Turn off Power

If your video doorbell works with your home’s wiring, the absolute first thing you should do is turn off the power in your circuit breaker box. If you aren’t sure which breaker switch controls your doorbell, you can try switches that are close to your doorbell and close to the chime box. After you flip a breaker, try to ring your doorbell. When it’s not working, you go the right one.

If your video doorbell can ring your home’s chime box, it typically comes with a box that wires to your chime to achieve that. First, find the chime box and remove it. Then look for two wires leading to screws marked “trans” (for transformer) and “front” (or “back” if this is a second doorbell).

Depending on your hardware, you’ll do one of two things. With Nest Hello, you should remove the existing wires, attach them to the chime accessories cable slots, then wire in the two bare wires at the screws.

With other chime hardware, you’ll remove the two wires from their chime terminals and twist them together with the video doorbell hardware’s wires, then reconnect them back to the terminals.

Once you have the wires connected, tuck the hardware into any empty cavity space you can find. But make sure you don’t interfere with the strikes that hit the metal bars to chime.

Installing the Doorbell

To install your new video doorbell, you’ll first need to remove the existing doorbell button. Typically, two screws hold a standard doorbell in place. Remove those, pull the button off the wall gently, then detach your home’s wiring from the doorbell.

Gently pull on the wiring. If you can feel that it’s possible to pull some additional wire out of the wall, carefully do so. Extra slack can be helpful in the upcoming steps

Once you have everything connected, it’s time to mount the doorbell into the mounting bracket. With the Nest Hello, you’ll slide the top into place first and then push the bottom until you hear it snap into place. Other doorbells may require screws to connect them to the bracket. That will typically call for a security screw, and your doorbell likely came with the necessary screw.

Now turn the power back on and check on the doorbell. Typically it should light up right away to signify that it’s ready to pair with the associated app. You may also want to test the button to see if it correctly rings your home’s chime (if it can).