Nest Doorbell Connector

[Franciscan]

My nest wired Doorbell keeps going offline intermittently and loses power after ringing once. On unplugging, it seems like the wire connectors at the back (double prong) are wearing off and may need replacements. Where can I find replacements for those? The Doorbell is pretty useless without them. 

[EmptyNester]

Hello,  I'm an end user like you.  What you are describing does not sound like a wiring issue to me.   How long have you had this doorbell?   And is it actually the Doorbell (Battery) but you have it connected to wired power?  Also are you by any chance in a colder climate that drops under 32 degrees fairly often?  The reason I ask is I'm wondering if you are running into this problem...

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989?hl=en#:~:text=Nest%20Doorbell%20(battery),-If%...

[Franciscan]

Hi @EmptyNester .

Thank you so much for your response. I have had the doorbell for a few years now (Maybe 3-4). I am in the SF Bay Area so the temperature does not drop that much very often. The doorbell is a wired doorbell and not the wireless model.

This is the model I have: 

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Nest-Doorbell-Wired-Streaming/dp/B0B1W8WTJ2/ref=asc_df_B0B1W8WTJ2/?tag...

[EmptyNester · Accepted solution]

Hi Franciscan,  Awww yes,,, you have the original Nest HELLO doorbell.  And here is what is most likely going on...

This model actually has a battery inside of it that wears out (like all batteries) over time.  It no longer holding a charge and even though it is powered all the time via you AC doorbell transformer it will exhibit this behavior.  This is well documented and also there is no way to replace this battery.  And Google will not service it outside the 1 year warrenty.

I have had a good deal of experience with this product and the newer Gen 2 products over the years.  In my opinion your best bet to move forward is to buy a NEST HELLO from a used site such as eBay.  I have done this with my gen 1 cameras and they always work great for me.   

I do not recommend the new (gen 2) Nest Doorbell cameras for a number of reasons.  But the biggest reason is the new cameras do NOT work with the Google Nest App that we all know and love.  The new Gen 2 doorbells only work with the Google HOME app and it lacks a lot of features over the Nest app. Google is working to move the Nest App features to the Google Home app but it is taking a very long time.  I am now 2+ years and waiting.    One other drawback for me is the new Gen 2 cams (including the doorbells) only let you see the LIVE image on your computer browser which I use every single day with the cameras.  However you can not view the recording clips on your browser with the new cameras.  Another thing that is more difficult with the new cams is sending someone a clip.  It is much more clumsy on the new cams.

I hope this helps.  I'm happy to try and answer any questions if you have them.

[Franciscan]

Hi @EmptyNester ,

Wow, thank you so much and let me try that out. It's like you have already thought through this and thank you for the reasoning. May just go and purchase a first generation Hello from Ebay/Amazon. This helps. Let me give it a try and hope the replacement works! 

[EmptyNester]

Good luck and let us know if the replacement got you going again.  

[Franciscan]

Hi @EmptyNester ,

I am about to purchase a new Hello Doorbell, but just noticed something. My existing hello works fine when unplugged from the door and just put on charge via the USB. Is that expected ? Is it not able to draw that much from the direct AC compared to the USB? 

[EmptyNester]

Hmmmmm,  well that is a puzzling but not completely unexpected.  Google does not give us a ton of details but here is my thinking:   That USB port is designed to power the camera when it is new and out of the box and the internal battery is not charged at all. It powers the camera temporarily so that you can add the cameras to the NEST APP as a new camera.    But at the end of the day when you switch it back to the door-bell wiring in your house my guess is it will fail again.  Maybe let it charge on the USB for a day and then reinstall it and see what happens?

Is see them all over ebay for under $100.  So for me I would just order a new camera and be done with it.  

Martin

PS:  Once the new camera is up and running you will want to go into the app and REMOVE the old camera so the system stops looking for it.  When you add the new one give it a name that differentiates it from the old one like "Front Door 2".