So this is the second house I’ve had this doorbell on and everything has been working fine up until last week. All of a sudden we noticed no lights were on the doorbell. FIL came by to do some work, said the GFCI was tripped in the bathroom, the same circuit that the doorbell is wired to, it’s currently back up and running but not the doorbell. Also the power module that was hooked up to the chime box was super hot, not sure if that’s normal but I removed it just in case. So i’m not sure what is going on here, very strange, it’s like the contacts that run to the doorbell all of a sudden stopped working or something. I pulled the doorbell off and plugged it in via the USB port and it is blinking red. Any ideas what could be happening?Should I buy a new power module? Thanks!
Some questions about the doorbell:
- Are the connection pins on the back of the doorbell both clean and move up/down freely?
- Are the power wires in the mounting plate smashed or disconnected?
- What is the voltage at the doorbell and what is the transformer rating?
- When mounted to the back plate, does the doorbell sit flush?
- we have seen a small number of cases where the internal battery will go bad and swell. This can cause the doorbell to not make a proper connection with the back plate. You can tell if the battery is swollen as the white sticker with the SN and QR code will not be level but instead a bit pillowed.
As far as I can tell there is no swelling of any sort. Everything is in order the way it should be, I’m thinking it may be something else. Can the power module go bad? I will spend $40 on a new one if that will fix it.
The Power Module is required in order to function. If the original one was removed a new one would be needed.
I’ve not seen any failures specifically of the power module itself other than one DOA, but anything can fail.
You can test the doorbell temporarily via a micro USB 5VDC supply, using the micro USB input. If it powers up and connects that way I would try a new power module.
Hi Jason, I am having the same problem. Doorbell stopped working recently after roughly 2 years of operation. It appears to be an issue with the contacts because it will try to power up when I attach it to the back plate, but then it loses power. It does maintain power via the micro USB port. I see more of an indentation vs a pillowing at the battery area, but it is certainly not flat. What should I do?
If you test the AC voltage at the doorbell wires, what do you see? It is possible the device is being underpowered.
What are the specs of the doorbell transformer?
I’ll have to get some help with those and report back. Incidentally, I just used a stick to shim behind the back plate and it appears to be holding power now. Presumably it’s resolving the issue with contacts. So I will monitor this over the next week to see if that gets it done and then implement a more permanent fix.
Out of curiosity, is the back plate mounted flat to the wall? The VDB770 should be mounted using one of the wedge mount options (there is a 0 degree one included to keep it at a flat angle). The back plate is a heat sink, and the mount allows room for wires behind the doorbell to avoid shorts.
Great color. My installer did not use one of the wedges. It sits on top of the wires. Correcting this has been on my list of projects, so I will be sure to make it a priority.
Had the same issue with ADC-VDB770 completely going dark. The battery does not appear pillowing. I tested the doorbell as suggested temporarily via a micro USB 5VDC supply, using the micro USB input. It did not power up. Within the path forward here, is there a chance replacing the battery and or power module will fix it, or do I need to replace the entire unit? The former is a $40-50 expense, vs the latter being a $200 expense.
If it does not power up off of the 5VDC USB input, it would not be related to the power module. In this case it would either be a failed battery or the VDB770 has failed. You could try just replacing the battery first. Did you have any intermittent connectivity before this or did it just abruptly stop working?
The unit was professionally installed by a security company 4 years ago with the new build of the home. Throughout those 4 years the unit would flash red and go “off the wifi/offline” about 2-4x/year the last 2 years. It would sometimes fix itself or I’d have to reboot it.
I’ll try a new battery first.
What have you seen be the lifespan of these units? For climate context, it’s installed on a home in Southeastern PA.
The battery on the VDB770 we have definitely seen some issues with swelling and disconnects. It is more often that the battery fails than the hardware.
Reporting back to confirm changing the battery restored the device. Fwiw, I did not have puffy back which seems to be indicative of dead battery. Sharing in case anyone else is troubleshooting similar.
Thanks for the replies & feedback.