Install Report: Doorbird internet connected video doorbell

[Eman]

I got my Doorbird yesterday and installed it. Although I get a strong wifi signal (3 bars) at the same location with my cell phone and tablets, the Doorbird does not get a signal unless I bring it inside of the door. I tried moving my wireless cable router around as much as possible without success which is only about 25 feet from the Doorbird.

I will try the wifi repeater TP-Link N300 Wi-Fi Range Extender (TL-WA850RE) they recommend since running new cable for Ethernet would be difficult.

Anyone else have suggestions I can try?

I was a little disappointed to see a maximum of two users allowed in the online connection verification tool. There are two adults in my house PLUS the three tablets so I am wondering if I will have a problem with this limitation...

I assume you have already seen this :http://www.doorbird.com/downloads/tr...wifi_de_en.pdf

But also one of these: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC88U/
Will solve all your WiFi issues for all you gadgets!




Eman.

[mminehan]

I have a DoorBird. I use BlueIris to capture the stream. I also have the HomeSeer plugin running. And the app installed on 2 devices.

The problem I have is sometimes there is a huge lag between someone pushing the doorbell and the app getting the push notification. More often than not the person has gone before I am able to talk to them.

Anyone else notice this? Maybe I have too much traffic to the doorbird.

[Planetview]

When mine was in wifi range for testing the push notification was very quick but both tablet and Doorbird were on wifi. I read on the Doorbird blog that they recently discovered a problem with their push notification server that delayed things and it has been fixed.

[mrhappy]

I have a DoorBird. I use BlueIris to capture the stream. I also have the HomeSeer plugin running. And the app installed on 2 devices.

The problem I have is sometimes there is a huge lag between someone pushing the doorbell and the app getting the push notification. More often than not the person has gone before I am able to talk to them.

Anyone else notice this? Maybe I have too much traffic to the doorbird.

I only noticed this once and the reason I noticed it was that I have a second backup message sent through Pushover, that way I am not reliant on the DoorBird web services to send me a notification. The once I noticed it was some time ago and I got the Pushover notification but didn't get the DoorBird one. I just put it down to a slight blip in the system and I have not noticed an issue since.

In relation to the concurrent streams to the plugin then I think this is a hardware limitation they have put in to stop the device getting overworked, in reality I've not noticed an issue, I have three tablets and the plugin monitoring it and seems to be just fine.

[charvelm9]

Just got one of these as well for all the aforementioned reasons but I was surprises to see that there was no rj45 connection on the unit. They supply a dongle for that which sort of defeats the purpose. That thing is big and bulky and wouldn't work for me. I know I'm missing something and I'm sure someone on here will set me straight. Is the answer to tie my cat5 run into the little widget that connects to that dongle and plugs into the doorbird? In other words pull the dongle wires out of that connector and insert the appropriate wires from my cat5 run. Thanks!!

[brientim]

Hello, I got one a few months ago and only finished putting in last weekend.

Where it was fitted is double bricked walled, and I originally can to the same point as you and then I noticed there is wiring, the only one with four wires in the kit.

The wires are coloured coded as per Cat5, and I had to connect this to another wire run. Even this is two short so for the double wall, so it is tied and bundled behind the Doorbird with the Cat6 pulled through the wall.

I installed and configured the plug in yesterday with TTS to the Sonos to announce visitors.

Of course, the old door video phone I hadn't removed and we had visitor yesterday, and they didn't choice the Doorbird, why would they, it is shiny and new.

[BillBurn]

Is the answer to tie my cat5 run into the little widget that connects to that dongle and plugs into the doorbird? In other words pull the dongle wires out of that connector and insert the appropriate wires from my cat5 run. Thanks!!

I didn't use the dongle for my connection, I just spliced the wires from the Doorbird unit to the cat5 wire.

Just make sure you test the connection fully before you make the splice connections permanent.

[brientim]

Same, I didn't use the dongle, spliced the wiring provided with Cat6.

Must concur with the above as the first connection wasn't great and when connected, it was cycling between poor to good connection. So re-did it and fixed that issue.

[charvelm9]

Got it. I didn't see that other wire in there. Probably should have looked a little closer. Did you guys use the connectors supplied with the doorbird to make the splice or did you use some other splicing widget?

I guess they didn't have the real estate in the unit itself for an rj45 jack but I would have preferred crimping a connector onto my cat5 wire and having a more traditional connection to the unit. I could have used a basic cable tester to make sure that all worked. I'm not sure how to test this setup and validate my crimps are making good connections. I guess one way to find out is do it an plug it into my POE switch. Any thoughts on how to test to make sure my connections are solid before plugging it into the switch? Thanks for the great feedback!!

[BillBurn]

Did you guys use the connectors supplied with the doorbird to make the splice or did you use some other splicing widget?

I forget exactly which wires I used, I seem to remember a connector with loose wires on it and a separate connector that was wired directly to the cat5 jack. If I recall correctly I used the connector with the loose wires. Alternatively, you could just cut the cat5 in half and use those wires if you aren't going to use it and don't have that spare connector.

Any thoughts on how to test to make sure my connections are solid before plugging it into the switch? Thanks for the great feedback!!

I just used alligator clips to do temp connections. Then I hooked up the other end to my switch and tested the connection. Once I was sure everything was good to go, I permanently crimped splices and retested the connection. Stuffing the whole wiring bundle into the back of the unit gently enough that it didn't loosen any of the crimps was a delicate affair!

[brientim]

No I did not use their K2 connector, as I want straight inline connector and I had others readily available.

As the location was close, I just ran a temp cable run in the inside from the switch to the location which would later pulled through.

This was effectively:
Doorbird > 1 meter cat6 terminated to RJ45 @ an Wall mounted to RJ45 Jack coupler

Seperate run Switch to RJ45 Jack coupler

[Planetview]

I bought a DoorBird just over a year ago and am not happy with it. The unit only works sometimes and gives an audio error.

I have tried resetting, buying wifi extender, buying new router and connecting via Ethernet. I have filed numerous support tickets throughout the year with DoorBird.

Have had difficulty getting zwaveoutlet.com to process a warranty claim and DoorBird wants you to go through the company used to purchase product. I finally got someone on the phone from DoorBird and may have to send it back to Germany for testing even though they authorized Z-Wave Outlet to replace the unit with an RMA.

I am very frustrated with this product.

[mminehan]

Couldn't agree more.

It is very unreliable and I have missed around 50% of the visitors who push the button. Not so much a problem with this plugin, just the DoorBird itself.

Sometimes it takes too long to connect to the DoorBird app on my phone or tablet, despite the DoorBird being hardwired and our home having a fibre internet connection with low latency. I think their servers are based in Germany, which is why it takes ages for a round trip from New Zealand. My Homeseer uses the internal DoorBird hardwired relay to trigger a Pushover message which sometimes arrives 10 to 15 seconds before the DoorBird app chrips. May not seem like a long time but delivery guys don't hang round for long.

Then I sometimes get audio connection errors. And the latest issue is if you have a smart watch, like a Galaxy Gear, you can no longer get audio from the connected device. So I can't use the DoorBird app on my phone while my phone is connected to my watch.....Grrrrr.

For a pricey piece of hardware DoorBird is very disapointing.

[Planetview]

Couldn't agree more.

It is very unreliable and I have missed around 50% of the visitors who push the button. Not so much a problem with this plugin, just the DoorBird itself.

Sometimes it takes too long to connect to the DoorBird app on my phone or tablet, despite the DoorBird being hardwired and our home having a fibre internet connection with low latency. I think their servers are based in Germany, which is why it takes ages for a round trip from New Zealand. My Homeseer uses the internal DoorBird hardwired relay to trigger a Pushover message which sometimes arrives 10 to 15 seconds before the DoorBird app chrips. May not seem like a long time but delivery guys don't hang round for long.

Then I sometimes get audio connection errors. And the latest issue is if you have a smart watch, like a Galaxy Gear, you can no longer get audio from the connected device. So I can't use the DoorBird app on my phone while my phone is connected to my watch.....Grrrrr.

For a pricey piece of hardware DoorBird is very disapointing.

Here is the audio error message I get on my phone. I did not know about the Smart Watch issue and I use one.

[mminehan]

Is anyone else having issues with their Doorbird not sending push notifications and not storing images? The button press is being registered with the HS plugin, but the images on the app and plugin have not updated for over a week, and no notifications with the app.