Review: EZVIZ DB1C

sebastiantombs said:
Mine drops off randomly all day, every day, but reconnects almost immediately. I'm going to be looking into that when I get a couple of other projects done. I'm switching from X10 to ZWave and need to install a VTO2202F on the driveway gate first, plus all the other "emergencies" that crop up daily.

I have noticed that the dropouts seem to be temperature related. The DB1C is on the north side of the house so no direct sun at all, but once the temperature gets over 45 or so it starts misbehaving.
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Mine is on the front door, beneath a porch. So technically, it's exposed to the elements. But mostly, it's fairly well-protected. The wifi access point (a re-purposed router) isn't more than twenty feet away, with a single wall between them. So the signal level should not be any kind of issue. It sure would be nice if these things and their firmware tracked and reported signal strength throughout the day. ;) (I know, it's a "consumer" product.)
 
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I just tinkered last night. There's a NetGear dual band AP not four feet from the camera. It connects to the 5GHz connection and reports a signal level of "100". 2,4GHz shows a level of "88", go figure. Since last night at around 20:00 until now, 13:35, it's dropped out 17 times. Consumer grade is an understatement.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
I just tinkered last night. There's a NetGear dual band AP not four feet from the camera. It connects to the 5GHz connection and reports a signal level of "100". 2,4GHz shows a level of "88", go figure. Since last night at around 20:00 until now, 13:35, it's dropped out 17 times. Consumer grade is an understatement.
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That's strange. Mine has been rock solid 32 feet from my synology router through one stucco wall and 2 interior walls. Zero disconnects.
 
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One thing that home automation taught me about consumer WiFi routers: if you have the ability to create a second, guest/virtual SSID, DO IT and relegate your IoT devices like this doorbell to it. Keep them off the main SSID, and your life will be so much better.

A few other observations - the picture quality and horizontal coverage of the DB1C just blows away the old DB1. It would be seriously nice if they included a T6 torx driver in the package, but hey, at least I had one handy to install the SD card.

BUT HOLY FUDGE, the false alerts from the app. :angry:
 
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VorlonFrog said:
One thing that home automation taught me about consumer WiFi routers: if you have the ability to create a second, guest/virtual SSID, DO IT and relegate your IoT devices like this doorbell to it. Keep them off the main SSID, and your life will be so much better.

A few other observations - the picture quality and horizontal coverage of the DB1C just blows away the old DB1. It would be seriously nice if they included a T6 torx driver in the package, but hey, at least I had one handy to install the SD card.

BUT HOLY FUDGE, the false alerts from the app. :angry:
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Mine came with the torx driver
 
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I'm running build 201106 and in the last week or so I've been getting at least one "Offline Alarm" notification every day. I can always ping the DB1C at the time, though, and I can also view the video stream from Blue Iris, so it seems that it is reconnecting virtually immediately. It is located 6 feet away from a BT Whole Home Wifi access point.
I'm curious as to why this has only started happening in the last week or so. I had been getting alerts from the Ezviz app for a few weeks, prompting me to upgrade, but I never went ahead with it. However I notice that the app was last updated on Jan 21st (6 days ago), according to the Android app settings. Maybe the app update has caused problems?
 
I have 201106 as well. I Haven’t received any offline notices recently. I do have “offline notifications” turned on in my EZVIZ iPhone app


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
itm said:
I'm running build 201106 and in the last week or so I've been getting at least one "Offline Alarm" notification every day. I can always ping the DB1C at the time, though, and I can also view the video stream from Blue Iris, so it seems that it is reconnecting virtually immediately. It is located 6 feet away from a BT Whole Home Wifi access point.
I'm curious as to why this has only started happening in the last week or so. I had been getting alerts from the Ezviz app for a few weeks, prompting me to upgrade, but I never went ahead with it. However I notice that the app was last updated on Jan 21st (6 days ago), according to the Android app settings. Maybe the app update has caused problems?
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I am on this firmware and found if I pull just the main stream (into BI) and not the substream then it's very stable. However, if I pull the main and substream then it'll periodically go offline. Not sure this helps but just another tweak to try!

Cheers
Chris
 
chrischeshire said:
I am on this firmware and found if I pull just the main stream (into BI) and not the substream then it's very stable. However, if I pull the main and substream then it'll periodically go offline. Not sure this helps but just another tweak to try!
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Thanks for the reply. I think I only pull the main stream in BI - i.e. in the BI Stream profiles I have "/" set for the main stream, and have left the textbox for the Sub stream blank. Both are set to "(default)" in the dropdown list however (see screenshot in next post)
 
I've tried main stream only and still get multiple, as in 30 or more, dropouts in a day. There's a Wifi AP less than four feet from the DB1C. One thing I have noticed is that at night it seems to either reboot or power cycle. I can see the IR light in it turning on and off viewing from other cameras with overlapping views. It's being powered by a 24 volt, 40 watt, transformer.

As far as the app is concerned, since it's booting the way it is, the app is pretty much useless.
 
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These are the firmwares I have collected for you guys if you ever need to go back:

1644117903448.png
 
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Hello @all.Is it possible to somehow "intercept" the wireless ringing signal that is sent from the DB1C to the Smart Chime in order to use it as a switching pulse?

I have connected the DB1C directly to the transformer. So there is no "old" doorbell in the wiring. The EzViz Smart Chime is used as the doorbell, which is also connected to the 2.4 Ghz Wifi.

I would like to tap the doorbell signal in some form for my home automation in order to be able to process it via scripts. Do you have any ideas for this?
 
David L said:
These are the firmwares I have collected for you guys if you ever need to go back:

View attachment 117884
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Does anyone have any views re. the relative benefits or problems associated with each of these releases? I currently run Build 201106. I get several "offline" notifications every day, but it doesn't seem to affect the day-to-day operation of the camera, so I haven't chosen the option to upgrade.
Can anyone who is running Build 211208 comment on its stability, and/or its benefits compared to previous builds?
 
My db1c was working great for months, I went in to change some other settings and saw an update and clicked it, that put me on 211208 and then I had constant no signal issues in blueiris... I'm not sure which version I was on before because I didn't look, but found the posted zip for 201106 and it's been rock solid since I flashed it again... I just used ezviz studio and uploaded the older firmware and I was back. So if you are having connection issues, downgrade for sure imop
 
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dkmcgowan said:
My db1c was working great for months, I went in to change some other settings and saw an update and clicked it, that put me on 211208 and then I had constant no signal issues in blueiris... I'm not sure which version I was on before because I didn't look, but found the posted zip for 201106 and it's been rock solid since I flashed it again... I just used ezviz studio and uploaded the older firmware and I was back. So if you are having connection issues, downgrade for sure imop
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Thanks for sharing that. I'm also using Blue Iris, so I'll avoid the "upgrade"!
 
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