Nest doorbell no longer ringing chime or lighting at night

[Egos]

I have to say this is one of the worst products I have ever purchased. And the support is absolutely atrocious. I have two of these doorbells and they do not work. The doorbell periodically stops ringing the indoor chime. If the camera is disabled the ring around the doorbell button will no longer stay lit. There is no way to stop the camera from uploading a continuous video stream unless you totally disable the camera.

So now I have two doorbells the do not ring and can't be seen in the dark.

These do not work as advertised. Please fix the software for these and make them work or provide a refund.

[MplsCustomer]

@Egos 

This may not explain what's happening in your case, but ONE possible reason for why both of your doorbells sometimes fail to ring your indoor doorbell chime is an inadequate doorbell transformer. Along with other customers in this forum, we upgraded to a 16V 30VA transformer a couple of years ago because one of our 1st gen Google Nest Hello Doorbells would barely ring our indoor doorbell chime.

If you turn off your doorbell, the ring around the doorbell does turn off as well. But if you want your doorbells on but don't want 24/7 video recording, under Settings | Video | Video history you could select "No video history" or to "60-day event video history" instead of "60-day event and 10-day 24/7 video history".

I'm just another Google Nest customer, since 2019.

[Egos]

Yes, I did look up the requirements for the transformer and purchased a 16v 30va for this, so not the issue.  But thank you for the advice. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Egos 

If it is just one doorbell that is not ringing your indoor doorbell chime, it could be the doorbell's chime connector. I've seen numerous posts in this forum from customers who had faulty chime connectors and got them replaced. They found out the chime connector was faulty by removing it, in which case pressing the doorbell button rang their doorbell chime. But you're not supposed to run without a chime connector.

[Egos]

I have two of them and both are having the same issue. I suspect it is a software issue… in some cases I am able to power cycle the doorbells and they will start working for a while. But not always.

[Derickf]

Hi @Egos,

I appreciate you taking the time to post in the community. I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Nest Doorbell not chiming and lighting at night. Don't worry; help is here. @MplsCustomer Thank you for the assistance provided.

Before we continue, I have some questions:

• When did the issue start?
• Have you checked the Chime Connector to see if the connector isn’t touching any of the moving parts?
• In the doorbell, are all the wires tight enough?

In the meantime, you can take a look at the following article: Nest doorbell chime doesn't ring or sounds weak.

Please keep me posted.

Best regards,

Derick.

[Egos]

I am not sure when the issue started, we first noticed the issue with the chime about 3-4 weeks ago.  The ring not lighting when the video is disabled has been at least 6 months. I think the option to have the ring light or not has been removed from the app totally. 

The chime works fine when I use one of the doorbells without a Nest doorbell on them. Further, the first time this happened I was able to power cycle the doorbells and they start working again.  That is no longer the case. 

[Derickf]

Hi there!

Thanks for your reply. This situation needs further assistance, please. Please fill out this form with all the necessary information, like the thread title or link and your username in the community. Once you've completed the form, let me know. Someone from my team will contact you shortly to help.

Regards,

Derick.

[Egos]

Google shipped me two new door bells and the chime now sounds inside like they are supposed to. Hopefully these ones last more than one year.

[Egos]

I take that back. As soon as the software updated from ver 1.63 to 1.75 the chime stopped sounding in the house. Definitely a software issue.

[Derickf]

Hi there!

Thanks for your reply. To discard if the issue with your Nest Doorbell is caused by another reason, could you please provide me with the following information:

• What color is the LED light in your Nest Doorbell?
• Is the LED light blinking slowly, quickly, or is there no light?

I’ll be waiting for your reply.

Best regards,

Derick.

[Egos]

The light depends on if I have the camera is enabled on not. With the camera off, there are no lights on the doorbell at all. The doorbell button will not stay lit and the chime no longer sounds inside following the software upgrade to version 1.75. When I first installed it and it had software version 1.63 it worked great.

With the camera enabled, the top light is solid green. The light around the doorbell button glows white. The chime no longer sounds inside following the software upgrade to version 1.75. When I first installed it and it had software version 1.63 it worked great.

For reference, these are the two brand new doorbells I was sent under warranty and was assured would resolve the issue. The previous two doorbells these replaced were operating the same way with software version 1.75.

[Derickf]

Hi there!

Thanks for your reply. As I can see in your answer, it could be an update problem. When a doorbell does not show any light, it can be caused by one of the following reasons:

• Your doorbell is idle and not detecting activity, streaming video, or recording video.
• Your doorbell was turned off manually, with a schedule, or when your home automatically switched to Home.
• Your doorbell is offline and can't detect activity or record video.
• Your doorbell failed to update its software.

In order to receive further assistance, please fill out this form with all the necessary information, like the thread title or link and your username in the community. Once you've completed the form, let me know. Someone from my team will contact you shortly to help and confirm if it is a failed update issue.

I’ll be waiting for your reply.

Best regards,

Derick.

[Egos]

You are correct, when the light is not lit it is because I have turned off the video streaming. I do this, because we have a low bandwidth upload, and with the cameras always streaming, our internet connection becomes unusable. However, when I disable streaming I still expect the doorbell to work. 

Second, when I re enable streaming, the green light does come back on. However, the doorbell will still not ring the indoor chime. 

Either way, I will fill out the form. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Egos 

Have you tried going to your doorbell in the Google Home app and selecting "No video history" to avoid streaming your doorbell's camera while still keeping your doorbell on?

As far as your doorbells not ringing your indoor doorbell chime, I have seen numerous posts in this forum from customers who have faulty chime connectors for their 2nd gen Google Nest doorbells. One of the symptoms is that the chime only works when the chime connector is removed. I suppose it's possible that BOTH of your doorbells have defective chime connectors. You could try contacting Support about replacements:

1. Go to https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp.
2. Select a category/product family, and type in a brief description of the issue, then click "Next".
3. Click "Other", then click "Next step".
4. Under "Resources", just click "Next step". (Clicking one of the listed links will bring up a Help page.)
5. Under "Contact options", choose to get a phone call or chat with the team, depending on availability in your country.

[Egos]

Selecting no video history does not stop the camera from sending video up to the server. This is a seriously bad design choice, but that is the way they have designed this product. All video is uploaded to the server, then it decides if it will be stored or not. 

I have tried every diagnostic step requested, including removing chime pucks, nothing resolves this issue.  Replaced entire doorbells and chime pucks, nothing resolves the issues.  Once the software is updated past level 1.63 the problem becomes persistent. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Egos 

I hope you get some answers from Google Nest once you fill out the form.

It's disconcerting that @Derickf acknowledged the failure to ring your chime "could be an update problem".

I didn't realize Google Nest always streams video up to the server and decides there (on the server) whether to record the video. 

[Egos]

I would not classify this as an update problem, but a problem with the code. The devices are upgrading properly, but the software has some sort of code error to make them act this way. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Egos 

I wasn't suggesting there was a defect in the update process itself, but rather pointing out that Google Nest's seemed to be implying there was a defect in the updated 1.63 release that could be causing your issue.

[Egos]

I hope so. Although version 1.63 works fine. The current version 1.75 is broken, and to be clear I have no idea which version started this problem occurring. 

[Egos]

Nice job Google support. They sent me new doorbells to try. After installing them they worked great. After the software update to latest release they no longer work. They tell me they can not escalate this to a higher level of support, can not refund me for them, so they want to send me two more new doorbells. Didn’t work the first time on two separate doorbells, so let’s try it again. Terrible product, terrible support.