New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?

When one looks at the small form factor of these Doorbell Cams one can see their limitations. They are really a gimmick. I guess they serve their purpose...not many people ringing doorbells these days though...
Straight up the only reason I got it, and it's quite embarrasing, is because I live in a house with no doorbell lol. I work in the basement, and FedEx will come here to deliver packages that require signature, and they'll knock, and I won't hear it. So now, when they press the Reolink doorbell, not only do I get a notification on my phone and watch, and have the Reolink door chime make a noise, I have every speaker in my house connected to Home Assistant make a ding-dong noise. So long as the FedEx person presses the doorbell button, there should now be no excuse for me to not know they're at my house.
 
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Straight up the only reason I got it, and it's quite embarrasing, is because I live in a house with no doorbell lol. I work in the basement, and FedEx will come here to deliver packages that require signature, and they'll knock, and I won't hear it. So now, when they press the Reolink doorbell, not only do I get a notification on my phone and watch, and have the Reolink door chime make a noise, I have every speaker in my house connected to Home Assistant make a ding-dong noise. So long as the FedEx person presses the doorbell button, there should now be no excuse for me to not know they're at my house.

You mentioned you use iOS and you can always try Scrypted out Scrypted with the Reolink doorbell and the Apple AI to alert you there a person approaching to your door before they even get a chance to press the doorbell button or not.

I been using it as a docker on my mini pc and tied it into Apple Ecosystem and Hubitat Home automation hub. It even support two way talk on Apple own homekit app. I am deaf and the Apple Homekit app on my iPhone will alert me every time when there a person coming to my door. I get package delivered to my door every third day of the week and none of them would ring my doorbell. They just toss it on porch then take a picture walking backward and leave.

Scrypted can be tied into Home Assistant as well too and the developer offer it own version of NVR package as well too. The Scrypted Homekit AI version is free to use but the NVR is a yearly subscription however there a free trial period you can test it with. I have a hardware NVR which I use to save all my camera recording so I just use Scrypted to alert me of people, vehicle and animals around my house. Apple AI is pretty damn accurate or if you want to use your own AI with Google corel then you can use the NVR plugin for that.

It may be what you're looking for and will work with your Reolink doorbell since the developer is a Reolink doorbell user himself. I use Amcrest AD410 doorbell thou but I have seen a Reolink plugin offered in Scrypted.
 
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Straight up the only reason I got it, and it's quite embarrasing, is because I live in a house with no doorbell lol. I work in the basement, and FedEx will come here to deliver packages that require signature, and they'll knock, and I won't hear it. So now, when they press the Reolink doorbell, not only do I get a notification on my phone and watch, and have the Reolink door chime make a noise, I have every speaker in my house connected to Home Assistant make a ding-dong noise. So long as the FedEx person presses the doorbell button, there should now be no excuse for me to not know they're at my house.
Yeah motion should give you a notification too encase they don't press the button. That is how I have my Rich Notifications setup on Home Assistant.
 
@tumtumsback Just in case you did not know, since you are using Home Assistant, HA has native Reolink integration. It looks like the screenshots I shared previously:

so you don't even need to wait for someone to ring doorbell if you use the person sensor to trigger your notification automation.
You can also see (2nd screenshot) that you can change alot of your Reolink configs from HA, either manually via UI or thru automation.

P.S. Another data point, the Reolink main stream is solid in UI3 on my side.
 
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Electricians visited today to run Cat-6 to my Reolink WiFi doorbell. Much like the Hikvision and EzViz doorbells before it, the WiFi performance/stability was seriously bad. The front exterior wall is wood planks over wood studs, the interior is drywall. Nothing there to inhibit the WiFi signal strength, whatsoever. Yet all three pieces of hardware would drop the WiFi signal multiple times daily. I moved the WiFi access point multiple times, yielding no improvement whatsoever. I think the original Hikvision would fail less than five times every day. The EzViz would fail thirty and forty times daily. This Reolink was about 50/50 on staying connected or not. Rather than buying and installing a new Reolink PoE doorbell, I got Ethernet cable run to the RJ-45 Ethernet jack present on the WiFi doorbell. A few configuration changes, a few doorbell reboots, and a few router reboots later, and it's now finally running with a rock-solid wired connection.
 
Electricians visited today to run Cat-6 to my Reolink WiFi doorbell. Much like the Hikvision and EzViz doorbells before it, the WiFi performance/stability was seriously bad. The front exterior wall is wood planks over wood studs, the interior is drywall. Nothing there to inhibit the WiFi signal strength, whatsoever. Yet all three pieces of hardware would drop the WiFi signal multiple times daily. I moved the WiFi access point multiple times, yielding no improvement whatsoever. I think the original Hikvision would fail less than five times every day. The EzViz would fail thirty and forty times daily. This Reolink was about 50/50 on staying connected or not. Rather than buying and installing a new Reolink PoE doorbell, I got Ethernet cable run to the RJ-45 Ethernet jack present on the WiFi doorbell. A few configuration changes, a few doorbell reboots, and a few router reboots later, and it's now finally running with a rock-solid wired connection.

I did the same thing, Ruckus Unleashed WAP literally 7 feet away, kept getting drop outs. Pissed me off enough to spontaneously rip some drywall up and fish ethernet to it one day out of the blue.
 
How are you guys measuring the drops, in Blue Iris streaming? When I hear/read this and I presently have my WiFi ReoLink DB on the other side of our new house connected to my AP (TP-Link EAP660) which is presently in a bedroom with a Door/Hallway/Livingroom/Front Entrance Hallway and Front Door (with a glass) in-between the AP and the DB and I have very few drops using RTMP, I may get 10 max drops in a month I am just puzzled. These drops may be due to me having to reboot our DSL Modem several times a month. I even got Zero drops in our other house with the AP in the Living Room about 25 feet from the Front Door (also glass in middle of the wood door). Now when I tried a RTSP stream, I had many dropouts...I am still running on an old firmware.

1707826107387.png

As you can see, only 2 bars on the WiFi:
1707825674762.png

I am even running at Max bitrate and Res.:
1707825915810.png

Even my 2nd Gen Hik (LaView) had no WiFi issues in our other house, ran it for 3+ years.

I too will also have an Ethernet cable ran to the DB along with one to our Livingroom where the AP will reside in the future...this house has zero ethernet ran...:(
 
How are you guys measuring the drops, in Blue Iris streaming? When I hear/read this and I presently have my WiFi ReoLink DB on the other side of our new house connected to my AP (TP-Link EAP660) which is presently in a bedroom with a Door/Hallway/Livingroom/Front Entrance Hallway and Front Door (with a glass) in-between the AP and the DB and I have very few drops using RTMP, I may get 10 max drops in a month I am just puzzled. These drops may be due to me having to reboot our DSL Modem several times a month. I even got Zero drops in our other house with the AP in the Living Room about 25 feet from the Front Door (also glass in middle of the wood door). Now when I tried a RTSP stream, I had many dropouts...I am still running on an old firmware.

View attachment 186112

As you can see, only 2 bars on the WiFi:
View attachment 186110

I am even running at Max bitrate and Res.:
View attachment 186111

Even my 2nd Gen Hik (LaView) had no WiFi issues in our other house, ran it for 3+ years.

I too will also have an Ethernet cable ran to the DB along with one to our Livingroom where the AP will reside in the future...this house has zero ethernet ran...:(
I echo your situation in that I experience VERY drops, if any, that I am aware of but in fairness I will begin to document. AFAIK, both Wi-Fi Reolink DB's are rock steady and both are on the other side of brick, OSB, and sheetrock. The side door DB is 15 ft. from a TP-LINK Archer C1900 v1 at 5GHz and the front door DB is 5 feet from a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 at 5GHz. I am also running max bitrate and resolution.
 
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This is info from the Diagnostic Log file from the WiFi ReoLink DB:

display_type:[Reolink Video Doorbell WiFi]
board_info:[DB_566128M5MP_W]
type_info:[IPC]
build:[build 22102806]
detail:[DB_566128M5MP_W?????????????]
serials:[]
boot_ver:[]
fs_ver:[]
app_ver:[v3.0.0.1459_22102806]
cfg_ver:[v3.0.0.0]
PING 192.168.50.1 (192.168.50.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.50.1: seq=0 ttl=64 time=7.429 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.50.1: seq=1 ttl=64 time=4.298 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.50.1: seq=2 ttl=64 time=7.094 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.50.1: seq=3 ttl=64 time=8.738 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.50.1: seq=4 ttl=64 time=5.275 ms

--- 192.168.50.1 ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 16% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 4.298/6.566/8.738 ms
Mem: 58616K used, 7456K free, 9676K shrd, 68K buff, 16440K cached
CPU: 0.0% usr 40.0% sys 0.0% nic 40.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 20.0% sirq
Load average: 50.46 48.43 47.97 1/140 9587

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:12

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:6201 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6201 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6580552 (6.2 MiB) TX bytes:6580552 (6.2 MiB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr
inet addr:192.168.50.13 Bcast:192.168.50.15 Mask:255.255.255.240
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2167599 errors:0 dropped:11 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5357989 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:209756635 (200.0 MiB) TX bytes:3594372401 (3.3 GiB)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:12

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:6201 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6201 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6580552 (6.2 MiB) TX bytes:6580552 (6.2 MiB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr
inet addr:192.168.50.13 Bcast:192.168.50.15 Mask:255.255.255.240
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2168834 errors:0 dropped:11 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5361749 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:209875098 (200.1 MiB) TX bytes:3599948608 (3.3 GiB)

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
default 192.168.50.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlan0
192.168.50.0 * 255.255.255.240 U 0 0 0 wlan0

THERE IS MUCH MUCH MORE INFO IN THIS FILE...Linux version, CPU, etc.
I see 11 RX packets dropped, thinking that is since last reboot...I created 3 Dia. Log files and all the same Drop #s.

1707827570748.png

I am running an older PC Client:
1707827648699.png

If you want to see this info on your DB, I have attached a Zip of the folder running this Client. Just unZip the Reolink folder somewhere (desktop) and run Reolink.exe. You will have to add your DB but then go to Maintenance and create your Diag. Log File.
This may be a good file to look at for those having WiFi Drops...

HTH
 

Attachments

I echo your situation in that I experience VERY drops, if any, that I am aware of but in fairness I will begin to document. AFAIK, both Wi-Fi Reolink DB's are rock steady and both are on the other side of brick, OSB, and sheetrock. The side door DB is 15 ft. from a TP-LINK Archer C1900 v1 at 5GHz and the front door DB is 5 feet from a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 at 5GHz. I am also running max bitrate and resolution.
I really want to help those with their WiFi issues, some say it is only the DB that gives them problems. I have been watching this for years, when I hear they have their AP right next to the DB and still have issues I just am at a lost, as they are. RF Interference? Bad DB? I don't know, I do know WiFi can suck at times, wired is Always the fix. I just feel for the frustration they are going through.
 
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You mentioned you use iOS and you can always try Scrypted out Scrypted with the Reolink doorbell and the Apple AI to alert you there a person approaching to your door before they even get a chance to press the doorbell button or not.

I been using it as a docker on my mini pc and tied it into Apple Ecosystem and Hubitat Home automation hub. It even support two way talk on Apple own homekit app. I am deaf and the Apple Homekit app on my iPhone will alert me every time when there a person coming to my door. I get package delivered to my door every third day of the week and none of them would ring my doorbell. They just toss it on porch then take a picture walking backward and leave.

Scrypted can be tied into Home Assistant as well too and the developer offer it own version of NVR package as well too. The Scrypted Homekit AI version is free to use but the NVR is a yearly subscription however there a free trial period you can test it with. I have a hardware NVR which I use to save all my camera recording so I just use Scrypted to alert me of people, vehicle and animals around my house. Apple AI is pretty damn accurate or if you want to use your own AI with Google corel then you can use the NVR plugin for that.

It may be what you're looking for and will work with your Reolink doorbell since the developer is a Reolink doorbell user himself. I use Amcrest AD410 doorbell thou but I have seen a Reolink plugin offered in Scrypted.

I appreciate this perspective. I may end up giving Scrypted a try at some point, but for now, I am working on building a ProjectCode AI docker container with NVIDIA GPU passthrough.

For me, I really only want to be alerted when someone presses the doorbell. Me, my wife, and others, constantly walk past the doorbell, so I don't want to be alerted every time the doorbell detects a human. And, I know I can do facial recognition, and configure the system to not alert if it detects mine or my wife's faces, but ... I'm good with just doorbell presses.

Yeah motion should give you a notification too encase they don't press the button. That is how I have my Rich Notifications setup on Home Assistant.

See above.
 
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I really want to help those with their WiFi issues, some say it is only the DB that gives them problems. I have been watching this for years, when I hear they have their AP right next to the DB and still have issues I just am at a lost, as they are. RF Interference? Bad DB? I don't know, I do know WiFi can suck at times, wired is Always the fix. I just feel for the frustration they are going through.
So not to get off subject on this Thread but I will share a problem I have experienced several years. I bought three LIFX series 1000 LED WiFi Smart Bulbs. I paid way too much when they first came out. We have them in our two Living Room lamps, and the third in a hanging Sink fixture. I have one of the three that does drop WiFi connection, sometimes it will reconnect on its own, other times I need to flip the switch. When it first started happening I found my wife was still using the switch, lol, I think we have all experienced that. Anyway, I have moved this one problem Bulb all around the house, no fix. It has been connected to 4 different APs and 3 different houses. It is a prime example of a bad WiFi device. Bad solder joint on the antennae? Device heats up? The other two work fine.
 
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So not to get off subject on this Thread but I will share a problem I have experienced several years. I bought three LIFX series 1000 LED WiFi Smart Bulbs. I paid way too much when they first came out. We have them in our two Living Room lamps, and the third in a hanging Sink fixture. I have one of the three that does drop WiFi connection, sometimes it will reconnect on its own, other times I need to flip the switch. When it first started happening I found my wife was still using the switch, lol, I think we have all experienced that. Anyway, I have moved this one problem Bulb all around the house, no fix. It has been connected to 4 different APs and 3 different houses. It is a prime example of a bad WiFi device. Bad solder joint on the antennae? Device heats up? The other two work fine.

I had an old Secur360 wifi video doorbell. It used to drop alot, one of the causes was each time we used the microwave.
 
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I appreciate this perspective. I may end up giving Scrypted a try at some point, but for now, I am working on building a ProjectCode AI docker container with NVIDIA GPU passthrough.

For me, I really only want to be alerted when someone presses the doorbell. Me, my wife, and others, constantly walk past the doorbell, so I don't want to be alerted every time the doorbell detects a human. And, I know I can do facial recognition, and configure the system to not alert if it detects mine or my wife's faces, but ... I'm good with just doorbell presses.



See above.
I thought Vistor sensor was the doorbell button press

 
I thought Vistor sensor was the doorbell button press

That is correct. TechBill was suggesting alerts for motion, but I only want 'visitor' (doorbell press) alerts. So, I have that working great using cam2mqtt --> Home Assistant push notification.
 
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Well, in the almost 48 hours since it's been wired, Blue Iris is showing ten (10) "No Signal" conditions for the doorbell. I presume these occur during the occasional overheat and reboot sequences others have mentioned. It's still significantly less than the two or three drops per hour I was previously experiencing. As far as the doorbell camera itself, I figure I got a particularly poor one (it's my lot in life, believe it or don't) and it's not a widespread/general issue with the hardware.
 
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Well, in the almost 48 hours since it's been wired, Blue Iris is showing ten (10) "No Signal" conditions for the doorbell. I presume these occur during the occasional overheat and reboot sequences others have mentioned. It's still significantly less than the two or three drops per hour I was previously experiencing. As far as the doorbell camera itself, I figure I got a particularly poor one (it's my lot in life, believe it or don't) and it's not a widespread/general issue with the hardware.
What streaming protocol are you using? If RTSP, you might try RTMP, you can pick ReoLink for your Camera and it will default to RTMP. May want to try it and see if you have any Drops.
 
As far as the doorbell camera itself, I figure I got a particularly poor one (it's my lot in life, believe it or don't) and it's not a widespread/general issue with the hardware.

Possibly a faulty camera, maybe redo you cable ends?
I installed mine a few days ago due to the recommendations by the guys here on the forum (been looking for a few years for a suitable one) and I am extremely impressed with the quality and features especially the night time performance.
A great camera for such a cheap price.
 
Hello all!
I've had this installed since last year. And I know this is a really basic question.. When someone rings the doorbell, I want the Reolink app to pop up on my Android phone so I can immediately talk to the person. Im not sure if this is in the settings? Or is this not part of their software?
 
Hello all!
I've had this installed since last year. And I know this is a really basic question.. When someone rings the doorbell, I want the Reolink app to pop up on my Android phone so I can immediately talk to the person. Im not sure if this is in the settings? Or is this not part of their software?

I believe you can configure the doorbell for push notifications in the WebUI settings of the doorbell. I imagine your doorbell will need to be able to get out to the Internet as well.

I don’t allow my cameras to be able to get out to the internet, so I get around this using cam2mqtt + HomeAssistant.

With cam2mqtt I can easily monitor for doorbell presses and forward those payloads to HomeAssistant. With HomeAssistant aware of these doorbell presses, I am then able to have HomeAssistant send me a push notification when someone rings the doorbell.

I run WireGuard VPN as well, so my phone is always connected to my house. When I see the push notification for doorbell press, I just open up the Reolink app and use 2-way audio.

@Michael James I don’t know if that’s too complex for your taste but I think your other option would be to ensure your doorbell is able to get out to the Internet and then configure the native Push feature in the doorbell’s WebUI
 
Last edited:
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