New Amcrest AD410 doorbell Cam Review

[EMC]

Regarding the tape fix for the night vision IR halo effect. I had my wife whip up a black vinyl 10mm ring (inner diameter of opening) for the lense on her Silhouette machine which I think turned out nice. Results of removing the IR reflection is perfect. Thanks for this solution as I have been putting up with the horrible night vision for over a year.

 

[GaryOkie]

That's definitely the cleanest fix I've seen - very nice! I guess you were out of warranty to have Amcrest replace it with a good one? They fixed their manufacturing issue several months ago.

 

[EMC]

That's definitely the cleanest fix I've seen - very nice! I guess you were out of warranty to have Amcrest replace it with a good one? They fixed their manufacturing issue several months ago.

Yes when I purchased, all the reviews on returned units said that the 2nd and 3rd units they got back were still flawed so I didn't bother risking sending it back and getting another bad one. I just lived with it until I finally found this thread. I'm satisfied with the hack job until the next improved ONVIF compatible doorbell comes along.

Prior to this Amcrest AD410 I had the Nelly's security DB2 which had a great picture and was very reliable but eventually the bell button broke and they had stopped producing them.

 

[EMC]

Just had my camera go offline yesterday and found a perplexing issue when I went through troubleshooting.

The case had peeled open at the bottom and I could not get it to respond with any power source, USB or transformer. I thought maybe the kids had hit it with a ball or something.

I decided to do a post mortem and disassembled the camera. Once all screws for the case were removed, plastic bits fell from it.

What happened was the lithium battery had "puffed" to the extent that it broke the screw holes on the front case and split it open.

Power supply was totally dead.

I wonder if the extreme heat we've had this summer was too much for the battery to handle.

I immediately jumped on Amazon and bought an overnight replacement and just hooked it all up on my old camera's mount and chime kit today.

Changed the ip address to my old static one and blue iris started streaming it no problem.

We'll see if this replacement is new enough that the night vision halo is not a problem. And hopefully I can get more than a year out of it until the next improved models come along.

 

[GaryOkie]

Nice work on your doorbell autopsy and reporting your findings! I've heard of one other report of the AD410 dying in this heat dome.

Amcrest rates the op temp to 120F, but sustained high heat is definitely bad for lithium batteries. For a technical explanation, see: What causes lithium batteries to swell?

I've read that Ring doorbells just shut down when they experience sustained high heat. Doubtful that Amcrest/Dahua has any protective mechanism other than fuses.

 

[EMC]

Nice work on your doorbell autopsy and reporting your findings! I've heard of one other report of the AD410 dying in this heat dome.

Amcrest rates the op temp to 120F, but sustained high heat is definitely bad for lithiumbatteries.

Agreed, and having a black case with the sun hitting it probably ups that temp over the limits for part of the day. This might be an argument for white cased doorbells in my future.

 

[TechBill]

Just had my camera go offline yesterday and found a perplexing issue when I went through troubleshooting.

The case had peeled open at the bottom and I could not get it to respond with any power source, USB or transformer. I thought maybe the kids had hit it with a ball or something.

I decided to do a post mortem and disassembled the camera. Once all screws for the case were removed, plastic bits fell from it.

What happened was the lithium battery had "puffed" to the extent that it broke the screw holes on the front case and split it open.

Power supply was totally dead.

I wonder if the extreme heat we've had this summer was too much for the battery to handle.

I immediately jumped on Amazon and bought an overnight replacement and just hooked it all up on my old camera's mount and chime kit today.

Changed the ip address to my old static one and blue iris started streaming it no problem.

We'll see if this replacement is new enough that the night vision halo is not a problem. And hopefully I can get more than a year out of it until the next improved models come along.

If you don't mind, would you take a photo of the battery and share it in here. I am curious what the internal look like and I do expect probably having to replace the battery myself one of those days. If you can see any numbers or label on the battery it'll be awesome if you could take a photo of it or type it out in this thread too!

Thanks

 

[EMC]

If you don't mind, would you take a photo of the battery and share it in here. I am curious what the internal look like and I do expect probably having to replace the battery myself one of those days. If you can see any numbers or label on the battery it'll be awesome if you could take a photo of it or type it out in this thread too!

Thanks

Sure thing. Good idea to preemptively replace it.

 

[TechBill]

Sure thing. Good idea to preemptively replace it.View attachment 168978

Thank you!

 

[EMC]

Thank you!

If you happen to locate a source for these, I wouldn't mind trying to swap this bad one and see if it will fire up my old camera again. I have a feeling the power supply might be done though.

 

[GaryOkie]

I would think the doorbell should power up with or without that bad battery connected. A common issue is a tiny SMD fuse gets blown with transformer overvoltage, but USB power works. But given that you have already unsuccessfuly tried USB power, I seriously doubt a new battery will help. It's not capable of powering the whole camera and is probably just for maintaining memory during voltage drops.

If you want to try it anyway, Amazon lists many 3.7v lithium polymer batteries, but I did not see one specifically labeled 652023p. Most are rectangular, but here's a square one (0.79 x 0.79 x 0.24 inches ) that might work fit:

https://a.co/d/cRCSzUG

Other reports of swelling lithium batteries in comparable doorbells -

 

[TechBill]

Yes I did, but everything is working fine (like before).

I learned something new today but it applies to Scrypted so maybe it also applies to HA as well too.

For 2 way to work better, the record audio to SD card need to be disabled or turn off.

 

[TechBill]

is anyone still sitting on firmware version 1.000.0000000.7.R.210220 ? I need a copy please for the Scrypted plugin. The newer ones are crippled.

Thank you

 

[GaryOkie]

@TechBill - I've stayed on this original release but I don't have the firmware bin for it. You will have to ask Amcrest support for it.

I am curious though, what exactly is crippled with the latest 20230221 firmware? I do know that the interim version 20221201 did in fact cripple the event API but this was fixed in the latest.

 

[GaryOkie]

@EMC - Just an FYI - but it appears that "WiFi antenna" that is layered on top of the lithium battery isn't an antenna, but a heater! Found a similar heating element here.

Now that's a nice engineering element to keep the battery healthy in extreme cold. I've actually not heard of any AD410's (and cousins) failing in near or below zero F.

With this ongoing extreme heat I think we'll be hearing more about lithium battery failures in many other devices. In fact, my dash-mounted solar-powered TPMS bust open with a swollen battery a few days ago! The battery in it is the same size as the AD410.

A bigger concern is what is the increased potential for a swollen battery to spontaneously combust?

EDIT: Just asked AI Bard this question, and the reply:

According to the University of Illinois, if left unchecked, a swollen lithium battery can continue to generate more gas and create heat, eventually rupturing the battery. In severe cases, with the heightened temperature, flammable electrolyte, plus oxygen, a fire could occur1. Environmental factors such as exposure to high temperatures can cause the battery to swell due to the expansion of the electrolyte2.

 

[TechBill]

@TechBill - I've stayed on this original release but I don't have the firmware bin for it. You will have to ask Amcrest support for it.

I am curious though, what exactly is crippled with the latest 20230221 firmware? I do know that the interim version 20221201 did in fact cripple the event API but this was fixed in the latest.

Got the firmware.

The fps was capped at 15fps with keyframe interval seem to be capped at 1. Also, the logo couldn't be removed from the video.

I was helping someone to get it working with Scrypted for AI feature and they had the latest firmware that was preventing it from working with Scrypted. It's all good now.

Bill

 

[TechBill]

@EMC - Just an FYI - but it appears that "WiFi antenna" that is layered on top of the lithium battery isn't an antenna, but a heater! Found a similar heating element here.

Now that's a nice engineering element to keep the battery healthy in extreme cold. I've actually not heard of any AD410's (and cousins) failing in near or below zero F.

With this ongoing extreme heat I think we'll be hearing more about lithium battery failures in many other devices. In fact, my dash-mounted solar-powered TPMS bust open with a swollen battery a few days ago! The battery in it is the same size as the AD410.

A bigger concern is what is the increased potential for a swollen battery to spontaneously combust?

EDIT: Just asked AI Bard this question, and the reply:

Wow ... that not good but good thing you caught it and not exploded in your vehicle

Bill.

 

[EMC]

@EMC - Just an FYI - but it appears that "WiFi antenna" that is layered on top of the lithium battery isn't an antenna, but a heater! Found a similar heating element here.

Now that's a nice engineering element to keep the battery healthy in extreme cold. I've actually not heard of any AD410's (and cousins) failing in near or below zero F.

With this ongoing extreme heat I think we'll be hearing more about lithium battery failures in many other devices. In fact, my dash-mounted solar-powered TPMS bust open with a swollen battery a few days ago! The battery in it is the same size as the AD410.

A bigger concern is what is the increased potential for a swollen battery to spontaneously combust?

EDIT: Just asked AI Bard this question, and the reply:

I was also thinking about the potential fire hazard and it does worry me some.

 

[GaryOkie]

well, damn - now my AD410 is going offline repeatedly. Rarely did this before now. Started yesterday and continues to go down a few times during the afternoon, never at night. Wall temp in the shade where the DB is mounted - 103F at 2PM which matches the air temp. Face of AD410 - 120-131F. Backside - measured up to 140F. Yikes.

Sounds like an environmental heat issue, huh?

No evidence of the case cracking apart, so I'm not planning to open it for battery inspection just yet. I wonder if this could this be a thermal protection shut down or a component crapping out causing a crash reboot? DB does come back online on its own within 2 minutes, so I suspect the latter as it likely wouldn't cool down that quickly.

Related post that reported AD410 temps running hot - but on a notsohot 88F day...

 

[EMC]

well, damn - now my AD410 is going offline repeatedly. Rarely did this before now. Started yesterday and continues to go down a few times during the afternoon, never at night. Wall temp in the shade where the DB is mounted - 103F at 2PM which matches the air temp. Face of AD410 - 120-131F. Backside - measured up to 140F. Yikes.

Sounds like an environmental heat issue, huh?

No evidence of the case cracking apart, so I'm not planning to open it for battery inspection just yet. I wonder if this could this be a thermal protection shut down or a component crapping out causing a crash reboot? DB does come back online on its own within 2 minutes, so I suspect the latter as it likely wouldn't cool down that quickly.

Related post that reported AD410 temps running hot - but on a cool 88F day...

Well shoot, my apologies if I brought the bad luck. I was on a high from fixing the night vision issue followed by the low of having the battery and power supply fail.