Amcrest Doorbell

[Thoughts4You]

If you add the camera to Amcrest Surveillance Pro, you can adjust the color settings in the Device Config menu there.

Perfect!!

[amcrest168]

i think i have stumbled on something fatal. support ticket 323977.

do not make any attempt to change any of the ad110 preset values using the amcrest ip config tool. making any change to the preset values could render the ad110 to go offline and become unresponsive. factory reset button no longer works when ad110 is unresponsive.

[Revo2Maxx]

Well that don't sound like fun.

[amcrest168]

i think it's good that i've stumbled on something fatal for the amcrest product and r&d teams to investigate. i totally understand the ad110 doorbell is part of the new smart home series designed to work with the smart home app via ios and android smartphones. the doorbell has preset config values that should not be changed or else the doorbell will not properly function as designed but when the doorbell's preset config values can be accessed through legacy apps, the doorbell should not go totally unresponsive to the point of no return. config changes should not affect the firmware and the bootloader. the factory reset button should remain operational so the conflicting configuration can be cleared and be set back to preset values.

product testing is fun because testing is all about finding the bugs and features but ONLY with good product testing support. i understand it's the holidays hence i have been patiently waiting for someone from amcrest to tell me what's the next step. there are only two buttons on the doorbell and perhaps someone from the amcrest r&d team knows of a way to wake up the ad110 doorbell from a coma. if not, then at least i know i can stop waiting and for me to start arranging for an exchange.

[Revo2Maxx]

Yeah that is for sure not good... Sorry to hear you Bricked your Doorbell camera... You make some really good Points...

What have you done so far to try and make it live? As an Idea and I don't know just an Idea... have you tried to Remove power from the Device and hold the reset button while someone plugs in or turns on the Breaker to restore power and see if that can give it a Heart Beat?

[amcrest168]

first thing i did was to try the hardware reset button. held it down for at least 15 seconds but nothing happened. i then held down the reset button indefinitely and the ring light then flashes in dark blue > green > blue sequence but nothing else happened. the ring light turned back to blue after releasing the reset button--still unable to perform the factory reset.

next was to cut the power via the breaker. the blue ring light stayed on when the power was cut. the internal pictures posted on the fccid.io shows at least two capacitors that would help explain why the blue light stayed on when the power was cut.

Cap.PNG (887.25 KiB) Viewed 9544 times

so i removed the entire doorbell and left it alone for a couple of hours for the blue ring light to go out. reinstalled the doorbell powered it back on. ring light turned back as blue but the hardware reset button remains unresponsive.

i have thought of holding down the reset button before powering on the doorbell thinking perhaps the doorbell has a built-in ftp recovery server for firmware flashing but since i can't communicate with the unit, there is no point for me to check if it the unit has a built-in ftp recovery. exploring jtag is definitely out. i don't even have a firmware file.

and one very important thought--anything other than working with the reset button alone is outside the scope of a normal end-user product testing.

[Revo2Maxx]

Interesting... I hope that isn't yours if you want a RMA lol. I know it isn't just saying though... So 2 1.5F 2.7v Super Cap and see the Classic 4 Diode Bridge Rectifier, Relay, 220uf 50v SMD cap, Fuse, snubber network.... SO this is what is the Power supply for the Doorbell where is the camera part lol jk...

Please no one take your Doorbell apart... Unless you don't want a Warranty if ever needed...

[djsteve]

I also found that changing configuration for bitrate and frame count of the doorbell via an Amcrest DVR interface caused the doorbell to lockup and refuse to acknowledge a hard reset button press. However, I was able to recover from the state (two times, no less - I'm hardheaded!) by pulling power at the physical interface to my mechanical chime. After restoring the connection I was able to re-enable the initial configuration setup of the Doorbell via the mobile app.

[amcrest168]

@djsteve, i have disconnected the power to the mechanical chime as you have described; only the doorbell was connected to the transformer. i was still unable to perform a factory reset or to turn on the hot spot. one observation though when i held down the reset button for about a minute, the blue ring flashes a few times then the light goes out then it comes back on as solid blue however neither the factory reset nor the hot spot function was restored. either the doorbell is truly bricked or i have a defective unit.

[kabon360]

i think i have stumbled on something fatal. support ticket 323977.

do not make any attempt to change any of the ad110 preset values using the amcrest ip config tool. making any change to the preset values could render the ad110 to go offline and become unresponsive. factory reset button no longer works when ad110 is unresponsive.

I actually had this issue with the first unit I got. After returning it, it went out of stock for awhile on Amazon, then when back in stock it shipped directly from Amcrest with an updated firmware and STRICT instructions to enable the chime kit.

But also when poking around in the settings (because I like to ), I noticed that the camera ip settings default to 192.168.0.108 and static. Obviously I changed these to my correct values to match the static ip i have set up through the router.

My theory is the bricking issue is related to the chime kit regulating power (reset button no longer working). You can find my longer theorizing on my amazon review. But the ip resetting to the above default values might be why it can't connect (flashing blue).

I think they are two separate issues that just happen to coincide...the power regulation resets it and disables the reset button somehow, which then sends the network to the preset 192.168.0.108 settings. Note the .0. subnet, not a lot of routers default to that...most are the .1. subnet.

But like I said, just some armchair theorizing.

Edit - I've not had this bricking issue since the replacement device and upgraded firmware, even though I've played around plenty in the settings.