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Nest Doorbell (Battery) shows "Plugged In", but battery keeps draining

Fattom23
Community Member

I have a suspicion that this could be related to my transformer (since it came with the house and I have literally no information about it). Would a transformer that's too old/weak cause the battery in the doorbell to drain faster than it can charge? Any suggestions on troubleshooting steps/questions to ask?

8 REPLIES 8

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@Fattom23 

At best (with the right transformer), the battery doorbell is only trickle-charged, while its camera runs off of the battery:

"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. At temperatures between -4°F (-20°C) and 32°F (0°C), the doorbell can continue to work, but the battery will drain because it can’t be charged. If the battery drains completely, the doorbell will shut down, and you’ll need to bring it inside to be charged."

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989?hl=en

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

Yeah, I just installed it, so it's behavior is a bit new to me. We had temps in the 40s to high 50s today, so I don't suspect the cold is much of an issue. I previously got the infinity symbol in the battery screen, so I thought the power from the transformer would keep the battery at or around 75% more or less indefinitely. Is that not what I should expect?

@Fattom23 

Find your doorbell transformer and see what its voltage and power is (it's usually printed on the transformer), and then compare it against the requirements (https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247132). We have the battery camera plugged in all the time and we get the infinity symbol under Settings | Battery. If you're not getting that, it could be the transformer or it could be the doorbell. There seem to be lots of issues with the battery doorbell, judging from posts in this forum.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Thank you for your patience, and sorry to hear that you're experiencing this. I know that keeping your Nest devices charged is very important, and I would love to help you out. I would definitely check the power requirements, and see if your system matches the requirements. Also, regardless of how warm you may think it is outside, temperatures will affect battery life in most, if not all lithium-ion batteries. You can find helpful information below.

 

When it comes to keeping your Nest Doorbell (battery) or Nest Cam (battery) up and running, here are some articles and troubleshooting guides for the best charging practices:

  • This is a great article on general charging times for your devices.
  • This helpful article tells you how to save the battery with your doorbell or camera.
  • And this last article, will go over charging expectations when you may live in a cooler/colder environment which will address charging temperatures, etc.

I hope those articles help shed some light on charging and maintaining battery levels of your Nest doorbell or camera. Please let me know if you need further assistance.

 

Best regards,

Brad

Fattom23
Community Member

That makes sense; thanks for all the links. My concern now is that I charged the battery to 75% via the charging the cable and then plugged it back in. I got the infinity symbol for the time remaining for the last 5 days, but now it's showing 15% charge. Even if the power system doesn't charge the battery at all, isn't the battery charge supposed to last longer than 5 days?

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

@Fattom23

 

Battery life depends on factors like activity, temperature, and selected camera settings. To extend their camera’s battery life, users can adjust its video quality, length of video clips, and time between recorded events. They can also live stream less often, and use activity zones to monitor specific areas.

Here are some typical scenarios.

Nest Doorbell (battery):

  • Busy: About 1 month battery life (About 25 - 30 recorded events per day)
  • Typical: About 2.5 months battery life (About 13 - 16 recorded events per day)
  • Quiet: About 6 months battery life (about 2 - 5 recorded events per day)

Best regards,

Brad

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there, 

 

Just checking in to see how the conversation is going. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. We'll leave this thread open for a little longer for follow-up questions and concerns. 

 

Best regards, 

Brad

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

Just checking in on this thread and the activity on it. We'll leave this topic open for another 24 hours in case there are any follow-up questions or comments.

Best regards,
Brad