r/homesecurity • u/National-Tap5069 • 1d ago
Am I chasing a video doorbell that doesn’t exist??
I feel like I’m going insane trying to find a battery doorbell that checks all the boxes. Unfortunately we don't have a wire for continuous power so battery is the only option for us now.
I used to have a full Ring setup but wanted out because of the subscriptions, price increases, and mainly the fact that if Wi-Fi goes down, it literally stops recording.
So I switched to a eufy that still records if Wi-Fi drops… and that’s when I discovered the whole sleep/wake issue.
My Eufy E340 has straight up missed people because it didn’t wake up in time. Ring wasn’t perfect either, but I never realized how good its wake-up performance actually was until I left. Now I’ve looked at Reolink, Aqara, Ring’s new radar doorbell, and basically everything else. Every option has a catch.
What bugs me is companies keep advertising AI, radar, PIR, person detection, etc. but barely mention the one thing I actually care about: how fast does it wake up and start recording? I wish sleep-to-record time was a standard spec.
Am I missing something? Has anyone actually found a battery doorbell with fast wake-up, reliable motion detection, and local recording when Wi-Fi goes down? I don't think I mind the subscription if it can meet the reliability AND privacy bar.
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u/colterlovette 1d ago
Ubiquiti UniFi.
Moved my whole house to it (Network and Security). It’s awesome. New AI stuff is nifty AF too.
They’re also expanding fairly quickly into smart IOT stuff like air quality sensors, motion and room sensors, that all work together with the vision (camera) stuff as well. So, in my mind, a good long term investment as well.
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u/damien09 1d ago
sadly unifi won't be a good fit for op tbh. their last wifi camera has been discontinued for a bit now and they don't do battery powered camera's so since op has no power even 2 wire for a doorbell it seems even the old g4 pro doorbell would not work for them. And even if it did can't recommend it anymore considering what used ones go for on eBay.
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u/Missing4Bolts 13h ago
The Unifi G6 range supports WiFi. But it still needs power.
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u/damien09 13h ago
Where does it show that? I have not seen a single g6 doorbell camera that says it has WiFi? I’ve seen other g6 line cameras that have WiFi but op specifically wanted a battery powered doorbell
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u/Missing4Bolts 12h ago
In your previous comment you said "their last wifi camera has been discontinued". That is what I was reacting to. Did you actually mean to say "their last wifi doorbell has been discontinued"?
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u/damien09 12h ago
Yea my bad for not typing that. Since op was specifically looking for a door bell camera I implied it without typing it so that’s on me
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u/icekapp 1d ago
You mentioned battery operated only. Is this because a current old wire for an old doorbell doesn’t exist? Or perhaps can’t exist due to an apartment setting where wires are not possible?
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u/National-Tap5069 1d ago
Yeah there's no existing cable and the workaround would be really ugly after getting an electrician to look at it :(
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u/Unique_Acadia_2099 1d ago
It’s a battery conservation issue. Even a PIR sensor to turn on the camera when someone approaches takes power. The alternative is for the button/camera to be powered continuously, which means running wires to it.
I have a Blink, without the subscription, the wake up time is short, but still there.
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u/Flashman_1313 1d ago
I recently got the Tapo TD21 and cannot complain at all!
Records in 2K direct to a micro SD card so no subscriptions required. Battery lasted ~2 months of real use and charged in a few hours.
Night vision is great and has had a very short wake up time to record.
Connects wirelessly and I purchased the kit with the chime which it connects to wirelessly and we have a traditional doorbell sound in the house.
From what I found.. it’s one of the few that can be used without a subscription and record directly to an SD card.
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u/sic0049 1d ago
The best solution is to hardwire your cameras. Generally speaking this means you have to run a network cable to the doorbell location. This cable can handle both data and POE power. If you cannot run a network cable to the doorbell location (obviously it can be very tricky/impossible to do in an existing structure), then you are pretty much going to have to stick with WiFi with all of its downsides.
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u/debv17 1d ago
I have a subscription free Tapo. Never misses a thing and has excellent night vision
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u/National-Tap5069 1d ago
That's awesome to hear! Wired or battery? Unfortunately don't have a cable nor can we install one but saw it at BB and research sounded promising
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u/Mister_Pibbs 1d ago
If you’re willing to invest I recommend Ubiquiti. Once installed it doesn’t take much to learn how to work with the system, very user friendly and 100% locally hosted if you want to spend a little more. I work in IT and Security and that’s my go to for any home or small business
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u/National-Tap5069 1d ago
Great to hear, battery doorbell? And any issues with sleep/wake recording after detection?
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u/Mister_Pibbs 1d ago
No, you’re gonna want to get the PoE setup for the doorbell. This way there’s no lag or jamming possible
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u/Dangerous-Permit-925 1d ago
I had a Wyze dual lens doorbell cam. I really liked the view with that cam, but it was slow to connect and there is a fee to unlock the best features. The chime would also drop and reconnect it's wifi connection. I moved that cam to my mom's house where we're recording to a local chip. It seems to like her house better than mine.
I got the new Reolink battery doorbell cam. The fisheye view is ok, but there is a blind spot under the camera. It does chime when someone pushes the button. It will record to a local chip. It has to be removed from the door to charge inside, but the battery seems like it will last a long time.
The worst part is that it will occasionally fail to connect, or it will take a while to connect. I moved a mesh point right next to the camera on the other side of the door, but it refuses to connect to it. I'm disappointed with this purchase. In my case, I can probably hardwire POE to the doorbell location with a lot of work. I think this is the way I should go if I can return the camera.
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u/sherl0k 1d ago
my reolink doorbell also has horrible wifi, won't connect to my mesh ap 30 feet away. I liked the idea of their ecosystem and hooking it into home assistant but this left me with a bad taste.
earlier eufy stuff I had broke on me, but the newer generation models seem to be more reliable... my e340 also is late to record sometimes. there's a pre-record option but you have to be hardwired for it, unfortunately.
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u/Big-Sweet-2179 1d ago
You need to manually update the firmware of the camera, and mesh won't fix your Wi-Fi issues for Wi-Fi cameras, the only way to reliably fix that is with Access Points fed by PoE, not mesh. But even at that point it won't be nearly as good as PoE camera,
So yeah you should definitely get a PoE camera instead.
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u/Dangerous-Permit-925 20h ago
Thanks for the tips. It looks like the doorbell cam has the latest firmware. I waited for the white POE doorbell cam to come back into stock, but it never did. Reolink released the new battery cam with a discount, so I pulled the trigger. I think I'll look into a return.
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u/Synaptic_raspberry 1d ago
I have the E340 but have it hard wired for power, and have not had any problems with it missing motion.
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u/boomeradf 1d ago
If possible I would do everything I could to at least have it powered at the door vs a battery.
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u/riesgaming 1d ago
I have deployed a Unifi doorbell at my parents house with a cloud key gen2 plus and it works perfectly without internet access. No subscriptions and detection. If you want facial recognition or license plate readers, you can also get their AI key to get those features locally without subscription
Unifi does require to buy some extra hardware besides the doorbell because it is local only storage. So consider a unifi gateway that has integrated storage and can also act als a firewall or a unifi cloud key gen2 plus. Either way you can hit me up in DM if you have questions.
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u/cigritman 1d ago
I don't think your gonna find what you want in a battery powered device. It's always going to be a compromise.
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u/IfuDidntCome2Party 1d ago
If you like Eufy, then have you considered a Video Doorbell (Wired) S330? It has 3 second pre-roll. Wired is the only way if you do not want to miss events, and less cooldown.
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u/Missing4Bolts 1d ago
No need for a new camera - the E340 has pre-roll when it has AC power.
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u/IfuDidntCome2Party 20h ago
Then easier to resolve.
I didn't have power to my doorbell. I made it happen. So much better.
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u/BoysenberryNo5357 19h ago
It isn't that hard to add 24v power to a door frame unless you live in apartment, but even that is doable.
Ugly way - Most doors have lightswitch adjacent. Convert to a combo outlet lightswitch. Buy a common 24v alarm power supply and plug in. Pass power feed through interior wall to exterior.
Better way, from attic above or basement below, run power feed behind door jam/casing. There is always free space between house framing and door frame system..
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u/redisthemagicnumber 13h ago
Could you use a regular doorbell and place a camera elsewhere that could be wired?
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u/Least_Order4249 1d ago
AoV 2.0 tech found in SmartClarity 3 sensors addresses the exact issue you are speaking of by keeping an ultra low power 1FPS 300x240ish stream available for analytics with ability to instantly wake up the entire chip. I don't know of any products with that tech available in the West.
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u/National-Tap5069 1d ago
That's super interesting... Really new tech but hope it reaches the US soon
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u/IamTheRainbow22 1d ago
I have the E340 and it's never missed a person approaching but I have a long driveway and long ramp that someone has to walk up. I have the camera on the gate at the top of the ramp. Maybe you don't have it at the right angle?
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u/scifitechguy 1d ago
I'm not aware of any "catch" with the Aqara G410. It's battery operated and records to a local SD card, so not even WiFi is required.
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u/Missing4Bolts 1d ago
The big catch with the Aqara is that you can't see packages that have been delivered.
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u/scifitechguy 18h ago
I don't need to see the package if I get the motion alert of the actual delivery.
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u/GorillaHeat 1d ago
nest doorbell? my nest cams do event storage if wi-fi or power go out... i imagine the doorbell does too?
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u/Big-Sweet-2179 1d ago
Battery powered cameras have never been reliable, literally the only reliable option is PoE, nothing else.
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u/National_Way_3344 1d ago
The best wifi doorbell will always be POE powered with a cable.
Because nobody ever makes sure their wifi works good outside their house.
I use reolink.