Wired Doorbell Lifespan

[chairmanm30w]

Hi, I’ve had my Nest Hello for a few years now and I’m now unable to continually receive video when someone rings the doorbell.

Will Google replace due to what it is a defective design oversight? Just wondering if my only option is to look for an alternative doorbell. 

[JillG · Accepted solution]

Hi @chairmanm30w 

From my experience when my Hello failed after a few years...Nest didn't replace it under warranty. My Hello's embedded battery failed and there was no repair option. I purchased a new doorbell. 

Feel free to reach out to support and see if they can help but wanted to give you the head's up on my personal experience.

Contact Us - Google Nest Help

[MplsCustomer]

@chairmanm30w 

If the internal battery has failed on your Google Nest Hello Doorbell, causing it to go offline for a minute whenever the doorbell button is pressed, there is a workaround. Turn off the "Indoor chime" option for your doorbell and turn on the "Visitor announcements" option and rely instead on notifications set to your Nest Hub(s) or Nest Mini(s). When you do this, the doorbell no longer goes offline. The internal battery is designed to provide power to your doorbell only during the instant when power is diverted to ring your indoor doorbell chime when the doorbell button is pressed; if the "Indoor chime" option is turned off, the battery is not needed.

We've been using this workaround successfully for all three of our Nest Hellos for over a year now.

This thread with 1,000-plus replies has posts from other customers on this issue:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Nest-Hello-Doorbell-cuts-out-when-butto...

[chairmanm30w]

Thanks for the responses all. I don’t have any Google devices in my home so switching off the indoor chime isn’t possible for me at present. I think I need to come to terms with the available options here as I do understand that this is an issue across a lot of smart doorbells.

I’ve ordered a third party battery for now so I’ll see how I do with replacing that.

In principle, spending more money with a company to work around a design issue is grating. I guess with the topic of this thread, I’m asking myself what a reasonable lifetime is for a product like this.

Appreciate your responses though.