I’m having very poor results with the duo cam doorbell as an upgrade to my existing Wyze doorbell cam.
I connected the duo cam to the same hardwired supply used by the original Wyze doorbell. It refuses to charge its battery. It is also extremely unstable in terms of its ability to stay connected to the cloud, both the web view and the Android app are constantly losing connection.
I’ve verified the supply voltage with a meter, also replaced the transformer to eliminate that as a root cause. The power is supplied directly, there is no old chime in the circuit.
I’m guessing this unit might be super fussy about the supply voltage, but that seems an undesirable functional characteristic for something being wired into a doorbell circuit (one which ran my original Wyze doorbell cam for years).
Since most others are not reporting this same problem, it could be worth contacting support about it especially since you did such great troubleshooting and your previous doorbell works fine. Maybe this unit just needs to be replaced or something, but if a replacement does the same thing then I would highly suspicious there is some other kind of widespread issue.
Mine was charging ( I exactly replaced a WDC Pro that had been in since I ordered it day one of release and installed it a few days later ) the WDC Pro charged fine. I moved the WDC pro to a back door and ran wire and added a dedicated transformer ( exact same make model used for 2+ years when the WDC Pro was a the front door - and it’s working fine )
Back to the Duo Cam
I have 26.4 volts at the transformer and 25.9@ the doorbell with a 40va transformer. I did check just after install and it was charging and charging just fine for probably 2 days, then I added in the WiFi chime yesterday and noticed today it’s not charging. I’m not sure if adding the chime somehow broke the charging or the firmware update I applied but “Houston we have a problem”. Maybe a firmware fix is needed, I’ll wait till after the weekend and see what’s up before I address support. I did send in a log with a detailed explanation. I double checked a few minutes ago. Voltage is 25.9 at the terminals on the back of the Duo Cam. Battery is a 70% ( was 72% at 7:30 AM ).
The behavior I’m seeing is similar – I can get it to show hardwired in the app intermittently by doing different things (removing SD card, switching voltage from 24 to 16), but then it drops into battery mode again. I also tried a different battery, made no difference. I’m not crazy about the wire nuts and jumpers they included, will try some soldered-on jumpers over the weekend to see if it makes any difference; might also try to downgrade the firmware in case there’s some regression with the update it applied after install.
Def something is amuck, mine is down to 63% battery from this mornings 70. So it’s not charging and eating battery with minimal detections. I’ll try some reset stuff on Monday. Soldering the connections isn’t going to do anything over a wire nut to cure the issue we’re seeing. It’s AC and if you’ve got voltage at the camera screws, you’re good.
Did a little more experimentation – eliminated the wiring as the issue by taking the camera right to the transformer and wiring it with a short lead; issue persists. Also did a factory reset while in that configuration, didn’t help.
Ugh, support keeps coming back saying “you must have an existing chime to hardwire”, then sending me a link to the install instructions which say to bypass the existing chime…FFS.
Most people in “support” have never seen the item they are supporting in operation or installed anything in any way different than the manual says. My WCD Pro was wired directly from a X former. Which is exactly as it’s wired if you “bypass” the mechanical chime. Wires going from Xformer to chime from chime to doorbell but bypassing the chime = Xformer wired to doorbell with no chime. When bypassed, it makes a power circuit that’s continuous to the WDB vice prior which having a door bell closes the circuit when pushed and makes chime ring. - which you and I and just about everyone can understand - except “support” reading from the script they are required to not deviate from. Remember when you could describe a scenario to the guy at the hardware or farm store and he would give you 3 ways to do it. - ya that knowledge of how to think doesn’t exist anymore.,
This is frustrating to read, in part because I’m stubborn and want to see problems solved and also because it looks like you did good testing, but I understand when it makes sense to cut your losses and move on.
I’m curious about one thing in your first photo, though: Is that a switch you installed for your previous doorbell so that you could easily cut power for power-cycling that unit without throwing a breaker? I’ve read elsewhere on the Forum of people doing something like this, especially earlier this year when some users were having problems with dropped Wi-Fi and reconnection issues with Video Doorbell v2, but I haven’t seen it demonstrated before.
This is similar to the impression I often get when contacting Wyze Support. I haven’t ever called them, because I prefer e-mail, but I frequently feel like the Wyze Wizards writing to me have no hands-on experience with the equipment they’re trying to support, and that’s one of the things that I believe so many community participants in the Forum bring: that real-world experience solving problems.
It’s difficult to find anyone in a field that actually uses their product since people have become just a faceless number to companies. I remember when you went to a car dealer for service and the whole mechanics parking was the brand the dealer sold. Now it’s all Hondas at the GM or Stallentis dealers ( but who can blame them really ). The Motorcycle dealers sales, parts and service persons all rode MCs, now my local dealers most don’t even have a bike. If you go to buy an RV, ask the sales person what RV they own and how much they camp. Now it’s just a paycheck with no passion, allegiance or personal use of the product or a desire to know more than the manufacturers brochure. I talked to a guy in construction about a sealant, he said “ya we use that, it doesn’t hold up well and we have a lot of callbacks” how is that a business process?. I’ve looked up specs online and then gone to look at something and pulled up the specs and asked about something and gotten “well you know more about it than me” from the salesperson who just blow it off
I just got an email from Wyze ( after yesterdays call) where I explained that I have voltage (correct voltage) and a 40va ( plenty of power) and got an email for a picture of the transformer bypass. The phone call specifically addressed how I had 1 for 1 just swapped the cameras ( a Pro for the Duo ) and the duo worked for 2 days charging. I suppose I have to jump through a bunch of hoops and ultimately find out either it’s a hardware problem or that firmware devs know about the issue but haven’t told support.
Good eye, I had installed the blade switch back in the early Wyze Doorbell v1 days to make it easy to reboot without killing the entire circuit the transformer was wired to.
Thinking about other topics I’ve read and returning to the first picture from your test, I’m looking again at your setup and wondering about your transformer. In the photo, it looks like you’re using a tri-volt transformer and with the Duo Cam Doorbell connected to the terminals for 16V-10VA. What happens if you test using the terminals for 24V-20VA?
