Ring Doorbell Chime - Faulty - Can I fix it? 

Thanks Vince!👍 not sure if you saw the RGB laser or ultrasound videos? They were fairly complicated..

@@BuyitFixit RGB laser yes but Ultrasound no, I will do though 👌

You're welcome, if it's the same fault as this one them I'm almost certain it's the main IC. It would probably not be economical to repair.

Thanks! Much appreciated 👍

Yep. Was still fun learning how it worked

@BuyitFixit i bet. Yea thats the fun

Interesting, the PSU on this one was giving what seemed a nice 5v when I tested it, but it does seem odd that you had two fail at the same time so you could well be onto something 👍

Thanks 👍unfortunately a no fix on this one, but I've got a lot of other videos that have been successful. Hopefully you'll check out my other work 😊

No problem, and thanks for the feedback 👍

Sorry to hear. I've got a pretty good success rate with fixing things, this one was one of the exceptions.

I would have thought so, from what I remember there was just a small power supply inside that powers the board, so you would just disconnect that and power the board directly.

Thanks, the MCU is supposed to boot from the external flash, but there was no activity on it and one of the internal voltages on the main IC seemed to be missing. I'm pretty sure the flash chip is ok.

😂😂😂😂No lol 😂😂

Thanks so much. Really appreciate comments like this!

Thanks 👍sorry to hear. Other people have mentioned theirs failed in a similar way too.

Thanks Ralph. I checked the resistance of the inductor but not the actual inductance of it. I did manual force reset low but no effect. Also checked voltage to all the VCC pins was there too as there's about 6 of them. I'm about 98% sure the chip has just died, but definitely open to suggestions..

@@BuyitFixit Yes, continuity through the inductor was the main thing. There's mention of reset only being released after all supplies are present / stable, especially vbatt, but your force reset low and then release high should have mitigated any issues there. Another overcomplicated 'doorbell' just asking to fail.

No Problem, glad it was of some use to someone 👍

Thanks PenguinKunz, I wasn't aware of that, I know some chips (especially consoles) do have firmware signing and per console encryption, but I didn't think this would. I never really looked at the datasheet. Thanks for letting me know 👍

Yes, I was hoping something along those lines too. Unfortunately it seems that the something in the main IC has failed.

Yes unfortunately some things are beyond saving. I've not had a great deal of success trying to repair sheep. I would probably just make a mess 😂😂😂🐑🐑🐑

😂😂😂

Very true, and some gained knowledge!

Can be used as a doorbell chime for homeassisstant. make a custom esp based pcb and fit it in, maybe have it play internal files in the flash or add a dfplayer where you can swap the sd card, endless possibilities. also no cloud involved

Thanks very much for your kind comment. I hope your hip and knee replacement goes well.

Yeah, an internet connected noise maker :)

From what I remember the main chip doesn't have any internal flash and it boots from the external flash chip. On the unit I had there was no activity at all on that chip. If it was a failed update it would still try and load "whatever" was on the flash, but because there was no activity, and there seemed to be an internal voltage missing on the main IC I that seemed to be where the fault lay.

@@BuyitFixit to be fair to ring, I tried calling their support number, before I put it in the bin. They went through some basic diagnostics (power cycle, hold reset while powering up, still no blue light), then offered me a 100% discount on a new chime or chime pro, even though it was several years out of warrantee. I don't have a subscription, so either they're providing very good customer service and / or they value the data they can collect by me continuing to use the ring doorbell, or they know why they fail and feel they should provide a fix. I may still replace the doorbell with something that isn't such a closed system, but for now I've got a working system again.

Thanks McG, I do have one of those component tester things and I think that does ESR if I remember rightly. I have used it a few times but not that often. I keep forgetting about it.

Yes, I wouldn't have one 👍

Thanks Quantum Leap 👍

😂😂I've had a couple of devices where it has just been the fuse, unfortunately those repairs are usually the exception and not the norm.

😂😂😂 I probably could if I could get the replacement chip, but it's probably not worth repairing 👍

@@BuyitFixit :)

Thanks John! There's a couple of videos where I reverse engineer the circuit too, (or part of it) like the Dyson fan I did that had 3 faults. I've also reverse engineered software too, like on the solar inverter password problem I had (after repairing it on a previous video) and the medical ultrasound scanner I looked at 👍hope you enjoy 🙂

Great!! I’ll have a look. I have a cricut in working order. The Doppler ultrasound one sounds interesting!! Cheers and all the best! John

Yes it was!

Cheers Mikey 👍It's probably not worth it. I think the price of the chip was more than the device was worth.

Thanks 👍 Yes guess you can't win them all, or some are just not worth repairing.

Thanks 👍🙂

Thanks👍I'm not using an isolation transformer, they also come with risks, but I might still invest in one.

@@BuyitFixit better for you, i prefer not see your name in the neuwpaper ! 😊

In some instances they can make the situation worse, for instance a residual current detector wouldn't cut the power as there is now no earth. There is some interesting info about them here: sound-au.com/articles/iso-xfmr.htm

Yeah I could get a chip from Aliexpress but even then it would cost £10 + postage and tax, and a new ring chime is around £20 so it's still not economically viable to repair it. Yes I managed to fit the new ABS sensor on the wifes car yesterday and that seems to have cured that problem. Still need to fix my car still. I have to order the crankshaft oil seal still. Speaking of revisit videos I'll be doing one soon on the Dyson hot+cool fan. Hopefully we can repair it now as someone sent me another faulty PCB but at least it's not the microcontroller.

@@BuyitFixit That would be great to see if you could get the fan working again.

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching 👍

Yeah I've got a box of bits scrap stuff like that for just that purpose. Just been working on an ultrasonic cleaner which had a faulty pcb mounted button, among other issues, which I robbed off an old disco light pcb as I didn't have one of the correct height.

Trying to remember back, I did check them for shorts but I didn't remove them and check the capacitance of them.

Thanks Barry 👍

Thanks for that. Perhaps just for completeness, as a working one is around £15-20 and I'm not 100% if the chip contains any code.