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Started By
Message
Video doorbell
Posted on 1/3/21 at 11:01 am
Posted on 1/3/21 at 11:01 am
I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum but....
My front doorbell got fried when one of my son’s friends rang it but got the button stuck. Figured I would replace with a video doorbell.
Most of what I’ve read here suggests nest > ring due to latency issues.
We have Amazon Alexa devices throughout the house and I would imagine ring devices may work more seamlessly with them.
I’m ok paying a monthly subscription unless some of those lesser known doorbells that don’t require a subscription are just as good.
Also looking to hardwire the doorbell.
Finally, do these doorbells use the chime that I currently have?
Thank you techies!
My front doorbell got fried when one of my son’s friends rang it but got the button stuck. Figured I would replace with a video doorbell.
Most of what I’ve read here suggests nest > ring due to latency issues.
We have Amazon Alexa devices throughout the house and I would imagine ring devices may work more seamlessly with them.
I’m ok paying a monthly subscription unless some of those lesser known doorbells that don’t require a subscription are just as good.
Also looking to hardwire the doorbell.
Finally, do these doorbells use the chime that I currently have?
Thank you techies!
7
Posted on 1/3/21 at 11:49 am to Coater
Amcrest or eufy. Neither require monthly fees but can. Both also support local storage so you are not subject to losing video recordings if your internet goes down.
Forgot to add, both support your current doorbell chime.
Forgot to add, both support your current doorbell chime.
This post was edited on 1/3/21 at 11:50 am
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:38 pm to mchias1
quote:
both support your current doorbell chime.
I'm not sure it can ring your legacy chime and get power to the camera at the same time. I think this may only apply to the cameras that are battery powered?
I have the Eufy and it gets power from the chime but doesn't ring the chime. It rings this other thing that is plugged into the wall inside.
This post was edited on 1/3/21 at 5:39 pm
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:44 pm to Coater
I want to get one but don't want google having access to anything else in my house. Thought about Ring but our damned Mayor is now hooking up the ring cameras to the police command center even though its voluntary. I don't trust Amazon or our Mayor.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:46 pm to Coater
I recently installed a Ring video doorbell for my son. It activates the existing chime in the hallway via the old existing 24VAC transformer that is wired directly to the doorbell/camera. No batteries are needed for the wired Ring.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:48 pm to Coater
Ring.
Love it.
Wired in.
Existing chime.
No lag time.
Clear picture.
$3 a month.
Love it.
Wired in.
Existing chime.
No lag time.
Clear picture.
$3 a month.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:48 pm to BeepNode
The amcrest uses the door bell power and activates the chime. I have this one.
Thought I had saw eufy did as well. But just saw their FAQ they don't support the chime. Still a better option than nest or ring due to local storage support.
Thought I had saw eufy did as well. But just saw their FAQ they don't support the chime. Still a better option than nest or ring due to local storage support.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 5:58 pm to mchias1
Oh, I see. I have the Eufy but the others must have something you install on the old door chime in order to let it bypass the power AND trigger the chime.
Posted on 1/3/21 at 7:42 pm to BeepNode
quote:
I'm not sure it can ring your legacy chime and get power to the camera at the same time. I think this may only apply to the cameras that are battery powered?
It can.
Posted on 1/25/21 at 2:59 pm to Coater
For a follow up, I went with the ring video doorbell pro which requires hardwire installation. I have 2 different doors with doorbells in the front and both were broken. I replaced the side door bell with a standard one. The electrician upgraded the transformer, replaced the chime that was fried, and installed both doorbells for $220. They both use my normal chime in the house in addition to the chime on our Alexa devices and phones for the ring.
The ring pro I bought was refurbished (Amazon for $160)
All in all very happy with the purchase. I haven’t signed up for cloud storage yet
The ring pro I bought was refurbished (Amazon for $160)
All in all very happy with the purchase. I haven’t signed up for cloud storage yet
Posted on 5/9/21 at 9:59 am to Coater
So four months later, what’s the verdict?
Posted on 5/9/21 at 1:19 pm to prplhze2000
Not the OP but I just recently purchased and installed an Ezviz DB1C video doorbell ($79) and really like it. For the money I don't think you can beat it for a nice doorbell cam. I think this cam has more features overall than just about any other door cam, except I don't think it integrates with Alexa, if that matters.
Some of the key features:
- Powered via doorbell wires
- IP65 Weatherproof
- Rings existing mechanical chime
- Flat mounting plate plus a 15 degree mounting plate included.
- AI Human Detection
- Adjustable Detection Zone (Rectangle or highlight which pixels on the screen)
- H.265 Video Compression
- Clear HD 1080P picture day or night with starlight sensor.
- Has wide view but also 170 degree vertical picture which is perfect for seeing packages plus the entire person in front of door. There is a slight blind spot if someone were to put a small package or envelope right at the base of the door. I could make/purchase and mount a slight vertical wooden shim wedge behind the mounting plate if I wanted to and still see the complete person head to toe. You can also quickly switch to "Fish Eye" view to get a wider but distorted view to look for packages if you have a wide porch or no porch.
- Has optional cloud service but I installed a 128GB micro SD card (Max size is 256 GB).
- You can record to micro SD in continuos mode if you want, or just for events. I tried both and switched to just event recording since the camera records some number of seconds before the event. Not sure how it does that. Maybe internally the camera is in Live View all the time but continually recording and overwriting like 5 seconds.
- Instant notification to phone before person even gets to doorbell. At same time another setting (subtle beep which can also be changed to silent or loud siren) to let the person know (or not) that they have been detected. So if you had this camera wired to a back door for example, you could use it as a siren to scare off anyone approaching that door if you wanted to use it that way. We like the subtle beep setting on the front doorbell. Step on our porch and you hear a single not too loud beep.
- When someone rings doorbell they hear a doorbell sound so they know they rang it, plus a snapshot picture instantly pops up on your phone (even with screensaver on) and it has an option to answer or ignore. It looks just like a phone call. If you click the green phone symbol, the app quickly launches where you see them in the video with two way audio.
- Nice video library with little pictures (sometimes a static picture and sometimes a gif clip) of who is at your door.
- Can load same account on multiple phones, or you can share with another phone and grant/limit access as desired.
- Very good customer service.
Ezviz customer support was quick to respond. I sent an email to them before I purchased asking them some questions and they answered them within a day plus sent their toll free number to call them if needed. I ended up asking other questions post installation and they were prompt. I think we exchanged 4 emails within two days after installation.
- Lots of other settings.
Some people left bad feedback for it due to wouldn't work, bad Wi-Fi, or motion detection too sensitive. You can adjust the motion detection down to just a small number of pixels with low sensitivity if you want and/or only detect people. We have a recessed front porch but clear view to the street. We have zero problems with false alarms.
Concerning WiFi, our router is in the basement (AT&T Uverse) and our signal strength is low at the front porch. But I previously installed a RockSpace Mesh WiFi system ($99) with 3 mesh routers and we get 5 bars inside and just outside all around our house now. The Uverse Wi-Fi and RockSpace Wi-Fi run simultaneously w/o interference. The Uverse Wi-Fi is crap in comparison. The RockSpace WiFi is much faster and all of our phones and 11 Wi-Fi security cameras acquire the signal fast and w/out dropouts due to weak signal compared to the crappy Uverse WiFi. So no Wi-Fi issues if you install an inexpensive mesh system.
Concerning not working at all due to not enough power in the doorbell wiring, measure your AC voltage across the doorbell wires. You need to be between 12V to 24VAC. If under 12V, upgrade to a 16V or 24V doorbell transformer. Apparently we have a 24V transformer because I measured 19.2VAC at the doobell button. Quite a voltage drop but that is due to approx. 40' of super thin 22 gauge doorbell wiring (about as thick as a standard paper clip).
Some of the key features:
- Powered via doorbell wires
- IP65 Weatherproof
- Rings existing mechanical chime
- Flat mounting plate plus a 15 degree mounting plate included.
- AI Human Detection
- Adjustable Detection Zone (Rectangle or highlight which pixels on the screen)
- H.265 Video Compression
- Clear HD 1080P picture day or night with starlight sensor.
- Has wide view but also 170 degree vertical picture which is perfect for seeing packages plus the entire person in front of door. There is a slight blind spot if someone were to put a small package or envelope right at the base of the door. I could make/purchase and mount a slight vertical wooden shim wedge behind the mounting plate if I wanted to and still see the complete person head to toe. You can also quickly switch to "Fish Eye" view to get a wider but distorted view to look for packages if you have a wide porch or no porch.
- Has optional cloud service but I installed a 128GB micro SD card (Max size is 256 GB).
- You can record to micro SD in continuos mode if you want, or just for events. I tried both and switched to just event recording since the camera records some number of seconds before the event. Not sure how it does that. Maybe internally the camera is in Live View all the time but continually recording and overwriting like 5 seconds.
- Instant notification to phone before person even gets to doorbell. At same time another setting (subtle beep which can also be changed to silent or loud siren) to let the person know (or not) that they have been detected. So if you had this camera wired to a back door for example, you could use it as a siren to scare off anyone approaching that door if you wanted to use it that way. We like the subtle beep setting on the front doorbell. Step on our porch and you hear a single not too loud beep.
- When someone rings doorbell they hear a doorbell sound so they know they rang it, plus a snapshot picture instantly pops up on your phone (even with screensaver on) and it has an option to answer or ignore. It looks just like a phone call. If you click the green phone symbol, the app quickly launches where you see them in the video with two way audio.
- Nice video library with little pictures (sometimes a static picture and sometimes a gif clip) of who is at your door.
- Can load same account on multiple phones, or you can share with another phone and grant/limit access as desired.
- Very good customer service.
Ezviz customer support was quick to respond. I sent an email to them before I purchased asking them some questions and they answered them within a day plus sent their toll free number to call them if needed. I ended up asking other questions post installation and they were prompt. I think we exchanged 4 emails within two days after installation.
- Lots of other settings.
Some people left bad feedback for it due to wouldn't work, bad Wi-Fi, or motion detection too sensitive. You can adjust the motion detection down to just a small number of pixels with low sensitivity if you want and/or only detect people. We have a recessed front porch but clear view to the street. We have zero problems with false alarms.
Concerning WiFi, our router is in the basement (AT&T Uverse) and our signal strength is low at the front porch. But I previously installed a RockSpace Mesh WiFi system ($99) with 3 mesh routers and we get 5 bars inside and just outside all around our house now. The Uverse Wi-Fi and RockSpace Wi-Fi run simultaneously w/o interference. The Uverse Wi-Fi is crap in comparison. The RockSpace WiFi is much faster and all of our phones and 11 Wi-Fi security cameras acquire the signal fast and w/out dropouts due to weak signal compared to the crappy Uverse WiFi. So no Wi-Fi issues if you install an inexpensive mesh system.
Concerning not working at all due to not enough power in the doorbell wiring, measure your AC voltage across the doorbell wires. You need to be between 12V to 24VAC. If under 12V, upgrade to a 16V or 24V doorbell transformer. Apparently we have a 24V transformer because I measured 19.2VAC at the doobell button. Quite a voltage drop but that is due to approx. 40' of super thin 22 gauge doorbell wiring (about as thick as a standard paper clip).
This post was edited on 5/9/21 at 2:55 pm
Posted on 5/10/21 at 1:07 pm to Coater
I've had Ring and Nest and prefer Nest. That said, there are a lot of variables here. Hardwired Ring sounds like it'd work well considering your Alexa devices.
Posted on 5/10/21 at 1:16 pm to Coater
quote:
We have Amazon Alexa devices throughout the house and I would imagine ring devices may work more seamlessly with them.
Not only that, but you have the ability to set up Alexa routines that trigger based upon the status of your ring doorbell. For example, if our ring senses motion between the hours of 10pm and 6:30 Am, it will automatically turn on lamps at the front door and in the living room.
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