Arlo Essential Video Doorbell and Power Kits

[Paulpap]

First - we do not have a doorbell or doorbell chimes in our house. Until two days ago, we did have a 30-year old press to talk box at our front door that was hooked up to a land line. I bought an Arlo Essential video doorbell after reading here that installing the power kit was not necessary. I bought a plug-in 24VAC / 20VA transformer and using the wiring from the old call box, installed the Arlo. All went well. The Arlo powered up and worked great for about 12 hours. Then it lost power and no matter what I did, would not power back up. I exchanged the transformer thinking that it was defective and indeed, the Arlo powered up again. As instructed, I deleted it from my account and attempted to add it again but it would not read the QR code. Following all the troubleshooting in the FAQs, I attempted a factory reset and it lost power again. Tech support suggests replacing the Arlo which I’ll do but I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem.

[jguerdat]

Any chance the old wiring still has another power supply besides the new transformer attached to it? It's only wires, right?

[Paulpap]

Zero chance that the wires were hooked up to anything other than the transformer I purchased.

[StephenB]

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@Paulpap wrote:

Zero chance that the wires were hooked up to anything other than the transformer I purchased.

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It does sound like an issue with the doorbell - hopefully the replacement will resolve it.

The power kit is only needed if you have a chime, so your info on that was correct. Do you have a way to check the voltage output of the transformer?

[drewc66]

The video doorbell has been a monster job to install and the instructions are horrible.  That said, we have burned out 3 separate transformers.  I have used the Arlo recommended specs and still tranformer burned out.  Botton line is electricians are recommending 24V 60VA Transformer now, way above the 20VA recommendations from Arlo?   Honestly, while I am a loyal Arlo customer and have had very few tech problems with any smart home devices, this video doorbell with and without chime are a b___h to install and no help from Arlo at all!  Any thoughts?

[drewc66]

Same problem, done it three times burned out three separate transformers.  Power lasts for an hour then gone and transformer burns out.  What a headache.   Arlo Tech Support has been of less than zero help.  Their ph system hangs up on you, doesnt call back.  Sad and blames low staff on Coronavirus.  Very disappointed with Arlo support and company on this particular item. The cameras set up easy and work fine, but doorbell with the need for a transformer, truly a mess.