Nest Hello Doorbell cuts out when button is pressed

[DarkGhost18]

I've had my Nest Hello Doorbell since 2018, it worked perfectly and without issue until recently. Now everytime someone presses the button, it cuts out mid ring in the device, and loses power. The camera stops working until maybe 30 seconds later. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

[ffdonnie]

Ha, just finished going through 922 replies to the Nest Hello problem. I also have the same problem described. It is painfully obvious that Google does not care about us, the customers. I can only suggest that we give as many negative reviews on this product as we can. And on Google also. Hit them in the pocket book, as they did to us. Futile effort? Maybe, but it's something.

Good luck to all.

[MplsCustomer]

The internal battery on our THIRD Google Nest Hello Doorbell, which is not even 11 months old, has now failed too, causing the camera to go offline for about a minute. So we have turned off the "Indoor chime" on that Nest Hello as well and are relying only on "Visitor announcements" for all three Nest Hellos.

[TomS]

At 11 months, it is still under warranted. Make the replace it!

[MplsCustomer]

@TomS

I think I'm just going to live with it, though I'm not happy Google Nest said they "cannot" replace our other two Nest Hellos because they were almost 2 years old when their internal batteries failed. I don't want the hassle of returning it only to have the replacement also fail, and I don't want to replace our doorbell in a cold Minnesota winter.

[Goog9]

Recent version seems to have fixed the issue. After I restart camera works fine.

[bdhadfield]

Try turning off the "chime" in the Nest Doorbell settings. Fixed my problem.

[Speeddemon32]

like many others, I too have this problem. after being on tech support chat for almost 2 hours and trying everything, there was nothing they could do. did not replace because it was no longer covered. 

[SuperAdam]

You wasted your time, you should always go to these forums and see what people say/do for this issue, I never bothered with the tech support, if you have nest speakers then just turn off the chime and turn on the visitor announcement and problem solved, I have plenty of speakers all through out the house and so visitor announcement is just as good as the chime if not better, if you don't have any speakers then I'd suggest you buy a nest mini and have it mounted where the chime is and then you'd have you a smart chime. 

[dylanzwick]

I'm having exactly the same problem. Doorbell rings, and the camera shuts off.

I can't believe this is happening. It's not like this is an extremely important feature or something.

[dylanzwick]

Reading through the replies on this and similar threads it appears there is an answer to this problem. Specifically, if you have a wired Nest Hello Doorbell and the camera stops working for a minute or so whenever the doorbell is pressed, but works otherwise, then the problem is almost certainly the doorbell battery.

That the doorbell has a battery might surprised many people, as the doorbell is wired. But, for reasons related to how the doorbell detects when it's pressed, the power from the wired connection decreases when the doorbell is rung, and a battery is used to provide additional power for the camera in this circumstance. If this battery isn't working properly, the camera might not get enough power to function. It appears this issue might be more common in the cold, but isn't limited to when it's cold.

So, what's the fix? First, as this is a hardware problem, it's unlikely that a factory reset, a software update, or a change in configuration will solve it, and even less likely that any such solution will last. The solution is to get another battery. How do you do this? There are two ways:

1. Replace the battery - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nest+Hello+Battery+Replacement/131729

2. Replace the doorbell - https://store.google.com/us/config/nest_doorbell?hl=en-US

Unfortunately, unless Google has made hardware changes to address this problem, the same fundamental issues that caused it will persist, and if you follow either of these solutions you may find yourself with the same problem later on, and faced with the same options.

It would be nice if Google could address this problem, and even nicer if they offered to replace the doorbells that are experiencing it. But, in any event, this appears to be what's going on.

[Papa_Todd]

I'm sorry to say but all the so called "specialists" on here are just useless. Same statements about feedback. How many **bleep** yrs of feedback do u need about the same **bleep** problem. I'm so sick and tired of the same issues with no fix in sight. Just stop making devices, because they're all pure crap. I'm never buying another Google device again. 

[SuperAdam]

My man, THERE IS NO FIX, we all tried with Google, tried every trick out there, once a battery dies then there is no fixing it, if you want to replace it then go to iFix it site and they have a video showing how, it's not easy, simplest solution is to just turn off chime and turn off visitor announcement, this way your smart speakers will alert you, and, btw, all doorbell cameras from all manufacturers have a battery inside even if they are wired so they all die eventually, it sucks but, this is the way it is. 

[Papa_Todd]

Unfortunately, that's simply the ugly truth. I guess it's time to just go back to the tried and true door knock and peephole. Then set up an outdoor cam with a motion sensor. Lol

[EricHaley88]

I am also having this issue. I bought mine back in 2019 and it just started rebooting anytime the doorbell button is pressed.

[yesngo]

I just wanted to add that I am also having the exact same problem as everyone else when the doorbell is pressed... just in case Google (or Bot Brad) is keeping track.

[Aggie_CEO]

Same. This is frustrating and if hate the answer to be, "buy another one"

[MohitM]

Ok I found out a solution to this one yesterday. When I click on doorbell settings on nest app and set indoor chime to off, it fixes the problem. When I turn indoor chime on, it again starts acting the same way so I am 100% sure that is causing the issue. Please note that it worked just fine when I bought it and issue started happening months after I bought the doorbell so it must be due to some update by Nest. 

Anyways with Chime off, it fixes the issue. We get notified on Nest hub and phone when someone rings the bell however as you can imagine that is not the real life solution because ideally you would like the indoor chime to ring. 

An alternate cheap fix is to buy a nest mini and set it in the house to announce when anyone rings the bell if you don't have any other device. 

[Papa_Todd]

This isn't a solution for me, personally. Mine has always been set to chime off.

[yesngo]

I agree that there must have been some firmware that was pushed out that drained everyone's battery because the problem seemed to have occurred roughly around the same time regardless of when one might have purchased the doorbell initially.

[BayArea]

That was my original thinking. While the problem is definitely the battery, how the firmware handles the charging was my initial thought. That is the only way to explain the amount of failures all at roughly the same time. Good luck getting Google to admit this. 

[BayArea]

The problem has long been identified. It's the battery that dies. Replacement is easy if your a tinkerer. Instructions are on ifixit. The solution is easy,  they need to equip these with a removable battery. This way you just replace the battery every year or two when it dies. This involves a complete redesign of the unit itself which is not happening until probably the next version if they are smart. 

[MplsCustomer]

@BayArea 

My guess is that Google Nest has not equipped the next version of the doorbell, the 2nd Gen Google Nest Doorbell, with a removable battery. As with the Google Nest Hello Doorbell, there is no mention anywhere that the 2nd Gen Google Nest Doorbell even has an internal battery, much less how a customer might go about replacing it.

[BayArea]

Definitely not. As of the 2nd generation, they have not addressed the battery issue. My comment was to the next (3rd Gen) version. However, seeing as how the 2nd gen was just released, it will be a while. 

[darcal360]

Experienced the same issue described. Bottom line is Google bought out Nest and completely screwed up a perfectly working platform. They want to force legacy Nest users to use the Google Home app which is far inferior to the Nest app. Why in the world would I now invest in more Google home products after a poor experience like this!?

[Awm]

Yep, same exact issue here….unit is 2.5 years old. Complete crap that they design it with a battery that’s effectively non-serviceable. 

[Alejandro55]

My doorbell camera is wired and I'm having the same issue and I don't know how to fix it.

[Omarslp]

Turn off chime option in nest app. As long as you have push notifications on on your phone and have a Google speaker you won't miss the chime option 

[Awm]

Yeah, that’s an option - but a poor solution to solve a problem with a product that should be stand alone, and purchased as such. 

[Papa_Todd]

No, this is not a solution. It's been discussed. It's battery related. 

[Omarslp]

Oh it's not??? It solved my issue. Had the exact same issue as everyone else. Pressed the button it would go off for about 30 seconds probably less. Then as if nothing happened. Then it started going off when it detected a face. 

Guess what. Turned off the indoor chime option and voila. A solution 👍 but hey if it doesn't work for you....tough luck. It's gonna suck spending another $200+

[Awm]

I mean, you “solved” your issue by disabling a feature of a device…it’s a workaround, at best. Specifically a workaround for those that Google homes or don’t care about having a mechanical chime. Solving the root problem requires replacing the internal battery for $12-$20. 

[Papa_Todd]

Best of luck for u in the very near future. If u paid full attention to this thread, your method has already been discussed. It works temporarily for some people, myself included. However, it comes back up. It'll happen again. And like someone says, deactivating a feature to get something to work isn't really a fix. It's a bypass at best. In any case, enjoy and come back to be even more disappointed. 

[Epiman123]

I am having some issues lately with my older version wired nest hello when the door bell is pressed.

When pressed, it goes off line (shuts down) and then reboots. It is usually offline for about 15 - 30 seconds and then is up and running again.

It does not happen every time the bell is rung but happening lately and it is becoming a bit frustrating.

I read somewhere about the internal battery needs to be replaced not sure if it is the same issue. Does anyone have any suggestions what the issue may be other than replacing the nest hello completely?

[Awm]

Welcome to the club…an unfortunate one. Yes, there is a tiny battery inside the Nest Hello (Wired, Gen 1), that apparently wears out after 2-3 years. This batter was not disclosed in any known, customer-facing documentation. The battery is also not serviceable by the “average” person, though it can be replaced by someone with a willingness to tear the device apart. The batter can be purchased on Amazon for $12-$20. It seems that the doorbell camera uses this power to keep the device alive when it initiates a chime. Doorbells work by essentially short circuiting the transformer, which effectively cuts power to the doorbell. The battery bridges the gap when the power is cut for a brief moment, keeping the doorbell powered. That is why the doorbell seemingly functions fine outside of pressing the button and triggering the chime. So far it seems there are 3 options.

1. Replace the internal battery yourself

2. Disable the chime in the app so it doesn’t actually trigger a mechanical chime. It’s unclear how long this solution will last though. 
3. Purchase a new device.

While this is frustrating and I think it’s completely ridiculous to not disclose this or make it serviceable, my research indicates this problem exists in other Video Doorbell cameras, such as Ring. 

Nest Hello Doorbell Teardown steps: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nest+Hello+Battery+Replacement/131729

Nest Hello Doorbell (Wired, Gen 1) Replacement Battery: Battery Replacement for Nest Hello Vido Doorbell Wired NC5100US C1241290 1ICP7/17/26 (280mAh/3.7V) https://a.co/d/0uQbtTA

[MplsCustomer]

In addition to turning off "Indoor chime" you can also turn on "Visitor announcements" and rely on visitor announcements set to your Nest Minis,  Nest Hubs, and Nest speakers: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7672451?hl=en.  That's what we've done with all 3 of our Nest Hellos.

[Papa_Todd]

Yes, this has been tried and, unfortunately, has also failed, even if it works momentarily. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Papa_Todd 

Turning off the "Indoor chime" and turning on "Visitor announcements" has worked for months on our 3 Nest Hellos (aged 29 months, 25 months, and 11 months).

[Sierraj2]

I'm have this problem now too, specifically since my notices go to my TV the doorbell shorts. Sometimes it comes back on and the sound returns the outside device. But if I press the bell it sporadically sends the notice to my Google TV and won't work outside. Seems software driven

[alexkam87]

I think I found a solution at least to my doorbell. Please turn off the indoor chime and try.

[Awm]

That has been discussed. It can work in some cases, but is not a real “solution”, as you’re disabling a feature of the device to get it to work. It’s a workaround, at best. In some cases, people only had this workaround temporarily solve their problem - so mileage may vary.