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Do NOT buy a Nest Battery Doorbell if you live in Canada (or anywhere close)

cmurtagh
Community Member

This is an extremely disappointing device that should not be sold in Canada. I've had it installed for less than a month (in wired mode), and I've had to take it down to charge it 4 times already. Who in their right mind would sell a product like this in Canada that is clearly meant to be outdoors and that doesn't work well (or at all) in the cold? 

What makes it so disappointing is that for the couple of days that it does work, it works very well. If I have to keep removing it once a week (or less) to charge it, then it might as well be a very expensive paperweight. 

If anyone has an alternative product to suggest, I'm all ears. I'm contacting Google to get a return on this.

1 Recommended Answer

firmwaredev
Bronze
Bronze

If you haven't already, see this very long thread on the topic of cold weather performance of the Doorbell (Battery).   The design apparently is battery only, with trickle charging, based on what we've been able to discern. In other words, it doesn't run directly off of the incoming power.    Being battery based, it doesn't charge well (or at all ) below around 0C (or sometimes even higher than that).   It can work ok in environments where the temperatures goes up and down a lot, giving it time to catch up on charging (or of course if it's warm all the time).    It sounds like in your case the balance of events (and thus power usage) vs ability to charge is in the negative.  Return is probably your best bet, if you're still in the return window.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Cold-weather-concerns-with-Nest-Doorbel...

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9 REPLIES 9

kev2504
Community Member

I am new to the Google nest thing. The doorbell we have is wired, but the wire is plugged into a wall outlet inside the house. I'm not 100% sure which one it is, but I did see it has a charging plug on the back. It has been a week since setting it up on my account, and so far so good. I did read that they require a voltage range for the transformer. Maybe that is your problem?

cmurtagh
Community Member

The voltage isn't the issue, it's the temperature. For anyone living in most of Canada (and probably most of the Northern states), this device just isn't suited for the climate. It's too bad, because when it works I really like it. 

firmwaredev
Bronze
Bronze

If you haven't already, see this very long thread on the topic of cold weather performance of the Doorbell (Battery).   The design apparently is battery only, with trickle charging, based on what we've been able to discern. In other words, it doesn't run directly off of the incoming power.    Being battery based, it doesn't charge well (or at all ) below around 0C (or sometimes even higher than that).   It can work ok in environments where the temperatures goes up and down a lot, giving it time to catch up on charging (or of course if it's warm all the time).    It sounds like in your case the balance of events (and thus power usage) vs ability to charge is in the negative.  Return is probably your best bet, if you're still in the return window.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Cold-weather-concerns-with-Nest-Doorbel...

Yup, I'm in the return window until the 28th, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm currently researching alternatives so that I can have a least something on my door. I had a different generic doorbell camera that was ok, but it required some pretty terrible software to get the video off it (needed to identify porch pirates). The other option that Google offers seems like a real step down in terms of features too, so I'm going to be looking at all of my options again. 

Makes sense.  Indeed the Nest Hello could be an option, but that device is long in the tooth and probably will be discontinued soon, given pending release of an updated wired-only doorbell in 2022 (per Google's announcements).   It's a shame really.  When it works, I really like this doorbell. The AI is quite good compared to the alternatives.   I have to assume the new wired model will use cloud base AI like the Hello did (and subsequently more delay in recognition, etc), but who knows...maybe they've since figured out a way to run it off of doorbell A/C alone with local AI.  Of course, if they could, they presumably could have done same for the battery version, and avoided these cold weather issues.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

 

Thanks for visiting the Community. Since this thread hasn't had activity in a while, we're going to close it to keep content fresh.

 

We hope you were able to get the help you need, but if you're still having trouble, please feel free to submit another post, and provide as many details as possible so that others can lend a hand. Hope this helps!

 

Best regards,

Brad.

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

I had been considering the Google Nest Battery Doorbell for our third entrance, which was never wired for a doorbell, but decided against it after seeing the cold weather concerns thread referenced above. I instead bought a Nest Hello (our third), even though it is indeed "long in the tooth", and also purchased the OhmKat Video Doorbell Power Supply for the Nest Hello, drilled a 1/4-inch hole through the outside wall, and plugged it into a nearby outlet inside, along with OhmKat's Video Doorbell Chime. The combination works fine--a lot better, it would seem, in our Minnesota weather than the Google Nest Battery Doorbell. And it continues to work in minus 17 degree Fahrenheit weather, just like our other Nest Hello doorbells.  I guess I'd rather have older technology that works than new technology that does not.

Yeah, I agree.  The Hello is a workable solution and still being sold.  The thing that would concern me is support, given that it won't function without the back-end cloud services.  Google does say they try to do a 5 year support cycle for these kinds of devices, but given it came out in 2018 and that they're actively trying to get devices off of the Nest App support train, I'm concerned it just might stop working in the not so distant future. That said, I understand that the original Nest doorbells (prior to the Hello) are still working, so that's a good sign.  Hopefully they'll just let the backend function keep running for a good while longer. 

It would be astonishingly crass for Google Nest to withdraw Nest Aware subscription support for the Nest Hello doorbell in the near future when, as of today--Jan. 20, 2022--it is still being advertised and sold on the Google Store, supported by Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions.