Hardwire Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell

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Hello,

I purchased the Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell for our apartment in an apartment building. I want to hardwire it so I can turn on continuous record but I am not having much success.

I have a AC Power Adapter 18V AC - 500ma which was recommended as one for Wyze on Amazon. Connecting to the back of the duo cam, it charges the battery, but does not allow me to turn on continuous record. I read that connecting the jumper can provide constant power when it is used on an existing doorbell, but our apartment doesn’t have an existing doorbell so I was not about to try and put the jumper directly on the back of the camera. Something about AC positive/negative touching usually doesn’t get along.

Looking for help based on if I have the right AC Adapter, or the use of the jumper

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Edit: I have been reading some of the horror stories about getting this camera to work properly hardwred. I also noticed that 500ma is too low. Looking at getting a 24V 40VA plug in transformer but I worry if the voltage will be too high above 24V if my wiring to the camera is fairly short, but heard the 16.5V 40VA has not been helping people much.

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Welcome @tdottrucker

When I want to hook-up the doorbell to a power outlet, I use the following device. It has worked on the Wyze Doorbells I have had including the Duo Doorbell

My doorbells have all been wired via the Transformer or Using the above device. There is no issues with using it.

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Because the Duo is powered solely by the battery. Recording “Continuous” is going to deplete the battery faster than it can charge. The wires are there just to charge the battery, and not directly connected to the Duo’s electronics.

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I’ve read that it does have a connection to provide constant power. Wyze even states that the Duo Cam doorbell can record constantly to an SD card if it is provided constant power

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Wyze “documentation” isn’t always correct. This Wyze webpage says under “Tech specs”, the Duo has “Port: Micro USB with 5 cm watertight pigtail”. A pigtail?

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It also says:

  • Power: Battery or AC (10-24V AC, 60 HZ)

There are other posts on here and on Reddit where Duo Cam doorbell owners have achieved continuous recording on an SD card with constant power supplied. They even include a jumper cable that when placed on your house’s wired chime, will provide constant power. Documentation isn’t always correct that’s true, but others have confirmed that this is a feature. The app also recognizes it but is looking for constant power in order to allow me to toggle it to continuous record.

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I see this under the FAQ

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The “Learn More” has what appears to be out of date info on where to find the setting though, it’s now at:

Settings: MicroSD Card:

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I did find this Setting, but if I try to tick it, I am getting the “Continuous Recording is not supported in Battery Mode” message which brings me to the question I posted above. I have to look at the item @spamoni posted as an option. I saw 500ma though and wondered if that was too low. I recall seeing @Crease mention in other topics that it should be 30va or higher

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It records continuous when wired. I have it and love the doorbell.

The 2nd camera is nice. And the ability to use cameras as doorbells is cool too.

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I just checked my transform in the garage, and I’m connected to 16V 10VA (it doesn’t show a mA rating), and my Duo Cam Doorbell allows me to select “Continuous Recording” to the MicroSD Card.

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a search on Home Depot I found this product, it shows on it’s label: 16V AC 1875 mA:

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Assuming you are looking for a transformer that plugs into a standard outlet, perhaps something like this, at the link below, would work for you?

# Feekoon 1 Pack 16V 30VA AC Plug in Ring Doorbell Transformer, 16 Volt Doorbell Transformer Universal Adapter with PTC Fuse Compatible with Ring Nest, UL Listed

I saw many more options for 24v 40VA plug in transformers, that I’m wondering if that would be a better option.

Is anyone else running their Duo Cam Doorbell connected to 24V 40vA?

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The bottom of the box answers my question, so it appears that a 24 vdc transformer option might be the way to go:

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I don’t believe I have ever written that (but I could be wrong, so feel free to link to a quote if I have made that comment). I generally try to go by Wyze’s specifications, which are inconsistent for Duo Cam Doorbell. Depending on where you look, you can find that they recommend 10-24 V AC[1] or 16-24 V AC[2]. Looking at the power requirements for other doorbell models, they generally want to see 16-24 V AC and ≥10 VA. I think that last part might be your problem.

Recommended by whom and for what doorbell model? 18 V × 500 mA = 9 VA, which is below the threshhold of apparent power that the doorbell expects to see when wired to AC. What @spamoni recommends is 24 V × 500 mA = 12 VA, which is ≥10 VA, so I’d be inclined to try that. I suspect the doorbell isn’t getting sufficient AC power and so “thinks” it’s entirely battery powered and that’s why it’s not giving you the Continuous recording option. Note that I’m speculating because…

  1. I do not actually own Duo Cam Doorbell, so I don’t have any hands-on experience with it and am not familiar with all of its options in Settings, and
  2. :warning::high_voltage:  I am not an electrician.  :high_voltage::warning:

I think the discussion about the jumper is probably misguided with your installation, because you don’t have a built-in chime where the jumper could be installed, so there are no additional terminals in your circuit that you’d want to “jump” across. You can leave that in the box.

I think that’s the correct answer. I also wonder if there’s a step in the in-app setup where you’re asked if the doorbell is going to be installed in a battery-powered or AC-powered configuration. If that’s the case, then you may want to re-add the device so that you’re actually telling the app that it’s AC-powered. (Again, I’m speculating.)

I also want to address something else that might be causing some confusion:

Please be aware that you’re referring to two entirely different concepts and units here:

  • mA = milliampere = 0.001 ampere: unit of current
  • VA = volt Ă— ampere: unit of apparent power

As I said, I’m not an electrician, and my physics classes are in the distant past, but I still think it’s important to be aware of units, have an idea of what they mean, and use them properly in order to understand a problem and how to approach it. I hope that’s clear.

Welcome to the Forum, @tdottrucker! :wave:

Thank you for tagging me into this! I would’ve missed it otherwise, since I don’t use iOS and don’t track those topics and also because I don’t have a Duo Cam Doorbell. I really think going with @spamoni’s recommendation is going to be the easiest path forward for you here.

  1. The “Tech specs” section of the product page says this. Apparently so does the box, according to @CatHome. ↩︎

  2. The Installation Guide article in the Help Center says this: “Your existing circuit must have a minimum voltage of 16V and power output of 10VA.” ↩︎

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I am using a 24/40 transformer, but then again I am operating 2 duos and batteries are always charged so the duos can perform as expected; chimes, automations, event recordings both cloud and sdcard. Although, I did recently experience a 2 day gap when both cloud and sdcard recordings mysteriously stopped and just as mysteriously started working again. Hiccup in Wyze server perhaps?

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Just updating: Thank you @spamoni for the recommendation. This product worked perfectly and now our doorbell is recording nonstop to the SD card.

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Thanks for taking the time to post follow-up! :+1: