Hardwired Doorbell but Battery Still Drains

Community Support
,
#1

Have 4 indoor Yi cameras that work fine. Bought the Kami Doorbell and hardwired installed it. It appeared to work find for a short time, but then the battery started to drain. I re-wired and re-installed with the same issue.

On a related note - I have also had the same issue of a TON of notifications from the door regarding movement, even though I only have the lower portion of the view set up for motion sensitivity. I get countless notifications for recordings where literally nothing is moving. Perhaps that is draining the battery faster than the wires can charge it?

Another wrinkle - the only way I am able to get the chime to properly ring the doorbell (“ding” AND “dong”) is to have the chime connected to the Transformer and REAR terminals (rather than transformer and “front”). Any other configuration either doesnt ring the bell at all, or gives me only half of the “ding dong”.

I believe that the doorbell is wired properly because 1) the button ALWAYS rings my indoor bell even if the battery is dead (which suggests there is a valid connection), and 2) there will be times where the doorbell will magically have a small charge for a short time, only to drain and go offline again shortly thereafter.

Any ideas? I did reach out to support - which was very slow - but I admittedly was unable to get them the pictures of the wired indoor chime they asked for because my wife and I ended up having to travel to adopt a child. So this took a backseat for a while.

I appreciate the help!! If you would still like to see pictures of the wiring let me know and Ill get them uploaded.

#2

Hi, @MelendezA32 Welcome to the Community!

Sorry about your Kami Doorbell Camera and apologize for the experience.

Hardwiring the Kami Doorbell Camera would not charge the battery completely since the doorbell operates using the battery and does not function like charging the batteries as they should. The wires only hold the charge for the battery and are not directly charging it.

To maximize battery life for Kami Doorbell Camera, please ensure that you have the latest version of the YI/Kami Home App. Check in the camera settings to see if there is an available firmware update that can be applied to help improve the camera’s battery life. We have made improvements to the firmware to significantly improve the camera’s performance.

The most important step in maximizing the battery life of the Kami Doorbell Camera is to make sure the included batteries are fully charged before use in the camera.

Fully charge the batteries with the included battery charger, included cable, and adapter. When inserting the batteries, make sure the batteries are fully seated in the charger and all the lights turn from green to red (indicating charging). Once fully charged, the light turns from red to green (indicating fully charged).

Below are some additional settings to optimize your battery life:

-1. In Settings, Change the Alert Frequency from “High” to “Low”.
-2. Change the “Recording Duration” under Storage in Settings from the 60s (seconds) to 6s (seconds). The lower the duration, the better your battery life.
-3. If the location for the camera is well-lit and light enough, you can disable “Night Vision IR Light” in Camera Settings.
-4. Using the camera for live streaming all day is not recommended and will drain the batteries.

Also, are you using a mechanical or digital chime?

If you have performed all the previous steps but the batteries don’t maintain long battery life, please let us know right away so we can proceed with the next course of action.

#3

I am using a mechanical chime.

Thanks for the response.

I have tried these solutions based on my previous communications with Support.

In any event - if the camera is hardwired - shouldn’t it be able to withstand all the available settings on the camera? Or does having it hardwired mean I can only record short bursts? I have upgraded the doorbell camera to be a 24/7 cloud recording because of some crime in my area. Can I not use this setting with the doorbell hardwired?

Edit: I should also mention that I fully recharged the battery multiple times and had the same issue. Could it be a faulty battery? I used to be able to tell the level of the battery charge in the Yi app but now it only tells me when the battery is low.

#4

Good morning - Any update?

#5

Good afternoon,

I responded to your previous post days ago. Any other potential solutions? Should I look for a new battery?

Thanks,

#6

@Steven_Kami

Just adding you in as I see Kami_RA hasnt had any activity since 12/9.

Any insight you may be able to add to the thread? I am really hoping I don’t have to scrap my system for a Ring system because of this issue.

1 Like
#7

Hey @MelendezA32 Apologies for the delay. Thank you for your patience. Can you share with me the ticket number you got when you contacted our support team? You can even drop the photos of your hardwired doorbell here on the forum. I can share them with our support team for guidance.

1 Like
#8

PXL_20211227_230949311
PXL_20211227_2309493113072Ă—4080 1.78 MB

Sorry for the delay on my end too! I have attached a picture of the wired indoor mechanical chime. This wiring is the only way I get both the “ding” and the “dong” when using the Kami.

568900 is the previous ticket number.

E: @Steven_Kami - Though I replied but looks like I made this a separate comment. Tagging you so you see this.

1 Like
#9

No worries! Let me share with our team here and see what I can find out.

#10

Good morning, @Steven_Kami

Any update on this? My wife and I had to travel out of town, and so I charged the battery up, and it lasted about 19 days and is now again telling me the battery is low. The only thing that changed this time around was that I changed the settings so that it was doing as little recording/capturing as possible. The battery did last longer, but obviously not continuously. The app is still showing the plug symbol as if the doorbell is hardwired.

Should I try getting a new battery? Any other thoughts?

1 Like
#11

Hi @Steven_Kami - just keeping the thread fresh. Please respond when you are able. I am getting several low battery notifications a day now, which makes me wonder if the battery charges at random times.

1 Like
#12

It should keep the battery charged at all times. Is there any issue with the connection? Have you tried to recently update your firmware? Apologies for my delay @MelendezA32 Lets get this figured out.

1 Like
#13

@Steven_Kami Thanks for your reply.

I have no reason to think that there is an issue with the wiring. I rewired the doorbell twice now, both using new wire nuts and making sure that the wires were completely connected. I guess the only other explanation would be that the wiring in the wall is deficient. However in all the years I’ve lived in this house I have never had the doorbell not ring when it’s pressed. I would imagine if it were the wiring then at some point I would have experienced pressing the bell with no sound.

Firmware is up to date.

Have you ever experienced an issue with a defective battery not properly taking a charge? That’s where my mind keeps going to based on the symptoms I am experiencing.

1 Like
#14

Hey @MelendezA32 That could be a cause. Have you contacted our support team yet? If its defective, they can get you set up with a replacement. Let me know your ticket number if you have and I can speed things up.

If not, go to www.kamihome.com/contact and we will get the ball rolling

1 Like
#15

Thanks, @Steven_Kami.

I never got that far with support. Ticket number was 568900. If I should reach out that way again just let me know.

Thanks, again.

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#16

Hi @Steven_Kami,

Just checking in.

Any update?

Thanks

1 Like
#17

Hey @MelendezA32 I dont see any new correspondence on this ticket. We need to open up a new one in order to get this squared away. I will send you an email from our support to get the ball rolling.

1 Like
#18

@Steven_Kami

Good morning! I know that you sent me the request to get the ball rolling on the replacement. I actually just ended up buying another kami doorbell altogether since I will ultimately be mounting one on my back door as well. I used the “new” battery in the “old” kami doorbell and it’s been going strong for weeks now.

I tried to just look up a replacement battery based on the model number but haven’t been able to find anything. Is it not possible to just buy a replacement battery, even aftermarket?

Thanks,

1 Like
#19

Hi @MelendezA32,

I have the same issue with my Kami DoorBell battery draining after 2 days, even with settings basically turned OFF??

I have an extra battery and until a couple of weeks ago, I would get about a month before the Kami Doorbell camera goes OFFLINE???

Hoping to find out your ultimate solution to your
DoorBell battery problem.

Thank you,
JD

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