Wired Doorbell Independently Turns Itself Off and On

[mmambro01]

My wired (front door) doorbell periodically and unpredictably appears to turn itself off, typically in the afternoon between around 1 through 5 and then turns itself back on. Power-cycling (15 seconds) the doorbell and rebooting the Arlo Base Station does not help. During these 'off' periods the Doorbell LED does not breathe-on-motion-detection even though I am moving right in front of it, the doorbell is not connected to the Base Station, and the doorbell's button does not activate the mechanical doorbell. I cannot predict on what days this happens, appears to be independent of weather and temperature, and is starting to happen with increasing frequency and starting earlier in the day. After said period of time, the doorbell just turns itself back on, and functions normally until the next shutdown period. The hardware is version 1.2; firmware 1.14.0.0_1189_4e1d685_8173366; serial number A8G31BKD00900. This doorbell is actually a replacement as I thought the original one might have had a defect in the electronics and rather than dealing with warranty issues, bought the replacement.
I have a second wired video doorbell (side door) which although further away from the Base Station and powered via the same step-down transformer did not have this problem for months, but briefly did so yesterday. Firmware 1.14.0.0_1189_4e1d685_8173366; hardware 1.2; serial number A8G319KX00E1E
I don't know if it's related or not, but the front doorbell has much more activity and sends many more alerts when it's working.
This would be a great product if it worked reliably.

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

When this happens, does the doorbell appear "offline" within the mobile app or does it display a different error message?

JamesC

[mmambro01]

Sorry that I wasn't clear: the doorbell appears to be turned off and indicates that is it is off-line. Pushing the button doesn't ring the mechanical bell either.

The AC voltage is always between 17-18VAC, whether the doorbell is working or not.

As I noted in my original post, it turns itself back on for no apparent reason. It's now happening just about daily, and in the afternoon.

Thanks!

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

The development team has an experimental firmware available that may address this issue. If you would like to test this firmware to see if it resolves the symptoms you're experience please let me know and I will have the firmware pushed to your device.

JamesC

[mmambro01]

Hi James,

Yes please!

Please let me know when it's been pushed and I'll let you know if there is an improvement.

Thank you!

[mmambro01]

Not sure if the revised software has been uploaded, but I'm still having the same problem.

Can you advise if the new firmware has been updated? There is no functional change.

Thanks,

Mike

[JamesC]

The development team has not pushed the firmware yet. I will let you know once it is available for testing.

JamesC

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

You should be able to test now and see if you still have the same behavior. Please let me know the results.

JamesC

[mmambro01]

Hi JamesC

Having the same problem, no change.

I intentionally waited so that I could observe for two afternoons, and the same thing happens. Turns off and disconnects late morning/very early afternoon and turns back on very late afternoon/early evening.

[mmambro01]

JamesC

I forgot to mentioned that this problem has progressed to the point where it now happens every afternoon.

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

Thank you for the feedback. I'm continuing to work with dev on this issue. As soon as I know more, i'll provide you with an update.

JamesC

[mmambro01]

TJamesC   These are screen shots from my iPhone from late April before the software tweak. The distorted pictures are from the front-door camera - don't know if it's related to the other problem or not,  but the images stay relatively static in appearance, when the do change they degrade, and then the camera goes off line. I don't ever seem to have a problem with the side-door doorbell, although it is farther away from the base station. The strips are the awning that is over the door. I have more pictures of the progression but I don't think it would have to add them to a separate post if they would be helpful.

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

A new version was pushed to your doorbell by the dev team. Please check for updates, test and monitor for any behavior changes.

Thanks,

JamesC

[mmambro01]

JamesC

Unfortunately, no change. Am I supposed to restart the bell or do something else after the software is pushed? I checked the firmware number and it is unchanged from my first post.

I went offline at about 11:30AM. If it stays true to form, it will come back up around 5PM.

Thanks,

mmambro01

[JamesC]

mmambro01,

Another adjustment was made and your doorbell should have received the update. Test again and let me know if you still experience any issues starting today.

Thanks,

JamesC

[mmambro01 · Accepted solution]

Hi JamesC,

I've been monitoring and testing for a complete week now, and I am very pleased to say that it's been working perfectly all week.

Thank you for you're ongoing support and help in getting my problem fixed!

mmambro01