How to power smart doorbell?

[johnagall]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to have a smart doorbell installed. Essentially when pressed they allow you to have a video call with the person at the door from anywhere using your mobile.

They can be wired to a previous doorbell or can run on batteries though it seems batteries drain rapidly.

My question is can power be taken from our outdoor PIR front door lamp at all? The outdoor lamp is controlled by a switch in the hallway near the front door.

 

[333rocky333]

its unlikely you can use mains AND battery, therefore it would only work when the switch and light is powered ON but off via the pir .
its also unlikely to have a Neutral at the switch so thats proberly not a possible connection point.
Its proberly easier to site the transformer somehere convenient and run a smaller lower voltage cable to the unit

 

[Echo the husky]

It would be useful to know what models you were thinking of getting as the wiring is likely to vary. It's not something I've ever seen before.

 

[johnagall]

Here's the product with a wiring diagram link https://ring.com/installation

 

[Echo the husky]

That looks good. I take it you don't have an existing wired doorbell? If not I would just recharge the unit every now and again if power is not easily available for a transformer.

 

[johnagall]

No current wired doorbell I'm afraid but I wondered if installing one would be straightforward?

 

[333rocky333]

Freddo, where does it say you can recharge it.
I could not make sense of that wiring diagram either

 

[Echo the husky]

You can recharge it with the supplied USB lead, battery should last about 12months depending on use before needing recharging. You wire it in series with an existing AC door bell system, simply replace the old push button with the Ring unit. Their wiring diagram is rather confusing, took me a while to work out what was going on.

If you don't have a door bell and want to power it from the mains to save having to recharge the Ring, you need a standard AC doorbell transformer and a series connected chunky wire wound resistor. There is no mention of installing the resistor with consideration to heat being dissipated so I assume the large size allows it to run cool.

It may be easier to fit the transformer somewhere convenient near a mains supply then run the small and easier to conceal ELV cable to the Ring unit.

 

[johnagall]

Thanks for responses guys. Much appreciated

 

[Echo the husky]

Freddo, where does it say you can recharge it.
I could not make sense of that wiring diagram either

It's briefly shown in the installation video.

 

[333rocky333]

Freddo your a genius

Edit, I didnt watch that video, though I did find there burglar ones amusing.
However, how come the videos start BEFORE the bell was rung, I was under the impresion it was only activated by the bell being pushed

 

[Echo the husky]

Briefly:
DOES RING™ VIDEO DOORBELL PROVIDE A LIVE VIDEO FEED?
No, currently the camera turns on when the button on the front of Ring Doorbell is pushed, or when motion is detected. On-demand remote camera access is a feature we are looking into.

CAN I RECORD/STORE THE VIDEO FROM THE CAMERA?
Yes. With our optional Cloud Video Recording service, all video footage and audio recordings captured by your Ring Doorbell is stored in our secure cloud servers for up to 6 months from the date of the activity. You can access and download these videos anytime with the Ring App or online at www.ring.com/account/activity. Ring Doorbells are not able to send videos to network attached local storage.All Ring Doorbells come with a 30 day trial of our Cloud Video Recording service that activates automatically when your Ring Doorbell comes online. After the thirty day trial period, optional Cloud Video Recording subscriptions are $3/month or $30/annually for each Ring Doorbell.

Ring Doorbells are not able to send videos to network attached local storage.

That's a bit disappointing.