Review on Newhouse Hardware CHM1 Chime White by John Baker

Bought to replace a broken Melody electronic doorbell, there was intermittent interference and noise from the speaker. After installing this chime I had a constant loud buzz from the chime and it didn't work at all from the doorbell. Since this call didn't get good reviews, I was willing to send it back. But I decided to continue troubleshooting. In fact, the system consists of only 4 parts: bell button (switch), transformer, bell and wiring. So I checked the voltage on the transformer, it should be 16 volts AC, I actually had 18 volts AC. I'm not sure if this will be a problem in the long run, but I believe it may be within tolerances for the transformer (and bell). After further research I noticed that lighted door switches pass some current and if they fail and pass too much current you will have trouble ringing. I tested this theory by removing the doorbell switch and then connecting two wires together to activate the doorbell. Then it worked, so I just removed the bulb and diode from the doorbell switch so the switch is now just an unlit "normally open" pushbutton switch. Problem solved. The bell works great with a ding-dong sound when the bell button is pressed.