Arlo Doorbell chime does not work

[beckermana71]

When I connect the doorbell I initially hear a chime and then the chime box (which is located in the house) makes a noise like a motor is running which leads me to believe that it is getting the elecricity needed. The doorbell chime will not work at this point when I press the Arlo Doorbell.

Any suggestions?

[TomMac]

have you checked the switch setting in doorbell ?

[JamesC]

beckermana71,

Take a look at the troubleshooting in these two kb articles, this may be helpful with what you're experiencing: 

How do I set up my Arlo Audio Doorbell to trigger my existing chime?

What mechanical and digital chimes are compatible with my Arlo doorbell?

JamesC

[Amyliz]

Existing digital chime won’t work with either 1 or 3 selections on the switch. Wiring is correct. 16volt transformer and previous button had a diode. Any suggestions? I’m really close to returning the button and just doing without that feature.

[Amyliz]

I can’t get my existing chime to work on position 1 or 3. 16v AC digital chime. Any other suggestions?

[Amyliz]

Despite the bell not ringing. I did run additional tests. One push of the button results in the call coming through almost instantly but camera never connects (I waited 3min before ending session) audio doesn’t come from either side except in short unintelligible bursts (iPhone 6). The preset messages go through quickly. Should I return it or is there some setting that wrong?

[SJM1977]

My digital chime only worked once I removed the diode. And I switched the two wires connecting to the door bell. Seems like polarity does matter. Previous to that the door bell would either not work in setting 1 and would ring continuously in setting 3.

[Amyliz]

Thanks, I tried that. I even took a scrap wire and touched to each of the brass terminals in the portion that touches the wall. The bell rang. There is something with the switch not making a closed circuit.

[JimmyD_]

Has this been solved? I hooked up my Arlo Doorbell today and the exact thing happens. I have a mechanical doorbell inside my home (ding dong chime) and on #2 the hardwired inside doorbell does nothing when the Arlo is pressed. On #1 & #3 the second I attach the Arlo Doorbell to it's bracket, the hardwired inside doorbell starts making a buzzing sound, with the hardwired inside doorbell only ringing (ding dong) when I remove the Arlo doorbell from it's bracket to stop the buzzing.

The Arlo Chime works fine on any setting (1, 2, or 3) and I also get notification via my cellphone. I've left the setting on #2 so I am just using the Arlo Chime for now.

I would like to be able to use the hardwired inside house doorbell upstairs, and the Arlo Chime downstairs. That was the reason I bought this system.

Everything is updated to the latest firmware. I'm unaware if I have an AC or DC hardwired doorbell. This could be the problem but I don't know how to tell which one I have.

THANKS INADVANCE FOR ANY SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS.

[The_Commenter]

I've read the starter guide, the forum comments and FAQs.  I have the same issue.  

The Arlo Doorbell does not activate the mechanical chime.

I have an Emerson C8204, 10-16 volt, mechanical doorbell.  I have positioned the Arlo Doorbell switch to #2 and #3.  The mechanical doorbell will not chime with the Arlo Doorbell wired in.  

Are there any success stories with mechanical chimes?

[Tomn8655]

Same problem here. On the phone with support. Obviously they know there is an issue here, since you have all posted about it. 

I really do not want to go get a new doorbell. 

No one has a solution? 

[vlaming]

Same issue. New installation, firmware updates done. Tried all 3 switch settings. Getting 15.8v across mounting base posts. Shorting across posts rings the chime. Is it possible the doorbell assembly spring contacts aren't making contact with the powered posts?

[vlaming]

Working. Called tech support. Opened the Arlo app on my iPhone. Selected Settings, then Doorbell. The Chime item showed "Not Connected" or something similar. Changed to Traditional Chime, which then showed connected. No ring. Took doorbell off base, moved button setting 1, no luck. Moved back to 2 and had chime function. Thanks, tech support!

[The_Commenter]

I followed vlaming support solution.  Thank you!

 I double checked the Doorbell device settings and verified Traditional Chime was Connected.  It was. I took the doorbell off the base.  I positioned the switch to #1 (previously from the #2 position); it did not work. It made the mechanical chime make a buzzing vibration sound.  I then moved the switch back to position #2 and the chime functioned.  Strange but works now.

[Bykim76]

Thanks for everyone’s input. I had the same issue as everyone else. My solution was similar to vlaming’s steps. I would add going through the doorbell setup process in the Arlo app in devices again. It seems to set the configuration for the doorbell and the mechanical chime started working. I also had to double check the wiring, one of the wires had disconnected.

[davidj77]

Same issue, Got mine out of the box, hooked it up and if It was on 1 or 3 I got a buzzing on my doorbell chime, if I took the door bell off the contacts would hit and I would hear the ding. Even though I didn't hear the chime I said I did, went through the full setup and boom it started working. Before it said Setup mode, now it says connected. Must be a software bug.

[Nisee-NC]

I'm in a new home with a Nutone mechanical doorbell.  Arlo doorbell rings on positions 1 & 2 but buzzing sound from the wall unit makes a buzzing sound.  When I checked, I could see that the trigger to make the doorbell ring gets stuck.  It only stops when I dismount the Arlo doorbell.  I really want this to work, so I may have to invest in purchasing the Arlo Chime which is another $49.99.  I've also contacted technical support who stated others are having the same problem and they are checking with engineers to see if there is a workaround.

[dhov]

I had the same problem.  In my case, I finally found under "Devices" a setting called "Silent Mode".  The text description under this setting is incorrect: it never changes, regardless of the setting.  This is confusing, because it's not clear whether the toggle being green means "silent" or the other way around.   I'm using an iPhone with iOS 12.1.

Anyway, after struggling with everything else, I found that somehow the setting for "Chime" under "Silent Mode" was not set.  These extra controls only appear when the "Silent Mode" control is GREEN.  Once I changed the setting to "Chime On", it appeared to work.

It's very confusing that these settings are separated from the other doorbell settings.  In addition, sometimes the extra controls appear and sometimes they don't.  I haven't had time to figure out if this is a bug or the result of some other interaction, like having another app user active.

[Amyliz]

I returned the first one and got another. My existing chime works sometimes on a delay but the speaker is useless. This one is probably going back and I’ll try again in a few yrs when they release version 2 and get the bugs out. Well, unless they rush that for gifting season as well.

[Sgd2551]

I also have a Nutone chime and the Arlo Doorbell will not make it ring. I tried all positions and reconfiguration multiple times. Any luck getting yours working?

[Amyliz]

I returned it. I did purchase a second one and the existing chime works but the audio output on the speaker is non existent so it will probably go back too. I may hold out for version 2.

[Sgd2551]

Update: I reset my basestation due to it not updating and pushing the latest firmware to the doorbell. After reinstalling the Arlo doorbell it still would not operate my Nutone chime. I then bridged the contacts on the base plate of the doorbell and heard a chime. After reinstalling the doorbell onto its base it functions as designed. My thoughts are that the chimes transfer had been reset from the long bridging of the contacts in the base.

[ehit]

Yes, same issue with traditional mechanical door bell setup.. so complete setup with switch at #2 position.. then go to decide setting of Arlo door bell and there is an option to turn on for traditional door bell then started working...😀😀👍

[wjcook]

I struggled and struggled with this for days and finally got it to work by following the suggestion a user "dhov" above.  By going to "Devices", choosing the doorbell that I'd previously set up and sliding the "Silent Mode" switch to the right (so that it is green).  After doing that there is now an option to set CHIMES to "Traditional Chime".  Once I did this my house chime now works.  This is very confusing because there is already a setting at top right (dot-dot-dot ". . . " that if you click on that and go to device settings it allows you to turn on "Traditional Chime".  However there seems to be a disconnect between this setting and the Silent Mode way to set it described above.  Conclusion:  a bug in the setup software. (When doing this, I went back to setting the slider switch in the doorbell to the recommended setting 2 and this worked). 

[octupus23]

I'm having exactly the same issue. Did you found a way around this?