BC205B Lee Electric 5/8-Inch Gold Rim Unlighted Doorbell Button Insert

BC205B Lee Electric 5/8" Gold Rim Unlighted Doorbell Button Insert

The Lee Electric BC205B is not a whole doorbell button. It is the round center piece that presses into a 5/8-inch hole in an existing doorbell plate: a bright gold-tone metal rim, a white unlighted push pad, and a short body behind it with two screw terminals. If the center of your old button is cracked, stuck, or missing and the plate around it is fine, this is the part you need.

It is a standard momentary contact rated for wired chimes, bells, and buzzers up to 16 volts. There is nothing to light and no bulb to burn out.

How It Works and How It Fits

Pressing the white pad closes a contact between the two screw terminals on the back, which completes the low-voltage circuit from the transformer to the chime. Let go and the circuit opens. It is a normally open momentary switch, the same thing every wired doorbell button has at its core.

The body is about 5/8 inch across, which is the industry standard hole size in a doorbell faceplate, and the rim is about 3/4 inch across so it sits on top of the plate and covers the hole edge. Two spring tabs on the body hold it in the plate once it is pushed through. To fit it:

• Turn off power to the doorbell circuit at the transformer or breaker.
• Unscrew the faceplate from the wall so you can reach the back of the old center button.
• Loosen the two terminal screws on the old insert and free the wires, then press the old insert out of the plate from the back.
• Push the BC205B through the hole from the front until the tabs snap into place behind the plate. Bend the tabs out a little if the plate is thin and the insert feels loose.
• Wrap each wire around one terminal screw and tighten. Polarity does not matter on a doorbell circuit.
• Screw the plate back on and restore power.

If the chime still does not ring with the new insert, the trouble is usually the transformer or the chime rather than the button. Our doorbell transformer guide walks through checking both. For plate and hole measurements, see the push button measurement guide.

BC205B, DH1200, or DH1200L: Which Insert Do You Need?

We carry three 5/8-inch center push inserts. They all fit the same hole. The differences are the rim color, the light, and who makes them.

• BC205B (this product): Made by Lee Electric. Bright gold-tone rim with a lightly textured finish and a white pad. Unlighted only. Pick this when the plate it goes into is a bright gold or polished brass-look plate and you want the rim to match.
• DH1200 series: Made by Thomas & Betts (Carlon). Comes in a brass rim (DH1202, DH1202L) or a silver rim (DH1201, DH1201L), each with a white pad, in lighted or non-lighted versions. The brass is a deeper, more muted tone than the BC205B's gold. Pick this when you want a choice of lighted or not, or a silver rim.
• DH1200L series: Also Thomas & Betts. A lighted LED insert where the rim itself glows in a halo around a metallic center, in brass, black, or silver. Pick this when you want the button easy to find at night and are on a transformer-powered mechanical chime.

A quick way to decide: hold the old insert next to a brass door hinge. If the old rim is brighter and yellower than the hinge, the BC205B's gold is the closer match. If it is about the same or darker, the DH1202's brass is. Unlighted inserts like the BC205B and DH1202 also work on battery chimes; the lighted ones need a transformer.

What's in the Package

• 1 x BC205B 5/8" unlighted button insert with gold-tone rim and white push pad
• Two rear screw terminals and spring retaining tabs, built in

This is an insert only. It does not include a faceplate.

BC205B Specifications

• Brand: Lee Electric (West New York, NJ)
• Model: BC205B
• Type: Unlighted replacement center push insert for wired doorbell buttons
• Contact: Momentary, normally open, two rear screw terminals
• Finish: Bright gold-tone metal rim, white plastic push pad
• Mounting: Recessed. Presses into a 5/8" hole in a doorbell plate and is held by spring tabs
• Size: about 3/4" rim diameter, 5/8" body, about 1" deep including the terminals
• Voltage: Up to 16V AC, low-voltage wired systems
• Works with: Wired chimes, bells, buzzers, and other low-voltage momentary circuits such as a door strike release
• Not for: Line-voltage circuits
• UPC: 721667205002
• Made in China for Lee Electric Inc.

Where the BC205B Fits

Any home or apartment where the doorbell plate is still good but the center button has failed, especially when that plate is a bright gold finish. It also suits anyone who keeps a few spare inserts for rental units, and low-voltage uses beyond doorbells, such as a counter call button or a door strike release, where a plain momentary contact in a 5/8" hole is all that is needed.

If you decide the whole plate should go, browse our wired doorbell buttons. If the chime is the weak link, start with wired doorbells and a transformer like the DT-1610A.

The Lee Electric BC205B is the gold-rim fix for a worn 5/8-inch doorbell button. Order it here and keep your existing plate.