6 Messages
Green light on Doorbell button. Doorbell won't work.
I can't get my doorbell camera to work. The base is wired. When I place the camera part on the base, the door bell chimes and the light around the door bell button is GREEN. The green button goes off and comes on every 30 seconds then goes off again. That's all I can get the doorbell to do. There's no white flashing light or any other light besides the green. When I press the door bell button, nothing happens. (The only time the doorbell chimes is when I first connect the camera part to the base). I have pressed the reset buttons, with no luck. There's no beep or voice when I do the reset. If I plug a USB charger plug into the back, nothing happens. When I use the app to set it up, I get to the part where it asks if there's a fast flashing white light. Since there's no white flashing light, that's as far as I can get. I called Simplisafe and the tech was clueless.. Any help would be appreciated!! The door bell works fine if I take the simplisafe door bell camera off and re-install the old school door bell push button.
captain11
Captain
•
5.9K Messages
1 year ago
@richkadams if the bell door chimes when you connect it, you may need the "kit" that is a capacitor to put on the chime unit. As far as the "clueless" agent, while most are very good you can run into one that needs some more training. Having managed a call center for many years, I would reward customers who brought such cases to my or a manager's attention and then we would get a sr tech on the phone, solve the issue and then provide additonal training for the agent(s) in question. Suggest you call back, and if the agent is "clueless", ask for a call back with a technical speciast and troubleshoot.
A former co-worker of mine contacted me about his doorbell. After 2 replacements that were fried and several calls he was a bit frustrated, especially being an IT security engineer for a nationawide provider. I suggested the above, SS provided a tech specialist at a mutually agreeable time and tracked the issue to his chime unit located in the ceiling of his basement. I kid you not it was literally a bell ringer (a bell with a hammer next to it.) A purchase at Home Depot under $20 and his third replacement unit worked like a charm. Go ahead, make that call to support.
If you get a chance, please post your outcome here when done. Good luck.
0
davey_d
Community Admin
•
5.4K Messages
1 year ago
Hi @richkadams ,
So sorry to hear about your experience. While there is no "green" light indicator, you might actually be seeing the yellow light, which might appear green to some people. That light indicates that the unit is in the process of booting up. If it was successful, that's when you'd see the blinking white light that means the camera is ready to scan. However, since it seems to be flickering off and back on, it sounds like your Video Doorbell is failing that boot process - perhaps due to voltage, or other wiring issues.
First and foremost, we should make sure that you are installing over a wired mechanical (analog) doorbell, since unfortunately the Video Doorbell Pro is not compatible with digital, or even some types of multi-tone doorbells.
But yes, as the Captain suggests, assuming that your doorbell is indeed compatible, then you may need a Chime Adapter. Our Support team would be happy to send you one free of charge!
0
0
richkadams
6 Messages
1 year ago
Thank you for the responses. I do have a digital doorbell (it plays a little song when the doorbell is activated.) After reading several posts on this site, I realized that I need a mechanical doorbell (one that just dings and dongs). The tech guy from simplisafe never asked about my doorbell, he never asked if it was digital or mechanical. It seems that since this is a HUGE factor in deciding if the Simplisafe doorbell will work or not, that question should be on top of the script he was reading from.
The result of my phone call with SimpliSafe is that they will be sending me a new doorbell camera. The tech guy couldn't figure out why my doorbell camera wouldn't boot up. In the meantime, I have ordered a Mechanical Doorbell from Amazon and will get it installed before my new Simplisafe doorbell arrives. My transformer seems adequate as it is a 16V, 10VA unit. If that won't work, would you guys let me know what transformer I should get?
Thanks.. And the light is GREEN, despite what everyone says that 'there is no green light'.. I. SEE. ONE. GREEN. LIGHT. (That was for you, Captain, LLAP )
1
richkadams
6 Messages
1 year ago
Update: I purchased and installed a mechanical Doorbell from Amazon for $14.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019BW9TX6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
I installed a new Doorbell camera that SimpliSafe sent me. They sent me a Chime Connector too, but I didn't install that.
I kept my transformer. It is a 16V, 10VA unit.
Result: everything works!! I guess the problem was that my doorbell was a digital doorbell. Replacing it with a mechanical doorbell fixed the problem.
Suggestion to SimpliSafe. UPDATE YOUR TECH SUPPORT SCRIPT FOR DOORBELL ISSUES TO ASK WHAT KIND OF DOORBELL THE CUSTOMER HAS. It would have saved me a bunch of time if tech support would have asked that simple question.
Another suggestion: Allow Alexa's Echo Show to show live video from the doorbell video camera. This is a feature on Arlo Security cameras and it's very helpful.
Thanks for everyone's help.
LLAP
(edited)
2