this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025

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HA Doorbell (self.homeassistant)

submitted 4 days ago by synestine to c/[email protected]

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Until recently I had been using an EZVIZ DB1C doorbell. I researched before I got it, and it worked immediately when bought. Then the company started playing dirty pool. Over the next two firmware updates (WIth nothing in the notes beyond "bugfixes and imrprovements") they stripped out the ability to use a local RTSP stream then they stripped out the ability to use their Windows-only software to even re-enable any functionality. Then they jerked me around for over a month before they finally copped to what the company had done.

And of course there's no way back to a working firmware.

I know people have mentioned Reolink and Amcrest before, but those models are no longer available.

Is there anything in the way of wired, mechanical-bell compatible doorbell cameras that work with HomeAssistant?

I'm so sick of companies that sell you one thing, then strip out the functionality that made it useful, shoving you into their cloud/app shit or leaving you stranded on whatever firmware the thing came with.

GRR

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

If you want something really really stable I can recommend 2N a lot. They cost a bit more,as they are mainly geared towards professional users,but they absolutely know what they are doing.

Whole thing works completely "off the cloud" and without any subscriptions (there is one available for their app - but that's more a convenience feature, they literally tell you how to use other apps).

The whole environment is based on plain old SIP so it works with basically everything - I have an answering unit, but I also can use my snom phone or my SIP app to answer the door. The door unit can simultaneously be their own PBX and/or integrate in an external SIP environment.

The camera itself can also provide RTSP,ONVIF,etc. if needed and plays along with Fregate,etc. quite nicely.

And the automation interface(which requires a add-on licence, but single payment) is based on node red.

Integration in HA is a breeze due to that.

It works with PoE, but 2 wire conversion kits are available. And LTE.

I can absolutely recommend them. (And I do not sell them,don't worry. Just a happy user who got screwed over by other manufacturers too often)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

What's the pricing like on these normally?

It does look a lot more solid, and less nickable!

A very quick glance at the internet put it around £700 for their home one, a fair chunk more than the Reolink one (£70 ish when I last looked).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

If you install them inside the wall they are basically unnickable. Above the wall they are still fairly resistant,but someone with tools or a teenager with a good kick might get them off.

I looked them up, the 2N Solo which is their baseline variant (can do almost everything the big ones can but does not accept Extension modules) goes on sale here for around 600€.

Doorbirds goe for roughly the same,but are inferior technically.

Ubiquity is around 350€, but requires additional hardware for actual door operations beyond ringing.

Similar Dahuas go for 250€,roughly. Reolink PoE goes for 125€ here...but well,you get a reolink for that...

Both the Dahua and Reolink also require hardware that is included in the 2N and Doorbird.

But yeah, they are a different ballpark than the Reolink,as mentioned. But tbh, I had so many bad experiences with Reolink that I would never ever put them in a critical role (which doorbells are), and avoid everything to even have them on my network.

[–] synestine 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

2N

Thanks. I'm looking into this. Never heard of this company before, but that sounds pretty compelling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah,me neither. They once were known under the name Helios as well.

For a long time they focused on large residential buildings,doing elevator control stuff and everything,but they have expanded into the medium-upperclass private market as well. The IP Verso and the IP solo are definitely nice (I have the former). And the installation can absolutely be done by a prosumer - I found it far easier than doorbird or dahua, especially as their wiki is great. They document literally everything.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What do you mean that Reolink is not available? You can get them easily and they work great with HA and Frigate.

[–] synestine 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

All the Reolink doorbells I can find that look like HA/Frigate compatible have a stupid electronic chime that won't work for my situation. I need something capable of ringing the mechanical bells otherwise this will fail the WAF check.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I have a Reolink Doorbell. We have about the simplest/cheapest mechanical chimes you can get. (2 total, one on each floor). The Reolink said I should disconnect the chimes and use their electronic ones, because it might mess up the doorbell if I didn't. I ignored this advice, and the Reolink still rings the mechanical chimes when somebody presses the button. I have yet to see any issues with the Reolink. I did plug in their wireless chime also, and it rings too.

So I would say, YMMV, but there's a good chance a Reolink will still ring your chimes.

[–] synestine 1 points 1 day ago

We have about the simplest/cheapest mechanical chimes you can get. (2 total, one on each floor).

Add "Older than dirt" and that's what I have too. House was built in the late 70s.

Did your Reolink doorbell come with a little battery-looking-device that you had to wire into the mechanical chimes?

How long have you had yours in service? And what model is it, if I might ask.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think it depends how the reolink is powered. If it's coming from the chime transformer, I don't think it can also ring that chime. I'd imagine it would work fine with PoE though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Mine is connected to the network wirelessly. It is powered from the doorbell transformer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

You can use an ESP32 to ring the mechanical bells via HA when someone presses the doorbell

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I have a Uniquiti G4 Doorbell Pro and a standard mechanical bell (I’m in Europe so it’s a Honeywell chime and the transformer came with the doorbell)

Integration with HA is good, but it does need some sort of Ubiquiti NVR at the very least to operate. I have a Dream Router as my main router so that functions as both. If you aren’t already using Ubiquiti gear this can get expensive quickly.

But the equipment is (in my experience, I know others have variable opinions, especially with software updates) very positive.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

And despite having cloud integrations, if my WAN is offline I can still view my doorbell. I haven't tested it HA received notifications or anything though, as I just rely on the Unifi Security app.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I have the G4 Doorbell, it’s worked well as doorbell and camera in both UniFi and Home Assistant.

I had no luck at all getting it to work with a chime though. I tried several different chimes and transformers and the chime would never work.

I ended up setting up automations to trigger device notifications and a bell sound on smart speakers to act as the chime instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I have the same issue. We have two unifi doorbells (previous model) and one chimes no problem but the second refuses to, even after transformer upgrades.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is dumb doorbell + separate CCTV camera a valid alternative? Even my fairly basic Reolink camera has a much better image quality than any doorbell camera I've seen, and HA can pull an image from it and push it to my phone in only a few tenths of a second whenever someone pushes the doorbell.

[–] synestine 2 points 1 day ago

That is effectively what I had with my EZVIZ doorbell-cam. The image quality was actually really good compared to my basic cameras (2k, 180-degree FoV, daylight and infrared modes). The reason I went this way is that it's damn near impossible to run any sort of wires to the front porch location (Very long story, involving bore-scopes, drills, failure and drywall repairs) which is why I went this way, even with some people being weirded out by the camera on the doorbell.

I may have to go this route if I can't find a doorbell-cam that doesn't suck and is still available for purchase, but that will take months and several tests of the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've had a Ezviz home camera for years. At some point, the RTSP stream in HA stopped working entirely, and I didn't think much of it.

A week ago I decided to reset the damn thing as the verification password on the bottom didn't take in HA, only to realise that the setup flow on the app just didn't work for configuring WiFi, and there was no feedback at all, or any support articles surround it. I'd given up for a while, plugged in ethernet temporarily instead and tried again.

The correct WiFi setup procedure was hidden away in some menu, which I couldn't even remember using last time (showing a QR to the camera and it silently taking the credentials). Only then I found out about how you can view the camera in the app in LAN View Mode, pray it accepts your verification password without spitting random HTTP errors, and there the RTSP toggle was to be found. I do have the stream back in HA, but my god that was a pain. I've been at it for hours at that point.

Was it worth it? No, I would've thrown it out the window way sooner - but it beats having a paper weight for a camera which used to work fine an hour ago.

[–] synestine 2 points 3 days ago

That's kinda what happened to me, except that it was a month of back-and-forth with EZVIZ support until they finally copped to "Our company broke that, use the Android App or go to hell" (paraphrasing). Also mine always rejects the verification code, no matter how hard I hammer it in the app. That's why I'm ripping it off my house, telling everyone to avoid this company and their customer-hostile unethical behavior, and trying to find a replacement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I'm interested in this too, I was also looking at the AD410 which seems to be no longer available as you've mentioned.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I use an Amcrest AD-410 for this and it works great. Video is ingested by frigate, and I am using a fork of amcrest2mqtt to monitor for button pushes and receive a notification on my phone. They also have a "chime kit" I think it's called, to hook up to your 24v doorbell unit.

[–] synestine 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can't find that model for sale anymore. Every place I can check shows it 'out of stock'.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Ah. Too bad. Sorry, it's been a little while since I shopped for mine.

[–] spaghettiwestern 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Dahua (professional side of Amcrest) still sells their video doorbell through B&H Photo. According to a Q&A answer on the site it will power a wired chime.

I have another wifi Dahua camera (also bought from B&H) and have been really impressed with it. It's used with Frigate and Home Assistant. Be aware that B&H offers their own warranty for Dahua products. I looked at the fine print before my purchase and felt it was reasonable.

EmpireTech sells rebranded Dahua products and they have a different model. The seller gets great reviews on ipcamtalk.com. Detailed user reviews here. EmpireTech also sells through Amazon.

[–] synestine 1 points 3 days ago

Thanks. I'm checking through these links to see if this will work for me. Appreciated.