Hi all very new here

So I decided to try and install this thing myself, thought I had it working but realized my transformer was not powerful enough. House is old built in 1963, finally found the transformer in the attic. Went to hardware store and got a 16v one to replace the old 10. My house only has two wires to the box, white and black, the new box also has the green wire. I tried copying and hooking things up as they were but didn't get any power to the nest. Now the back door bell does not ring either. I test the voltages and when no wires are connected to the transformer I get voltage at the wires but when I connect any of the black wires to the transformer seems the wires stop working. The transformer definitely has voltage. I have a front door bell and rear door with one chime box. No idea how this thing was/is even wired like this but I guess back in the day they did things however it would work.

Chime box has 3 wires running from it to the attic, green which is twisted with one of the red wires which looks to be coming from one of the doorbells and is attached to "1" at the chime box, a black wire which was attached to the transformer and is attached to the trans at the chime and a white wires which is just there in the attic but attached to "2".

Electrician can't come out until sometime next week so I may try again maybe I'm just connecting to the transformer wrong? Also if I just can't get it should I just put wire nuts on all of the open connectors until an electrician can come out?

 

Welcome to the forums.

I enhanced your pictures a bit.
You need to get a plate for that box so that you can mount the transformer to it. I can't tell from the pictures what type of box it is.

Let me describe what you have. On the nail you have two sets of wires. 2x red and black. Each pair is one of the buttons. Connect the two blacks together and connect to one of the transformer terminals. You have three wires going down to the chime. One remaining red wire connects to green and goes to #1 terminal on chime. The other red wire connects to white wire goes to the #2 terminal. The third wire goes from the transformer terminal to the remaining transformer terminal. That's it. Very easy. If the chimes work in reverse..... reverse the wires on 1 and 2.

 

Thanks I had it setup as you desribed and used a wire nuts for the red and green and red and white. I had the black wire on the terminal and the wires going to the chime as you described. But I didn't get any power to the nest or the other doorbell. I'm not sure if maybe the transformer is shorting out due to it not being mounted as you described. I'll go to the local home repair store on Sunday and see what type of box I need. Also for the ground wire on the transformer since I don't have a ground coming in from the house wiring should I just cap it with a wire nut?

 

Technically the transformer should be grounded but if there's no ground there isn't much you can do. The ground wire will have no effect on the operation of the transformer. The ground is in case the transformer internally shorts to the metal case.
you need to make sure the chime does the double ring for the front door. If the chime doesn't operate..... maybe it's shot. Check with a meter. That chime looks ancient. The plungers get stuck with age.

 

Thanks for your help!, I got it working. I bought a new chime box as you suggested along with a new transformer with 3 connections so I didn't have to double up on the same screw. Took all of 20 minutes and everything is rocking.

I am getting a light humm from the chime box and it's coming from the rear doorbell which is the older doorbell not the Nest Hello. If I disconnect that wire in the chime box the humming stops.

Edit, Figured it out had to switch the wires in the chime box around.

 

Good job. Thanks for letting us know how you made out.