wrote: »

Are your barreries inserted correctly there?

They look like they are, but i wonder is the top left battery making contact with the terminal at its bottom end? I seen it happen where them metal tabs had to be bent out a little to make proper contact.

The polarity of the batteries would make no difference for powering a solenoid, once they are all in the proper sequence not opposing each other, which they are in sequence in the photos, but possibly the terminals are suited for a particular direction of the battery for physical reasons anyway.

Bruthal

Beer Baron wrote: »

Yes there was a spark. I have concluded the problem lies internally and have replaced the old bell, mysteriously now working perfectly and will return the unit to the shop.

There is nothing to them. Id say that plastic white striker is possibly jammed. You can try see if it will move with a small screwdriver. It may free up. It should be movable to easily push over toward the other bar.

Old one probably having problems with the push button. The contacts tend to oxidise in the elements eventually, making the contact intemittent.