Curious how the doorbells are working particularly with Alexa.
Have a family member interested, but I know there have been issues.
Is there a significant delay between button push and notification on Echo devices (via the routine)?
Is video display on Echo Show (via routine) working?
Ring of course is the most compatible/integrated with Alexa, but $50 a year if you want to see saved videos.
Blink is semi-integrated but relies on a skill, and requires batteries (will not charge off doorbell wiring)
Wyze has some good offerings, but concerned about the integrations.
Preferably I would not use the wired chime at all, but thatâs only feasible if the notifications are quick and reliable.
I have a v2 that was installed about a year ago. There were early issues with the v2 (along with the P. S. V3) not recovering from an internet outage or power outage. The
unit had to be power reset and I quipped at the time that I had to open the case so many times that I wore out the friction lock. About 9 months ago Wyze finally got the unit recovering properly and it has been 100% reliable since then (I and others have noted thar the recovery can sometimes take minutes, rare). Since then the doorbell has dropped off my radar and Iâve been pleased with its reliability.
Now for Alexa. We are an Alexa house. We currently have 5 Alexaâs online 24/7, and that does not count the 4 Alexa enabled TVâs. I am mobility limited and Alexa saves me 100âs of steps a day. In fact one of the first things I look for when thinking of an IOT device is itâs Alexa compatibility.
The v2 has fit well into our household. The camera looks out into our front yard and shows the alcove that is the entry to our house. The camera is able to see almost any place the delivery people leave a package, except on the welcome mat at the base of the front door. The camera is configured to notify us if a person or pet is detected. Early on there were issues with the 5 front yard palm trees causing triggers that detected the columns in the alcove as a package. A liberal use of the detection zone and Ai feedback to Wyze has reduced the false positives from a few a day to a couple a month.
If the doorbell is pressed the following happens within 1-3 seconds :
-the wired chime goes ding dong
-3 cameras dispersed throughout the house do a ding dong.
Within the next 5-10 seconds
-a call is placed to my smartphone (I have not tested this but rumor has it that if you answer the call you can converse with the person ringing the doorbell).
Within the next 10-15 seconds
-Using a routine, Alexa makes an announcement (on all Alexa devices) that someone is at the front door.
-Using a routine, Alexa displays the front door camera on the living room Echo Show 8. It displays for 3 minutes, then reverts to its previous state.
I the past I also had a routine that when triggered Alexa would also power on the 55" entertainment center Samsung TV and display the camera feed. When it worked the results were great, only took 15-20 seconds, but it was unreliable. We were asking Wyze, Amazon, and Samsung to play nice with each other.
Other than the early reliability issues the v2 has been a good addition to our infrastructure. There is a newer model, the Duo, but I have not seen any reason to change.
BTW, the new Descriptive Notifications make life a bit more interesting. I am patiently waiting for Wyze to integrate Friendly Faces with Descriptive Notifications. I want the doorbell to tell me the name of the person ringing the doorbell.
Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately ~30 seconds to alert and bring up the video on Alexa is going to be too much. Iâve generally learned with Alexa that if it requires a âskillâ it generally wonât be great. Unfortunately it looks like Ring is the only one that is supported natively. So need to figure out if $50 a year for being able to watch recorded video is worth it to them. Supposedly the blink comes up fairly quickly on the display, even though it requires a âskillâ it doesnât need a routine, but of course that requires expensive batteries and battery life can vary widely.
Like @ronl4625, I have the Video Doorbell v2 and really like it. I bought it within a few weeks of its introduction because of two primary features:
It has local microSD storage, so no subscription was necessary.
It can ring the homeâs built-in mechanical chime, so it still sounds and acts like a traditional doorbell (important for some household members).
Previous Wyze doorbells didnât have these features. I had looked at Wyzeâs offerings and a few of those from other vendors before buying Video Doorbell v2, but that model was the one that had features I wanted at a price I wanted to pay, so itâs what got me to switch up from a âdumbâ doorbell button.
It was not the first video doorbell I installed, however.
A few months prior to acquiring the Wyze Video Doorbell v2, I had installed an Arlo (I think the Essential Wired Video Doorbell) at my sisterâs house because thatâs what my brother-in-law had bought. That was a fun introduction to them and a learning experience for me.
Similar to Wyze Video Doorbell v2, this Arlo model includes a device to install in the homeâs chime box. With Wyze, itâs the Chime Controller; with Arlo, itâs the Power Kit.
The view wasnât what I wanted from the doorbell initially. The doorbell wiring at my sisterâs home comes out of a wall thatâs adjacent and perpendicular to the entrance. The Arlo included a wedge mount in the kit, but I didnât like the angle and initially fabricated a different wedge from some plastic bits (I think for flooring?) that my brother-in-law had in his garage. That was okay, but then I did some learning about 3D printing and switched to a mount model I found online (my make shows view comparison photos).
While Video Doorbell v2 has a capacitor that will keep it running for at least a few seconds after itâs removed from power, the Arlo has an internal battery and will send tamper alerts with video to usersâ phones when itâs unlatched from its mount and removed from power. This is cool but also means that you have to wait 15 minutes or so (IIRC from the documentation) for the battery to die and truly power off the device when you want to do a hard reset. Thatâs annoying, because I needed to reset this thing a number of times while I was initially making and testing mount revisions.
My sister still likes using it, and I believe they subscribe to Arloâs services for cloud storage and alerts. Iâm not a huge fan of the pronounced fisheye.
I havenât experienced the Wi-Fi connectivity issues that @ronl4625 and others have described. Mine has been reliable from that standpoint since the beginning. I have had some issues with it, though:
Although Iâve used the doorbell on a covered porch that faces north, the view would get washed out on sunny days. Wyze added a Wide Dynamic Range option via firmware update a few months after launch, and that was a real improvement.
Wyze initially advertised that Amazon Echo and Google Home devices could be used as accessory chimes for button press announcements, but this turned out not to be the case, so they âfixedâ that by revising their messaging. [1]
After having this thing installed and working for months, the homeâs built-in mechanical chime stopped ding-donging reliably. I donât know why this is, but I did extensive troubleshooting and Wyze Supportâs solution was to send me a replacement under warranty (which was a pleasantly easy process, so kudos to them for that). Instead of installing that, though, I did additional investigation and learned that my chime box had been wired incorrectly when the previous âdumbâ doorbell button was installed. Correcting this fixed my original Video Doorbell v2âs problems, so the replacement is back in the box as a spare. (I set it up to make sure it worked, too, and thatâs how I learned that the capacitor can still transmit video from the doorbell for a few seconds after itâs removed from AC power.)
I primarily use Google Home to centralize things, though I have a couple of (non-Show) Echo devices, and my experience with receiving announcementsâwith and without the use of Alexa Routinesâfrom those has been iffy without a subscription (and thatâs been discussed by others in several Forum topics). Iâll have to defer to the experience of @ronl4625 and others for better feedback. I canât test my Video Doorbell v2 with Alexa at the moment because Iâm temporarily using a different solution, and my plan is to revise my doorbellâs mount design while I have it off the wall.
I will say that Iâve tried a Cam Unlimited subscription, and I do like the additional benefits that provides. For instance, with an active subscription and Person Detection Notifications enabled in the Alexa app, I can hear an announcement from an Echo speaker even when the doorbellâs button isnât pressed: âSomeone was detected at your Front Door.â (The deviceâs name in Alexa is âFront Doorâ in this case.) Thatâs cool. Iâm not trying to sell anyone on subscriptions, but I do enjoy experiencing things like that.
Iâll also say that itâs possible to get announcements on Google Home from doorbell button presses even without native integration support for this by using a Wyze Plug as a logical switch/bridge between Wyze Automations and Google Home Routines. This work-around is well documented in the Forum. Using that, Iâve had a doorbell button press kick off a sequence that streams video to a Google Home Hub, Chromecast HD, and Google TV, probably within 10-15 seconds (sometimes sooner) of the press, and thatâs without a subscription. I imagine a similar pathway could be used for Alexa, but I havenât tried that. The problem I still have is getting people to actually press the doorbell button, though, and thatâs why a subscription that adds person detection (and the benefits as a result of that) is really nice.
This is how they âfixedâ Cam v4âs âfree Person Detectionâ, as well. âŠď¸
Just a clarification. My timings are best case worst case and are for the camera to display on the Echo Show 8. If you will my litmus test is if Alexa can beat me getting out of my recliner (I am slow due to back issues), waddle over to the peep hole, identify who rang the door bell, make a decision if the person is selling solar panels or notđ and then be pissed that my back is hurting for no reason. 9 out of 10 times itâs a salesperson and I can ignore them. Alexa has saved me from getting pissed off many timesđ.
Just now I tried a test by opening the front door, reaching around the frame and pressing the doorbell. It took 8 seconds to display the camera on the Echo Show 8. In this test the camera was not the trigger.
Hmmm. If you go with Ring Iâll be interested in the timings.
Something I failed to mention previously is that I really like the âCameras as Chimeâ feature that @ronl4625 mentioned. As far as Iâm aware, this is available only on Video Doorbell v2 and Duo Cam Doorbell, and if you can pick up Cam OGs when theyâre on crazy sales (I think the last one I bought was <$10) then you can use those as accessory chimes for those doorbell models. I havenât yet tried the Wi-Fi Chime that recently became available as a separate accessory. Itâs a little more expensive but seems reasonable and can be used with other Wyze Cam models.
Since the initial post mentioned that the wired chime likely would not be used, that implies that any of the current Wyze doorbells would be viable options here. I donât have any hands-on experience with the original Video Doorbell (âv1â) or Video Doorbell Pro, but I understand that they can be wired to AC via bypassing the homeâs chime, so they canât actually ring it. Video Doorbell v2 and Duo Cam Doorbell can both ring a built-in chime, and Chime Controller (included with Video Doorbell v2 but available separately for Duo Cam Doorbell) is recommended for this kind of installation. Iâve tried it without installing Chime Controller, and the doorbell works, but the chime box occasionally makes errant hum or ringing noises; installing Chime Controller seems to solve that problem.
Since a goal seems to be avoiding ongoing subscriptions, Iâd note that Video Doorbell v2 and Duo Cam Doorbell are also the only two models with local microSD storage as an option. I donât have a significant issue with Video Doorbell v2âs slot access on the side of the device, but I know a lot of users have been concerned about that. I believe itâs in the back of Duo Cam Doorbell, so that device has to be unlatched (with a pin like removing a phoneâs SIM card, I think) from its mount in order to physically access the card. One benefit of the 3D-printed mount I use for Video Doorbell v2 is that it encloses the deviceâs sides, so it effectively covers/âhidesâ the card slot.
I could use the wired chime but said family member is hard of hearing and canât hear it upstairs. She already has echo dots spread around the house (and I planned to add an echo show upstairs to replace one of the dots, so she doesnât have to get down the stairs to see who it is, bad knees and all). So the ability to have them announce and ideally show the person quickly is fairly important. I suspected that since it requires a âroutineâ for this and from what Iâve seen that âroutineâ has stopped working (well the overall integration did) a couple of times, I think Iâll probably just stick with ânativeâ Ring. If she wants to be able to view historical vids, the $50 a year is probably not much more than the blink batteries would cost. Dunno, weâll see, said family member doesnât like new tech (but did mention the video doorbell idea which surprised me) so I want it as simple and reliable as possible. If it was my own house Iâd be more willing to play around with it. But I already have a camera out there and pretty much never answer the door anyway, as it is typically @ronl4625âs solar folks, or FIOS trying to sell me the internet that I already have.
8 seconds isnât bad, but if it varies and may or may not work all the time, I probably should stick to my own advice, I pretty much tell everyone that amazon devices work with amazon devices, anything that requires an integration is hit or miss. Same family member has an LG washer that is supposed to announce on alexa when the cycle is done, and it never has. But if she remembers to say âalexa, ask LG how much time is left on washerâ it will tell her, but she doesnât remember that. Luckily the LG app on her phone alerts her when it is done, so good enough.
This and a hearing issue were factors for my choosing a video doorbell that can ring the homeâs built-in chime, which is traditional (so no acclimating to a new chime sound) and loud enough to be heard on the main floor for the person with the hearing issue. If thereâs no chime box upstairs where your family member hangs out, then I could see how thatâs a real issue and not the best solution. Something like a Video Doorbell v2 could ring both an in-house chime and a Wi-Fi Chime, though, and the Wi-Fi Chime could be placed anywhere thereâs power and decent wireless signal. For that matter, all of the Wyze doorbells are supposed to be able to use Wi-Fi Chime, but that depends on a reliable Internet connection, as I understand it.
I think I was previously getting Alexa announcements from my doorbell without using a Routine, but that wasnât 100% reliable, and so I switched it to a Routine at one point and then got busy with other things and didnât pay attention. That was never a high priority for me, anyway, because Iâm primarily a Google Home user. I was just curious and looking for a possible bonus announcement.
That actually works really well for me, for both the washer and dryer (both LG, and I get the phone announcements, too). I think Alexa announces for the end of cycle for the Bosch dishwasher, too, but that one usually auto-opens to air dry at the end, anyway, so timeliness is less of an issue there and I havenât paid close attention. I like the announcements for the washer and dryer, though, and I wonder why that doesnât work for your family member.
I believe it was either the first or second year they offered it. Even the app is still flaky, sometimes it shows the time left, sometimes it doesnât. Who knows maybe theyâve updated their skill and if I were to totally unconfigure and uninstall it then reinstall and start over it might start working, but sheâs used to the phone alert now so that works.
For the doorbell I just figure with the echoes already spread all around her house, no sense in putting in a wifi chime. She actually finds the regular chime startling when she is near it so that would theoretically be a bit of a bonus since I can set it up with something quieter but spread throughout the house. The Ring doorbell doesnât have the ability to ring the chime (no chime controller with that, you just jumper it out). The blink does since it runs on battery and canât charge from those wires so no need to jumper it, but I probably wouldnât even hook it up.
On one hand you have these smart home hubs, on the other hand it seems theyâre somewhat restricting other brands from working well with them, which I guess isnât terribly surprising.
If thatâs the case, then I wonder if itâs a Wi-Fi issue. The LG washer and dryer I use are from 2020. The dryer has always worked reliably with the app. The washer was always iffy with itâs Wi-Fi connection, even right next to the dryer. I thought there might be an issue with a flaky Wi-Fi module in the washer, but LG supportâs best advice (they seemed like they didnât really want to address it) was to either
unplug the washer and plug it back in (super inconvenient to reach over the washerâwhich is on a storage pedestalâand beneath a wall-mounted cabinet to try to get to the plug and unplug it in the first place, then blindly plug it back in, or
turn the power off at the breaker and then turn it back on (annoying but much easier to do in this house, even if it means trips up and down the stairs).
Power cycling always brought the Wi-Fi connection backâand I could see this when I would hit the button to turn it on and then watch the Wi-Fi symbol light up again a few seconds laterâso after doing that for a couple of months I put a Wyze Plug behind the washer and set it up with a Wyze Automation and a Google Home Routine. I could tell Google Home to turn off the washer plug, and then 20 seconds later a Wyze Automation would turn it back on, then a Google Home Routine routine would announce that the washing machineâs power had been reset. Last year I was running into other issues and decided to add a WAP to that floor (something I shouldâve done much earlier anyway), and the washerâs Wi-Fi connection has been solid since then, so I took the Plug out and can now use it for something else.
For me, the app has worked really well with the washer and dryer. The LG TVâs less reliable with the app and with maintaining its connection to Google Home. The appliances send good announcements, though, and I can ask about remaining time with either Google Home or Amazon Alexa.
That should be an advantage with Wi-Fi Chime, too. I understand that itâs capable of making a number of different chime sounds (which is helpful if youâre using it with several different cameras and want each to trigger a different sound) and has a volume control. Itâs an additional expense, though, and I totally understand wanting to maintain consistency in someone elseâs environment for that personâs comfort. I also donât have one, so Iâm repeating what Iâve read about it, which I believe to be accurate. I havenât needed one of those or felt like Duo Cam Doorbell would give me significant benefit over what I already have, so I havenât had an opportunity to play with one.
I donât think so since it sends the notification right away, she can still control it from the app even when the time isnât displaying. Wifi down there is good, Iâve made sure her whole house is well covered since there is also an Echo Dot down in the basement with the washer and dryer (at the foot of the stairs). Seems to be more of a software/programming issue. I canât remember exactly what alexa says when the app doesnât display the time but it is something along the same lines, she can communicate with it, but the response is something nonsensical. Perhaps an issue between the washer and LGâs server, as Iâm guessing there is a middleman involved. In fact I want to say in the very beginning the notifications were not working either, and I taught her how to âdrop inâ on the basement echo dot so she could hear the little song from wherever she was when it was done. But then they just started working at one point.
Sheâs never had to power cycle it, the time remaining just comes and goes, wifi is always connected (I can see that from here and can ping it all the time even when it reports no time). It does get the occasional reboot when her power goes out. It is showing 60 days wifi uptime right now which corresponds to the last time she had to reboot the router. Even though I have a plug with âreboot internetâ on it she still calls me when her Fire TV wonât play video
The washer time remaining function isnât really critical (I mean heck she could live without the notification too, though less trips down and up the stairs is always better), but reliable doorbell is. In fact I want to make sure it is one that she can talk back to the person using the echo so if sheâs fallen and the ambulance is ringing the doorbell she can confirm she is hurt so they can force entry. She of course mostly just wants to be nosy and also know if a package is out there, and not have to walk downstairs if not needed, but Iâm thinking of the extra safety features that I want there.
When all the Echo Dots went in, I told her basically every convenience feature like being able to listen to NPR in the shower, have her TV audio playing on them, checking the weather easily anywhere in the house, etc, then was like âoh and by the way, you can also ask it to call 911â. In reality, that was my main purpose for them, but didnât want her to know that. Note for anyone reading this, by default you can NOT call 911 using it, but there is a workaround (you can also set an emergency contact but it canât be 911 or an 800 number). So if she forgets to say âcall 911â and says âhelpâ instead it will call and text me.
Yeah the chimes arenât expensive, thatâs not a big deal, just seems that weâve already placed the echoes in strategic places where she can hear them all so might as well use them. The concern for me is more about consistency and reliability. Unfortunately from what I can tell, the Ring is going to be the best for that with the Amazon ecosystem, which isnât terribly surprising. The ring is actually cheap ($55 for the newest one with battery and hardwire and âhead to toeâ video). But thatâs likely to subsidize the $50 a year if you want recordings. In the grand scheme of things, not a huge expense. The combo battery/wire unit actually has the benefit of not really having to worry about upgrading the transformer, since the wires just charge the battery, so if it exceeds the capability of the transformer, it seems like it just draws a bit from the battery then tops it off if needed.
If I wanted one, since I have the wyze app (and no amazon stuff other than a fire stick) I would probably give the wyze one a try, already in the ecosystem. But doesnât look like a good fit for this situation. In reality I have a cam and a regular doorbell out there, and the cam typically notifies me before the person is able to ring the bell anyway. I guess it would just be a bit more aesthetically pleasing to have the duo doorbell than my current setup with a v4 looking outward and an OG looking downward from above, but luckily I have white siding and was able to totally hide the wires so they blend pretty well. I prefer the non-fisheye video too.
Okay, that makes more sense, and I think youâre right. When you initially saidâŚ
âŚmy first thought was about the Wi-Fi issues Iâve had with the LG washer, but then you saidâŚ
âŚso I thoughtâŚ
I wasnât getting notifications when the washer lost its Wi-Fi connection, so it probably isnât that, and
this is coming from a networking guy, so I imagine the Wi-Fi situation is very well covered already.
Then I read this:
âŚso I thoughtâŚmaybeâŚ?
Anyway, it seemed worth mentioning just in case, because improving my Wi-Fi coverage took care of my washerâs problem. Thatâs cool that you have it so well covered and can even monitor it for uptime.
You almost certainly want to stick within Amazonâs ecosystem then, because I donât think any Wyze doorbells can do that. I think that goes back toâŚ
I donât know which Amazon-owned brands do that, but it seems like youâve already done the necessary research.
I understand that, too, and reading that makes me smile. I like that youâre looking out for her.
I think thatâs the correct conclusion based on the features and capabilities youâre seeking.
Yeah, and thatâs another thing I like about Video Doorbell v2âs view when Iâve compared it to a few others. I think the downward-looking camera for packages would be cool, and thatâs really the only thing that interests me about the Duo Cam Doorbell (and I know other companies have similar products in that niche). I havenât really paid much attention to how much fisheye it has because I didnât perceive a significant benefit from changing, and Iâve already compensated for Video Doorbell v2âs view with an angled mount. Because Duo Cam Doorbell can use Chime Controller, though, and because Iâve done so much troubleshooting involving that accessory with Video Doorbell v2, I feel fairly confident trying to help people with wiring problems with both of those doorbells, and thatâs still fun for me.
Yeah sheâs well covered for wifi and remote support/monitoring. Her house has almost as much tech (and definitely more gadget/iot stuff) as mine.
Pretty much anything I can add that will help safety wise, short of putting cams inside (which she would never want and honestly neither would I) is always something I consider.
Yeah from what I gathered, the Wyze cannot talk back. It wasnât even clear if the blink could, it seems that as long as you have the sync module it can, but it wasnât 100% clear in the stuff I was reading. Seems even though they own Blink they havenât integrated it link Ring.
Seems in this use case, sticking with the native Ring and paying the $50 a year if recordings are desired is the way Iâm gonna go. The $55 wired/wireless cam actually looks pretty nice (donât believe it has a starlight sensor though, have to go with a higher end one for that).
I guess like everything else tech related, standardization is trumped by profit. Heck theyâve even managed to make USB confusing now. There are some glimmers of light like IFTTT but since the major players havenât really embraced it (other than some half baked integrations), you essentially need to be a programmer and engineer to make it work how it was intended.
I blame Apple for starting the whole ecosystem lock in thing (and @habib for supporting it )
Well if nothing else, hopefully some reference in here for people looking for what each one can/canât do well. If Alexa and the tight integration I want wasnât a factor, either the v2 or the duo would be a consideration for me.
Alexa native announcements for person and doorbell presses along with push notifications
Alexa announcements for pet, package and vehicle using Wyze smart plugs as bridges for automations and routines
TP Link XE75 (AXE5400) 6e 3 node mesh
This setup works very well for me in terms of notification results. Without critical time verifications, I can say when an event occurs, the cycle of notifications are completed within 3-5 seconds. Admittedly, the doorbell press verbal announcement on the echo speaker occurs about 1-2 after the chime (wired indoor mechanical). Alexa and push notifications to cellphone are basically indifferent from a timing perspective. Push notifications must be native to Wyze and Alexa and do not appear from automations or routines. Alexa will only do package natively with the v3Pro and Battery Cam Pro and I believe that was an error in the Wyze to Alexa AI infrastructure. All other Alexa echo package announcements are achieved thru routines with bridges as noted above in 5.
Very much improved performance with the mesh wifi upgrade.
