Doorbell

[nelsonic]

We need a doorbell. 🔔

I propose getting a Doorbell G4 SKU: UVC-G4-Doorbell-EU
https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-protect-cameras/products/uvc-g4-doorbell

It's definitely not cheap and requires additional hardware to function: #130 (comment)
but is feature-packed, has night vision, sends a notification to your phone
allows you to speak to people at the front gate via the App on your phone,
stores data locally (not in the cloud and has no subscription fees, etc.)
i.e. you can answer your front door from anywhere in the world.

UniFi Protect G4 Doorbell Review: https://youtu.be/q-iQAEPSKYc

Linus set his up in a matter of minutes and it looks good; super wide-angle!

There is also a Wireless chime that can be plugged into a standard wall outlet and used with UniFi Protect doorbells:
https://eu.store.ui.com/collections/early-access/products/smart-chime-ea

But it's out-of-stock (I've requested a notification) and we don't need it if we enable notifications on our phones which I actually prefer in terms of noise (👶 😴 ) in the short-term.

@iteles LMK your thoughts on this. 🙏
We could order it today, get it delivered early next week and have it installed by the end of next week
(pending availability of Electricians ... but I can do most of the prelim work like drilling holes etc.)

[nelsonic]

Order placed as part of: #130 (comment)

[iteles]

This seems... expensive. But good quality.
It doesn't seem very vandal-proof though... maybe a little delicate?

My greater concern at this point will be how to fix this to the outer wall in such a way that it won't get stolen because we know people will try to steal it 😬

[nelsonic]

@iteles i thought if that. I’m going to embed it in the granite and then apply silicone to glue it in place.

agree that it feels exp. Thankfully most passers by won’t know what it is.

[nelsonic]

The Ubiquiti doorbell arrived 2 days after we ordered it. 🚀

Yesterday Miguel and I mapped out the cut int he wall for the electrical conduit + wire:

Miguel made a hole in the wall for installing the bell: 🔨

It's not as tidy as I would have liked ... 🙄
He's no Michelangelo when it comes to care/attention when chipping away at stone. 🙃

In fairness this is what that section of the wall looked like before:

And when we removed the old doorbell it left most of the hole you see above:

But Miguel will be filling in the gaps with fine cement prior to installation.

Once it's mounted we will apply transparent silicone to:
a) weather seal it 🌧️
b) deter opportunistic theft
(even sold for scrap it would be worth someone's effort to try to steal it ...
let's hope the fact that it has motion detection and HD recording will help would-be-thieves think twice!)

Stealth Look? 😎

I'm tempted to give the white doorbell a Matte Black paint job / makeover:
https://community.ui.com/questions/Installed-my-painted-doorbell/821ece15-93ef-4ac6-9da8-6ceeb8eef7bc

But definitely not a blocker for getting this installed+working.

[nelsonic]

This issue has been parked waiting for the electricians to visit @home for over a month. ⏳
A classic example of things taking forever in Portugal.

Seriously, the number of times I've considered doing an Electrician certification ... 💭 ⚡
But the course is in-person only in Lisbon ... https://www.inepi.pt/training/83/Electricidade
No jokes, if there was an Electrician course in Braga even in-person I would 100% do it
and then just get Bruno to check my work.
I'm perfectly capable of doing the work already; none of it is high-tension or particularly complex.
But given that we want to have all the work certified so that we can get the building certified for public use,
we have to follow the rules. 🙄

Anyway, assigning to @iteles to follow up with Bruno on getting one of their chaps over ASAP. 🙏

[nelsonic]

The electricians installed the doorbell but it says "weak wi-fi signal" ... 🤦‍♂️

We're living in the [dystopian] future where a doorbell needs Wi-Fi ... 📶 🙄

I provisioned a new Long Range Access Point in the Library:

Which is the closest network port to the doorbell ...
but it still wasn't enough to improve the signal strength. 😞

So we need help from the electricians [again...] to install an outdoor wireless access point ... 💸

[nelsonic]

@iteles what are your thoughts on mounting the LongRange AP outside [out-of-reach of a casual thief]
so that the WiFi signal will reach the Doorbell? 💭

[iteles]

@nelsonic I put this in a text at the time but would we be able to run a cable from the library through to the entrance (eventually we could hide this under the floorboards and snake it up the entrance corner) and have the AP inside against the glass (not much for it to go through)?

We could test it either if you have a cable to hand or by using the point that will be used for the entrance door just to test.

[nelsonic]

Happy to try anything we can in the short-term. But the probrem isn't the cable length per se ...
rather it's the thickness of the (granite) exterior walls that almost completely block the signal.
If we can position the internal AP such that it has line-of-sight with no obstructions
then we we have a chance of decent signal
i.e: we need to raise it to the level where it can "see" out of the window.

We have a cable we can use to do the test this evening after 👼 is asleep. 🤞

[nelsonic]

Can't believe so much time has elapsed since my last update on this. ⏳ 😮 ( 🤦‍♂️ )
I ordered an outdoor wireless access point (AP) #207
We can get the AP installed today and then enable the doorbell.

Meanwhile the Protect Chime is still sold-out [...as is virtually every other product on their site!!]

But with the Unifi App on your phone you will get an instant notification when someone rings the doorbell.
We will install the App on all 5 iPhones in the house so someone will always get notified.

[nelsonic]

After all that work to get the Outdoor AP setup #207 the doorbell still reports “weak Wi-Fi signal” … 😢

Let’s see if the firmware update does anything g. 🤞🏼

[nelsonic]

captain obvious! 🙄

[nelsonic]

Doorbell is working even with the “poor Wi-Fi”.

The important bit is that it:
a) captures the doorbell button press
b) transmits the button press to the controller which in turn rings the chime (bell)
c) records the video of the person who is outside

in this photo 👼 and I pressed the doorbell.
@iteles was in the kitchen and confirmed that it rang. Both of us got the notification on our iPhones and could see the video feed.

This is the notification on homescreen:

⚠️Faces of loved ones anonymised for privacy.

I’m confident this is working.

@iteles #please-test

[nelsonic]

The doorbell has successfully been used several times by delivery/post people in the last week.
@iteles to confirm. 👌

[iteles]

Just as they were leaving for the park, A rung the doorbell and it didn't work! Apparently it said 'Wi-Fi out of range'. I was waiting until I was able to go test it and snap a photo to update the issue.

[nelsonic]

@iteles when you view “Devices” in the “Protect” App installed on your phone, what do you see?

should be something like this:

[iteles]

Tried it again and it worked fine 👌🏻

Happy to close this.