Google Doorbell - Infinity symbol switching to battery percentage

[rayd77]

Hello,

I found a similar post from over a year ago with no solution and it's closed.

So here is my issue:

1) I have the google doorbell battery wired to existing 8V wiring.

2) I noticed the infinity symbol sometimes is replaced by a battery percentage (56%)

3) I have no idea why this occurs, it is continuously connected so it should not be showing the battery %.

I just rewired things to get it connected to the 8V so it should be charging slowly and not indicating it is not powered.

[MplsCustomer · Accepted solution]

@rayd77 

We don't have a battery doorbell because of it's limitations.  The battery doorbell always runs off of battery power even when it is wired:

"if you’ve connected your Nest Doorbell (battery) to your existing doorbell wiring, the wires don’t directly power the doorbell. Instead, the battery is trickle charged by the power that comes through the wires, and the doorbell runs off the battery charge."

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989

And 8V is the minimum voltage needed:

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247132

[rayd77]

I don’t understand what you are saying.

I understand it should be trickle charging.

But when it is connected to the wires, showing the infinite symbol can I assume the battery level goes from 60% to 80% instead of to 55% and lower?

in my case it doesn’t go up even though it shows the infinite symbol… and at times it shows it is not wired and shows the battery %

[CRR]

This is one of the most ridiculous operational flaws of this product (a close second to how "extreme" cold impacts the unit—extreme cold is "normal" cold in the area where I live). I have the same setup you have, and it was fine for the first year. Now, it's always defaulting to battery—I don't even see the infinity symbol anymore. 

[MplsCustomer]

@CRRand @rayd77 

We live in Minnesota, and bought a third Google Nest Hello Doorbell in late 2021 and wired it with an OhmKat Power Adapter for the Nest Hello for our third entrance--rather than the battery doorbell--because I saw so many negative comments in this forum about the battery doorbell's performance in "cold" weather.

As noted in the cold weather Help topic, the battery doorbell does not do well in "cold" weather. Other posts from Google Nest also indicate that the doorbell's performance can be negatively impacted by the amount of activity occurring in front of the doorbell; since the doorbell always runs on battery power, it seems it can't keep up with much activity.

Over the last couple of years, I've also seen numerous posts here about the battery doorbell not holding up very well. I'm glad we opted for a 1st gen Google Nest Hello Doorbell instead.

[rayd77]

Thanks.

The only reason I bought this model is because we want to keep our existing mechanical chime…

i kind of regret not going for the ring wired which is half the price. But it only has a 45 degree viewing angle.

If this doesn’t resolve in the next days at 3-5 degrees Celsius I will switch to ring anyway.

[rayd77]

Well, I ordered a ring video doorbell plus battery to replace my google doorbell.

It just can't keep up the battery level in lower temperatures.

I also disliked the google home app to control the doorbell, it can't match the user experience of the ring app at all.