AD110 - frequent reconnects/reboots

[Revo2Maxx]

Yeah sadly there is some issues with people having light issues at night and the camera going on and off IR over and Over.. Mine would do this so I changed out my Light on my Front Porch with a Brighter LED bulb Before I was using a Battery backup bulb rated at 5watts. Now I have a 9watt bulb and my camera stays in color all night..

My issue would be that it would change to B/W and IR then a car would come down the hill and beam its lights into the camera and it would turn on color once it was out of view the B/W and just got tired of it... By the way I wanted to say that if your Camera is going offline at night with IR then there is a issue with either your Wiring or your Transformer if it is setup with a 16vac 30va transformer as they say that is good enough... Main issue is there is 2 Large Caps in the camera that get Charged up when plugged onto power. This is because when you press the button the power to the Camera is CUT and is a Pass through. Once button is no longer being pushed the power returns to the camera and starts charging the CAP... When a Transformer is not large enough it will power the camera until the IR comes online then the Camera will Discharge the caps before the Transformer can power them back up

Another issue can be Voltage Drop over Distance and or to small of wiring for the doorbell camera and such..

Another thing that people need to be aware of.. Lets say your using a 5strand 20ga total wire and when someone stripped the wires they cut off 3 of the strands that wire is no longer a 20ga wire and can suffer loss.. While it will be there but when the Extra power is needed say at night with the IR that extra power will not make it because the side of wire is to small.. TBH in my mind 20ga wire is to small to start with...

[AD110Broken]

I have confirmed this issue with two separate AD110 units. As soon as the IR lights turn on, the doorbell will power cycle and announce to the entire neighborhood that you have a doorbell until the sun comes up. It might be worth pulling one apart and measuring the capacitors with a multi-meter. I wonder if the Unify doorbell cam is the way to go?

[Revo2Maxx]

Yeah I am not sure but I can say that if you have 2 and that same problem is with both then it isn't an issue with the AD110...

So i have done loads of testing in my time with these doorbells.. I have fried a Chime Kit buy using a 24vac transformer to where the doorbell just rings and rings after connecting it back to the 16vac side of my transformer and yes the test wasn't testing the doorbell rather then removed from doorbell only working with the Camera because my doorbell is for 16vac...

So what does this leave? Well Chime kit i am going to guess that isn't the issue for you, Wiring? Transformer? and while wiring might not be the true issue it could be power over distance and wrong sized wires...

Oh one other thing I found as well. After connecting my camera to the 24vac pegs of my transformer and only running it for a very short time now when I connect back to the 16vac side the Transformer is no longer producing the voltage it was before doing the other connection... It does stay above 16vac however it is now 1vac lower then it was before the 24vac test... While this might not be an issue with other people supplies I know there are just some poorly built ones that under preform to start with...

Take camera grab some 18ga wiring and connect it to the transformer with less then a foot of wires and see what happens if you have power issue after this then there is an issue with camera.. My guess is wiring or transformer.. Testing the Supply without a load isn't going to help Need to test power at camera and at transformer and if there is a huge drop in voltage then replace transformer... However if you have enough Bell wiring or 18awg wiring laying around I would run a Test lot of wire because it could be to small or damaged wires as well...

[pommie]

Hi all,

Im also having this re-boot issue although mine happens all the time.
I checked the latest online manual and it still stipulates power requirements as 16 - 24VAC.

I also contacted technical support who told me that the device would work with 800ma

I purchase a 16V AC 1.5amp power supply
https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/dos ... ly-ac1615/

i have the same reboot issues everyone has mentioned.

Can Amcrest tell me exactly what power supply i need to purchase to make this work? Can you please send me a link to the device so i dont waste anymore money.

Thank you

[Revo2Maxx]

Please don't use 24vac it will Brick your Chime Kit

Are you using this via Direct line or though wires that are installed in your home?

If you are doing this.. Seeing this says it is 1.5amps and that fits within the limits I have tested to work.. I would try if you don't have the doorbell camera connected Direct to the power supply I would test with that where there is nothing between the doorbell camera and the supply. Connect the Chime Kit from Amcrest to the 2 power leads and connect the 2 power leads to the doorbell camera and test to see if you have the same result as you have now if it works better there could be an issue with the wiring you have between..

Also if you have a Meter I would test your transformer and see what the Voltage Drop is. If you turn on this power supply and test with no load and it comes out to 16vac but when you add the cameras load to it the power drops to 9 to 10vac then the issue is the supply is not of quality..

IF you have a current Clamp meter I would test the current of the power supply and make sure it don't fail the test if your Voltage test is good.. Sometimes people over state Current specs to sell a product that most times to people that don't need 1.5amps but think they are getting a good deal and it is only 10% of the true rated output... And 150ma isn't going to have enough power to keep the camera happy...

[pommie]

Hi James,

Many thanks for your detailed response. The information you have provided is 10 x more useful that what i received from Amcrest directly.

Can you please explain why the specifications in their instruction state between 16V - 24V? AC
Is there an ideal voltage that the doorbell should be ran at?
How would 24V brick the chime as it appears to be only two solenoids in there and no other electrical components?

I have already done what you suggested and hooked up the Doorbell directly to the power supply. Its been running without reboots now for a couple of days so the wiring and Doorbell are definitely OK.

Note: the power supply i purchased is 16v, 1.38A
https://www.auselectronicsdirect.com.au ... -bare-ends

The Door Chime i purchased specs are 16V, 10 VAC https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0 ... UTF8&psc=1

In your opinion should the power supply be sufficient to power both devices?

I do have a metre so i can test certain things but i dont have a current clamp.
What do you think the VAC output should be with the camera is connect?

Thanks again

[Revo2Maxx]

Ok first 16vac is what your Doorbell is asking for.. The Chime Kit that I am referring to is the one (White box) you got from Amcrest 24vac is bad for that box...

2 that is pre info released before things started to happen.. I have made a few different videos of issues and what can or should do with these doorbell cameras.. Sadly once you brick the CHIME KIT it needs to be replaced and Amcrest don't sale them alone so your Camera would have to be RMA and sent back and get a new one just to get a new Chime KIT and sadly that is not cool in my book but it is what it is...

at 16vac 1.38amps is the same as saying 16vac at 22.08 watts or 22watts to be fair... While yes this can work just keep in mind that it is little lower then I personally would like to see to make sure things work at all hours day or night at all conditions... Here is why...

if your system works in night time mode aka with IR on, your transformer is working harder to keep your camera going, If your Wifi is weak and the camera has to keep boosting the ability to the camera to stay connected it is going to require more power, After the doorbell button is pushed, person is using system to talk with user it is going to need more power

WHATEVER you do Please don't try to update the Cameras FW at night with that low of a power supply it will more then likely Brick it... I have ran 2 doorbells on a 16.5vac 35va however that is 2.12amps and I have had them both running on IR 1 in chime mode other in stand alone without issues.. However it is hard on the Power Supply when both cameras were started at the same time and to be fair the supply was under rated seeing it did require 2.45amps at one point and the cameras worked past that however it wasn't running at that power factor for much time

My voltage drop was kind of large under pressure as well starting voltage was 17.92vac and would drop down to 16.97ish however I do thing if I remember right it also had gone down as low as 16.7... However under normal load was above 17.5x at most of my testing...

So my Comment of testing the camera with a Direct connection to the Power supply is when there is a connection issue with being powered over a system with doorbell connected, Issue would be bad wiring or (to small of Wire) bad chime or to small of Power Transformer. To test and remove issues is to power direct to see if the same issue happens when wired direct if so then would need to do some testing for wiring and other hardware installed to know what needs replacing...

Please also note that when you make a connection for your doorbell your camera is not being powered only the doorbell.. Once the doorbell is over the camera is getting power again this time more current is flowing to charge the cameras CAPS that keep it running after power is removed.. So I am clear what I mean, When Button is pushed on camera doorbell, the camera clicks a Relay that passes power past like when you push a normal doorbell button and at this time the doorbell isn't taking any power for its self.. Once that relay clicks out now the doorbell is being powered and for a short time it can be as high as 1amp, it normally sits around 100-200ma of current constantly flowing to the camera.. That is no IR on, no talk, nothing but camera just waiting for something or someone to act with it...

16vac transformer with 30 va is same as 1.875amps and is said Minimum requirements.. With a Mechanical Doorbell the time is only 3seconds or your transformer might be ok as long as you don't have a large voltage drop issue...

Test your Voltage at the power supply no load, Then test the power supply with camera connected then test your power at the doorbell camera. Then you will want to test the Voltage drop at the doorbell after the button has been pressed and right after your inside doorbell is no longer ringing.. If your power ever dips down past 16vac then it is not strong enough... 15.9x is fine within tolerance However if it is 15.7x it may work but will be starting starve for power..

[pommie]

Thanks James, long post but i think ive understood everything you have written.

I'll do some load testing next and let you know the outcome, If a 16VAC , 30VA power supply is what is sufficient to power both devices then ill simply try and hunt one down.

Notes: My wifi signal is very strong, im running unify AC Pro WAPs in my house.

Additional note: My camera is also connected to the my Synology Surveillance station and stream media constantly without any issues.


Cheers

[pommie]

Hi again,

I've got some test results although not sure what the next step is.

Voltage without any load = 19.16v AC (its states its a 16V power supply though)
Voltage with doorbell connected = 18.97V
Voltage with Doorbell pressed = I noticed it dropped to 14V for litrally half a second then went back to 18.97V

I also connected just the Door chime on its own and it read 17.78V

Do i connect both devices not in series and measure the voltage across the Door Chime terminals?

Thanks

[pommie]

OK so i measure the voltage across the door bell terminals with my door chime connected and the voltage was 17.5V

The doorbell connects to the my wifi and you hear the announcement, you can see the video for a few seconds then you lose connection and the re-boot starts.

I watched this happen and even though you lose the connection the blue light on the doorbell remained lit up.

Any thoughts?