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I installed a Ring video doorbell, but it wouldn’t ring my NuTone LA-12 mechanical chime. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
The chime has REAR, TRANS, and FRONT leads. I can’t find the manual for this chime anywhere and the wiring diagram etched inside doesn’t mean anything to me, and the only wires that were already there were connected to TRANS and FRONT… So I’ve been ignoring REAR.
If I short the doorbell wires before doing anything besides disconnecting the old doorbell, the chime rings. If I connect the included Ring Pro Power Kit V3 to the chime’s TRANS and FRONT leads, shorting the doorbell wires doesn’t ring the chime. However, I think that’s the correct way to wire it because of what happens when I also connect the Ring doorbell…
The voltage of the transformer, as measured at the doorbell leads, is 15V with or without the Pro Power Kit installed, and the doorbell turns on with or without it. However, without the kit, if the Ring doorbell is active and in mechanical chime mode, the chime buzzes madly most of the time and rings every minute or so even without anyone doing anything—but it also rings when the button is pressed! With the power kit installed, the chime doesn’t buzz or ring ever, even if you press the doorbell.
At any rate, Ring says the minimum voltage required by this doorbell is 16V, which is higher than the 15V I measured. I’ve found over the past week or so that it works fine anyway, if you can ignore the silence of the mechanical chime.
So the two solutions I see for the chime not ringing are to install a higher voltage transformer, or buy Ring’s wireless chime.
There are several problems with that first solution. I don’t know if a new transformer will actually fix the problem. I don’t know where the existing transformer is. And I probably need an electrician to do the work. So I expect that, in the end, we’ll buy the wireless chime. But I’ll keep looking for solutions a little longer.