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So your home’s old doorbell never worked, or you’d like to put a video doorbell on an entrance that was never wired for a doorbell. Here’s what you need to know about using a video doorbell without existing wiring.
Why Use a Video Doorbell Without Wires?
There are various reasons why you might want to set up a video doorbell without wires. In some cases, your home might have the appropriate wiring, but the wiring, the chime, the doorbell transformer, or all of the above are damaged, and you’re not interested in repairing them.
Or maybe your front door, back door, or both were never wired for a doorbell in the first place, so you’d like a solution that doesn’t involve drilling, wire fishing, and DIY electrical work.
Related:No-Drill Video Doorbell Mounts Are Perfect for RentersFor folks in apartments, that DIY work might not even be an option andno-drill mounting a video doorbellis the only way to go.
And hey, maybe you have an even more fringe use case like you want to put a video doorbell on something besides your front door. Maybe you want to place one on a detached garage you run a business out of or some other spot where it would be handy to have both a camera and a button to summon assistance.
Battery-Powered Doorbells Are Easy to Install
Whatever your motivation, you’re in luck. There are a variety of battery-powered video doorbells on the market.
Related:Can I Use Mounting Tape for My Video Doorbell?
While attaching a video doorbell to existing wiring is always ideal (because then you never have to fuss with recharging and swapping batteries), you can’t beat the convenience battery-powered video doorbells provide in terms of placement flexibility.
You don’t even have to drill; you can usea no-drill mountorspecialty tape.
Ring Video Doorbell 4
The updated Ring Video Doorbell has enhanced battery life, an improvement very relevant to our discussion today.
While Amazon’sRing Pro lineof video doorbells requires a hard-wired connection, the basic Ring models, up to and including theRing Video Doorbell 4, can run off their internal battery.
Google’s Nest video doorbell line comes in botha wiredandbattery-powered version. Other companieslike Arlooffer battery-powered video doorbells too.
Don’t Forget a Wireless Chime or Smart Speaker
All of the video doorbells we mentioned above pair with an app on your phone, so whether you’re at home or away, you’ll get a notification when someone rings the doorbell.
If you want door notifications in other formats, like a traditional chime or announcement via smart speaker, you’ll need to invest in some accessories.
Amazon Echo (4th generation)
Why limit yourself to just ding-dong? Use an Echo as your doorbell chime and enjoy Alexa, music playback, and more.
The Ring video doorbell line supportsstand-alone chimesyou plug somewhere in your home. you’re able to also link your Ring doorbell with your Alexa smart home, andany Echo smart speakeror display can do the job, too—as well as show you who is ringing the doorbell.
Google doesn’t have a stand-alone chime unit but, like the Ring lineup, you can pair your Nest doorbell with yourGoogle Nest smart speakersordisplays.
Google is a bit unusual in, though, as most video doorbell companies have an option for a dedicated stand-alone chime but they don’t—they probably assume you’ll just geta Nest Mini on sale. Most companies have a stand-alone chime, though, likethis plug-in chime from Arlo.
So be sure to search for a matching chime for your video doorbell purchase if you prefer that over a smart speaker or display.
