Amcrest Doorbell "chime kit"

eganders

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I have a question that no one has yet answered. I bought a AD110 video doorbell. It has a little box that is called a "chime kit". Being an engineer, I am curious as to what is in this little box. Can you answer that?



ALSO, I have a rational reason for asking this question. I have 2 electromechanical doorbells in parallel (one for upstairs and one for the basement). I would put the "chime kit" on one of them. Would there be any problem with having 2 doorbells in parallel on one chime kit?



Another question is: Does the button on the doorbell close the circuit to the electromechanical doorbell? If it does, the button would "short out" the power to the video doorbell. Unless there is an internal battery or "supercap", the video doorbell would inoperable when the button was pushed. Anyone know exactly how this system works?
 

concord

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It's basically a power resistor. The original doorbell cam didn't come with it, so I just used a 10 Ohm power resistor instead... I had to add it to prevent the doorbell from humming (the solenoid is being energized just enough, causing the "hum") when at rest.

check out this video, he is using the Ring doorbell cam, but the concept is the same:

 

eganders

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Thanks for your information. I took a resistance check of the "chime kit" and found that it was 4 ohms. At 24 volts, that would draw about 6 amps . That appears to be much more current than a typical doorbell would draw or a transformer would supply. My guess is that it is really a variable resistor that supplies more current to the video doorbell until the button on the doorbell shorts it out and its resistance rises much higher. What do you think?
 

concord

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A doorbell transformer should be around 10VA to 30VA. It's been many years since taking AC/DC theory, but I believe the idea is that electricity/current will flow more thru the least resistance (thus reducing the amount thru the chime solenoid to prevent the solenoid being energized - no hum). When pressing the doorbell, it produces a spike enough to energize the solenoid and ring the bell. Think it in terms of a water pipe with two parallel connections, with one big (least resistance) and one little (more resistance) diameter. During normal conditions, most or all water will go thru the big one, however if the water is fully turned on abruptly, the water will flow thru both with force.
 
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