When our home was built 11 years ago, the contractors pre-wired for a second doorbell chime in the basement. They said all I had to do is but a chime and hook up the wires. Did that and nothing.

Here is what we have. A front door button, a rear door button, a 16V transformer and the original chime. (Chime #1)

In the basement, there are 2 red wires that were twisted together. I'm assuming that this was just for neatness until they were hooked up. There are also 2 white wires, that are wire nutted together. I tried hooking up one red to the F screw and the other red to the R screw and I left the 2 whites wire nutted together. Did not work.

Here is the basement chime, Chime #2: (Sorry for the blurry pics. My camera will not take good close-ups.)



The info. on the transformer is: SEC 16V 10VA
Here is the wiring at the transformer:



Here is the wiring at the original chime in our living room, Chime #1:



The white wires here are also wire nutted together.

My questions:

1. How should the wiring at Chime #2 be done? I have switched the red wires to the opposite screws which also did not work.

2. Should I leave the red wires twisted together as they were and hook them both up to either the F screw or the R screw?

3. Should there be a wire from the T screw on Chime #2, running directly to the red wire screw on the transformer. I must note, I already tried this without success but maybe I didn't do it right.?

4. It the transformer not big enough?

5. Should I stop trying to be an electrician and call a real one?

Thank you for any input.

 

When you untwist the red wires or the white wires does the other chime stop working?

 

Yes, you need to separate the wires at Chime #2 and tell us what happens.

Also check both of those cables while they are separated and see if there is voltage on either. If you don't have a meter, you can buy one cheaply at various stores.

You might also want to be sure there are no other wire junctions.

I drew the typical wiring diagram for a two-switch, one-chime setup. Without more info, it's not possible to tell you what to do.

If it were set up for the simple addition you described, you would see more cable ends at one place or another, because they would have simply run three conductors from the existing chime to the new chime location. I don't see any way that the existing chime has enough cables for that scenario, however. Did you check for extra cables at the existing chime?

If there are no extra cables here or there, seems most likely that they just daisy-chained the cable from the transformer, to the Chime 2 location, and then onward to the buttons and Chime 1, without thinking too much. That would not make your task easy. BUT I am just speculating.

I doubt that 10VA would be enough for two solenoid chimes. But, once you get the rest of the setup figured out, installing a bigger transformer is easier. I have a 30 VA that runs 3 chimes.

 

Sorry that it has taken me so long to reply. When I untwist all of the wires in the basement, at the second chime, the original chime still rings with the front doorbell button.

When I take one set of the red/white wires in the basement and attach the red wire to F and the white wire to T on chime #2, the new chime rings and sticks and does not let off until I remove a wire. When I touch those same 2 wires together, they ring chime #1.

When I attach the other set of red/white wires to the chime 2 terminals, nothing happens, nor when I touch them together.

I placed a meter on all the wires and none of them showed a reading. But the 2 apparently do have some power since they ring the bells as above.

 

That would indicate you have ~17 volts across those wires. Sounds like you do have voltage but the meter was wrong. Was it set to AC on the scale nearest 30 volts? If digital replace the batteries. It may be drawing current through the other chime. Lets be sure we have a working meter before drawing any conclusions. Try measuring voltage across the secondary of the transformer to test the meter.

Then that pair is probably power to and from the chime button . One of those should be hot in reference to the remaining wires. You will need a working meter to determine which. Next step is to remove power from the transformer, disconnect all wires and using the lowest ohm scale of a working multimeter determine which set of wires shows continuity only when the chime button is pushed.