Doorbell wiring relocation is something you can easily do by yourself. You might want to relocate your doorbell from its current position to another due to several reasons. Also, you may want to switch from a traditional doorbell to an advanced doorbell or visitors couldn’t see the doorbell in its current location, or because you just renovated your house. Regardless of why you want to relocate your doorbell, this blog will guide you throughout the process.
Advanced doorbells are either wired or wireless. If you are switching from a wired doorbell to a wireless one, you won’t need to relocate the wiring.
To relocate the doorbell wiring, you will need a long doorbell cable that can stretch to your desired location. Uninstall the doorbell from its current location and join the long cable to it and re-install the doorbell at your chosen location.
Types of doorbell
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Doorbells are important security devices that notify users of the presence of visitors at their doorstep. The traditional doorbell is evolving as we now have many types of doorbells with different designs, features, and purposes. Below are the three basic types of doorbells.
- Wired doorbell
Just as its name implies, wired doorbells are directly connected to your home’s electrical system through cables. It’s powered by electricity in your home. Therefore if there’s no power, you can’t use the doorbell system.
The doorbell consists of a pressable switch button which is connected to a transformer within your home. The transformer helps reduce the voltage running to the switch to prevent shock when you touch it. The other wire from the transformer and switch is connected to the chime, which produces the sound. A wired doorbell requires stable electricity to function.
- Wireless doorbell
A wireless doorbell consists of two components connected together by radio waves. A transmitter switch and a receiver chime made up the wireless doorbell. The transmitter switch is the pressable button located at the door, while the chime is always indoors.
The chime must be at a specific range from the transmitter switch to be able to transmit the signal. The receiving chime is either rechargeable or uses batteries. They are portable and easy to install.
- Smart doorbell
A smart doorbell can either be wired or wireless with advanced features. Smart doorbell usually alerts their users due to the connection between the doorbell and the user’s mobile device through an internet connection.
The doorbell features include an app for online notification, motion detection alerts, video recording, and voice command response.
A step-by-step guide to relocating wired doorbell
To relocate your doorbell wiring, you will have an existing doorbell cable connected to your indoor wire system. To relocate your doorbell, you don’t need to tamper with your indoor wire system. You can easily add a longer cable to the wire that connects the indoor chime to the outdoor switch. Below are the tools needed to relocate your wired doorbells.
- Cable (bell wire cable)
- Doorbell
- Mounting screws
- Wire crimper
- Wire stripper
- Wire cutter
- Cable trunk/ cement and sand
- Driller
- Doorbell screwdriver
- Plier
- Turn off the doorbell power source
Firstly, disconnect the doorbell from its power source to relocate the external doorbell unit. Although the doorbell transformer will reduce the voltage of the doorbell to a considerably non-harmful threshold, it is safer to disconnect it from the power source before handling. To turn off the power source, locate the doorbell transformer within your home and disconnect it.
- Uninstall/Unscrew the Doorbell
Unscrew and remove the security screw at the bottom of the doorbell with a specialty screwdriver. And proceed to remove the case of the doorbell.
Also, remove the battery from the doorbell if present. Unscrew the doorbell from its mounting case/plate. At the back of the doorbell, disconnect the wires off the doorbell.
Unscrew and remove the mounting plate from the wall leaving the naked wires.
- Connect longer Cables
Use the wire stripper to strip the bell wire cable a little bit. Insert the two ends of the stripped wire into a wire crimper one after the other. Tighten both wire crimpers with a plier. Insert the naked wire from the indoor wire system to the other ends of the crimper.
You can follow the old rule of connecting wire of same color together. Use a plier to tighten the crimpers until you hear a clicking sound. Now you have a long wire that can stretch to your desired location.
Most wire crimpers usually come with a decorative crimp cover to conceal the crimped wires. Position the crimp cover over the crimped wires and screw it to the wall.
- Install the Doorbell to the new location.
Straighten the wires to your desired location, ensuring that it is not slagging. Position the doorbell mounting plate at your desired height for the doorbell. Ensure you insert the cables through the housing on the mounting plate. Secure the mounting plate to the wall using screwdrivers or nails.
Cut away the excess cables and strip the tips of both wires. Connect the stripped end of both cables to the doorbell device and screw it in. Secure the doorbell to the wall by screwing it to the mounting plate. Put the batteries back in and cover the doorbell.
Don’t forget to tighten the security screw at the bottom of the doorbell.
Note: The installation is a reverse of the process to unscrew the doorbell from it previous location
- Hide the Doorbell Cable
After installing the doorbell, you can either hide the wires by digging a thinning hole in the wall and conceal the cable with cement or use cable trunks. Using cable trunks is easy. Place the cable trunk on the wire and use nails or screws to hold the cable trunk in place.
While relocating your door bell by extending the wiring, you can decide to hide the wire through the wall or decide to use an external surface cable to to hide cables on the wall.
Depending on your home structure, watch this video to relocate your doorbell by hiding the extended cable
However, your home structure may not allow you to hide the doorbell extended cable. Watch this video to relocate your doorbell
Can you Extend Doorbell Wiring?
Yes, you can extend your door bell wiring. If your doorbell wiring is too short, remove the doorbell cover and follow instructions in this guide and video to extend your doorbell wiring.
Conclusion
Switching from a traditional doorbell to an advanced type is a great idea.
For a camera doorbell, the best option is to relocate it to where it can clearly capture your front doorway without any barrier. By following the steps in this blog, you will be able to relocate your doorbell wiring successfully.
If relocating your doorbell wiring will be too complicated due to your building design or other factors, you can go for a wireless doorbell.
