Hello - I’ve seen a few people run into the same issue, but I could not find a solution.
My Duo Cam Doorbell is connected to my house chime through the “digital chime” setup and works well.
I added an SD card for continuous recording to be able to recognize when the camera crashes - there is no recording during those periods. The camera crashes every now and then and it causes a chime to go off. This happens often during the middle of the night and is getting really frustrating. I can reproduce the issue by simply “restarting” the camera.
I was able to have less crashes (maybe one every few days), but I had to turn off all event recordings, set detection to low, remove smoke detection and all notifications - the camera was simply a live camera + chime. However, after updating to the latest firmware, the camera crashes more often and we’re getting a ghost chime 2-3 times a day.
I have now turned off continuous recording as well to see if it helps, but at that point, this camera is useless to me.
I reached out to Wyze support and they said I need a “chime controller” which is not being sold and there is absolutely no mention of it when getting this camera - so that’s not an option. What does the “chime controller” even do?
Electricity has been checked and everything is working as it should (voltages all good).
The chime controller interfaces your doorbell with a traditional mechanical chime (if you don’t want to use their digital chime or an alexa device, etc). You can buy it through the app, I think under accessories.
If your cam is crashing that often something is wrong, maybe your power transformer isn’t up to the task and needs an upgrade?
The issue with the home’s chime activating whenever Duo Cam Doorbell reboots has been discussed in at least one other topic, and in that case the user reporting the issue installed the doorbell with a wired connection to a home’s mechanical chime without the Chime Controller, which seems to be a big part of the problem for a lot of users. If you read that topic, you’ll learn that the user eventually just bypassed the home’s mechanical chime entirely by connecting the FRONT and TRANS wires together. That may be your best solution for now.
I think this provides as good an explanation of any I’ve seen so far:
A shorter answer is that having Chime Controller installed in your home’s mechanical chime box should prevent the hum/buzz/phantom chimes that many users have reported.
As for Chime Controller’s availability, that’s been one of my biggest beefs with the release of this product. The day this thing was announced, I said that they needed to sell Chime Controller as an accessory product. They did say that Chime Controller was required when a customer intended to use Duo Cam Doorbell with a home’s built-in chime, and that Help Center article (linked from my post) was available on the day of the product’s launch, but I don’t recall seeing mention of the Chime Controller’s necessity in marketing material (i.e., Duo Cam Doorbell’s product page), which seems like an oversight. I believe it should be noted in the FAQ on the product page.
What does this mean, exactly? What testing have you done, and what’s your transformer’s rating and actual output? Frequent “crashes” make me curious about power issues, and you definitely want to ensure that your power to this thing is at least adequate if you want any meaningful performance from it.
If your cam is crashing that often something is wrong, maybe your power transformer isn’t up to the task and needs an upgrade?
The transformer outputs ~24V. I think the crashes are happening because of a software issue - if I enable motion detection + power saving, it crashes pretty often.
I might attempt to return and get a new one to see if there are less crashes.
What does this mean, exactly? What testing have you done, and what’s your transformer’s rating and actual output? Frequent “crashes” make me curious about power issues, and you definitely want to ensure that your power to this thing is at least adequate if you want any meaningful performance from it.
I tested the power at the transformer, the chime box and the chime. There’s a steady 24V coming into the camera and there are no indications that it is not properly powered. Any other tests you can suggest?
I agree about the whole Chime Controller situation… It’s a bit ridiculous.
Yeah, that’s a huge disappointment, and I say that as someone who’s been really pleased with the Video Doorbell v2 and not a Duo Cam Doorbell user (and it’s almost like Wyze expected people to do a v2➜Duo upgrade path if they want to use an existing in-home mechanical chime, which might make sense for some customers but certainly is not reasonable for all). I’ve even read at least one Forum user report buying a refurbished Video Doorbell v2 just to get the Chime Controller to use with Duo Cam Doorbell, but that seems excessive and shouldn’t be necessary. This product launch has definitely had some problems.
I hope you’re able to get some resolution with this!
24 volts is only one part of the equation, the VA (similar to watts) is also important. Typically a 24 volt transformer will be 30-40VA which is plenty however if the transformer starts to wear out, that can drop significantly.
24V is also the high end of what they recommend for the doorbell, perhaps it is running the cam a bit too “hot”. Often these transformers will put out 10 to 20% more than their rating to account for the long thin wiring that most doorbells have. If it is reading higher than 24V at the doorbell, maybe that is to blame. Or perhaps it is fluctuating/dropping out at times. If you’re using that transformer for your heating system (most of those use 24V and sometimes people share them with their doorbell) or something else, perhaps the heat kicking on is what’s causing the doorbell crashes?
But if you’re using the mechanical chime without the doorbell controller, maybe that’s all it is, you could try bypassing that for a while to see if the crashes stop? At least would help narrow it down.
I agree. This is probably what I’d do—just bypass the chime box entirely and set Doorbell Chime Type (or however it’s labeled in Duo Cam Doorbell’s settings) in the app to None—while opening a ticket with Support to see if they want to replace it. That should be easy to do and still provide power to the doorbell camera unit.
Letting it run battery-only seems like a good thing to check, too, though I’ve read that battery life on these is disappointing and dependent on settings.
