My Kami Doorbell battery is not staying charged when power via AC.
I did follow the instructions in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ0QpOyWZgM.
Battery was fully charged before I installed the doorbell. I just checked the doo bell connection on the Kami it is tight and is reading 20vac on my meter. Any idea why the batter isnāt staying charged when connected to the doorbell wiring?
Thank you,
Steve
@sginNC Hi, welcome to the community!
We apologize if you are having issues with your Kami Doorbell Camera battery.
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 cameraās battery life. We have made improvements to the firmware to significantly improve the cameraās 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 āHighā to āLowā.
-2. Change the āRecording Durationā 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 āNight Vision IR Lightā in Camera Settings.
-4. Using the camera for live streaming all day is not recommended and will drain the batteries.
-5. If the camera faces a high traffic area, it may also affect battery life when uploading to the cloud or microSD card as well as the numbers of trigger alerts per day.
If you have performed all the previous steps but the batteries donāt maintain long battery life, please send an email to our Technical Support: kamihome@support.com so we can proceed with the next course of action.
Have a great day ahead!
1 Like
Hi,
So the battery has been going dead now about every 3 weeks. My question is since Iām connected to the doorbell wiring, why is my battery continually draining? On your website, https://kamihome.com/kami-doorbell/ there is this statement:
The Kami Doorbell is versatile and comes with an array of different power options. You can power the Kami Doorbell by USB, AC adaptor, or Battery
You may select to power your Kami Doorbell with the rechargeable battery or connects to the existing doorbell wires for constant power.
I read this to mean I donāt have to remove the battery to recharge it since the door bell wiring will do this. It is one of the main reasons I purchased it.
Is this not the case? Is your advertising incorrect?
Thank you,
Steve
Hey @sginNC Contact our support team at www.kamihome.com/contact. It sounds like there is a defect here on the camera. If so, they can get you set up with a replacement. Feel free to include a link to this thread. And, when you reach out, send me your ticket number and I willl do whatever I can to streamline the process
I also have a Kami Doorbell but the wording that you copied into your post is very tricky. Yes, there is constant power to your doorbell but unfortunately, the constant power is not enough to run your doorbell. It requires the battery and the constant power does not charge it. So technically the word power, is a matter of interpretation. I solved the problem by installing a cheap indoor Yi camera right above the doorbell that runs on USB power and it is the backup for the doorbell. Actually works pretty good and I just leave the screw out that locks the cover and when the battery needs charging, I quickly slip the cover off, pull out the battery and charge it. At one time I thought about running a USB wire out to it and leave the charger on all the time but Tech support does not recommend it.
Steven_Kami,
Attempted to contact support again through your link. Iām not sure that it worked though. After clicking submit, the form disappear and then displays again like it didnāt get sent. I get no e-mail confirmation that the form got sent.
Iāve already sent 3 e-mails to āsupportus@yitechnology.comā back in January but have never received a reply.
Hopefully Iāll get a reply this time.
Ken1,
Thank for the reply. I must disagree though about the doorbell wiring not being able to keep the batter charged. The chargers that we all use to charge up the battery supplies 5 volts DC. The doorbell wiring, while AC, is 20 volts. More than enough to charge and keep the battery charged. Either the Kami Doorbell camera is not designed to stay charged using the existing doorbell wiring (though the Kami documentation certainly implies that) or we have defective cameras.
Yes the power of 20 volts to the door bell should be enough to keep it charged, but it doesnāt. Multiple people have complained to Kami, not just you. I have talked to Kami and they confirmed that the door bell power does not completely power the door bell or keep it charged. Their circuitry is flawed and they need to redesign it. Also, they need to put that in the description of the door bell. You can order as many new door bells as you want but they will not keep charged with the 20 volts. You might consider running a charger out to your doorbell battery and hard wire it. Iāve thought about it.
Hey @Ken1 @sginNC Thank for the feedback. Let me share this with our team. It should be enough to keep the doorbell charged. If its hardwired, it shouldnāt matter. I will escalate this to our team and get some more info.
I appreciate this.
Steve
Our QA is working on this right now. Iāll keep you posted on any updates related to doorbell.
Iām having the same problem with not being able to keep charge. I canāt believe this issue just now has come to light. I went through a lot of trouble trying to make this camera work for me, I ended up replacing my mechanical doorbell for a compatible one, just to now learn that it still does not work.
Thanks for coming to the community for more information @Ricardo Our team is currently looking into this and we will update you when we know more. For further info, please contact our support at support@kamihome.com
I am having the same issue with battery in my door bell camera not keeping a charge after 4 or 5 weeks since being installed in November 2021. It is hard wired to the door bell wiring. Contrary to the description in the Kami supplied literature.
I have reset all camera settings to the lowest usage possible as recommended in this forum, this seems crazy to me as they are sold as a Security device.
Itās not enough to have a 20V supply, you need a suitable charging circuit too which appears not to exist from reading @Kami_RA reply hence the external USB charging method.
But their website use to state the following:
But not any longer. Curiously this link,
https://help.yitechnology.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260801407150-Charging-and-Inserting-the-battery-of-the-Kami-Doorbell-Camera
states that after charging, the AC will keep the battery charged. (meaning to me I donāt have to recharge it) Never happens for meā¦
and Iāve never heard from customer service (@Steven_Kami).
I thinking of seeing if i can purchase a spare battery to keep charged.
Post linked below, further down this seems similar to what you have said, in particular Yamin (Yi rep) comments. Seems yamin disappeared shortly after that! 
Hello! This was an issue the popped up after the doorbell released back in January of 2021 and was resolved with a firmware update. I would also recommend that you keep your firmware up to date on the doorbell and we are constantly making improvements. Yamin is actually the CEO of the company, so he felt he could come in and help get this straightened out 
1 Like
Good to know. Thereās conflicting info out there about the doorbell so it would be nice to make Yamin statement stand out. 
Hello, I am having this same issue with my door bell. I went through the same steps and have battery fully charged and hardwired in and it is still draining the battery, I also have the firmware up to date, please advise