Mine seems to drop to about 94% or so and then goes back up to show plug symbol…
So its charging but I thought it was suppose to drop to about 80 and back up to 90 and then stop charging… better for the battery?
As long as the charge controller prevents the battery from overcharging and charging when temps are too low or too high, you are good. The charge controller cannot accurately measure the percentage beyond an approximation. It can, however, tell when charging current drops off, so it knows when to stop charging. It may not always be at the same percentage as the battery ages, but as long as it is fluctuating and not staying one value, its ok.
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I seem to see the plug symbol for nearly all the time, Im assuming it it just topping up for a few minutes than back to 100%. Im also assuming the plug symbol is the same as 100% charge.
When you say the charge controller you mean this is inbuilt in the eufy doorbell unit circuit?
The plug symbol means its receiving external voltage, doesn’t mean its charging. You don’t know what the level of charge is until you turn off the voltage and let it settle for a few minutes.
I mounted a switch and ac milliammeter in my old chime box and used that to see how the doorbell was charging. Mine seems to go between 85% and 93%. The charge controller in the doorbell will stop charging at the point when it detects that the batteries don’t need any more current. It will stay shut down until it needs to start charging again. It will cycle back and forth within a limited range determined by voltage, currrent, and temperature. It won’t let the batteries charge to 100% becasue this will shorten the life of the batteries.
The icon will show the plug symbol through all of the battery states unless you turn off the AC.
Ive not got a switch on mine but occasionally see a battery % instead, ive seen it drop to 93% i think and after a bit the plug symbol returns. I assumed it was dropping and then recharging as per other comments ive seen about owners seeing a drop and then it climbing back up.
Good idea about the switch, Id be reluctant to add any more “joins” in the cable in the internal chime box, I need all the voltage i can get at the doorbell
Maybe you have a bad connection or voltage that’s right on the borderline. My doorbell always shows the plug icon. My voltage is 19.6 vac when the doorbell is not actuated. It drops a bit when I push the bell or it detects motion, but I don’t remember what that value was. I have a variac, so I’ll do a test and see if the icon changes when I reduce the voltage.
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Interestingly I’ve not seen a battery % for a couple of days now… maybe its settled down. All I see is the plug symbol. That’s with a full area power cut yesterday of over an hour… it came back online with the plug too. I can’t imagine these wires are supplying any more than a few volts at best! See photos above
The posts above suggest others drop to 80 and charge to 90 I was assuming that’s what they were seeing but if what you say is correct they shouldn’t be seeing a %
I have had mine installed for 10 days now with about 120 events, and have always seen the green plug.
As mentioned above it takes turning off power to know what % the battery is at.
Would it be therefore possible for my doorbell to be down to say 20% but show the plug? I’m doubtful as surely it knows it has enough juice to show plug and charge, I.e plug symbol doesn’t just mean wires in the back it means its actually charging, correct?
My stats here
On a side note I’d like it to detect movement a bit quicker I’ve got it set to highest sensitivity already.
What settings are you running text only notification? Text first then thumbnail? (Full effect) etc
Think of the plug icon as a wall plug. You can be plugged in, but if current isn’t adequate, your battery will be using its own charge to make up the difference between what is being supplied and what it takes to run the doorbell. That can lead to the situation where your battery is slowly depleting while still plugged in. The doorbell draws the most current when you press the bell or it detects motion. Every time you push the bell or wake up the device on motion detect, the current increases dramatically over standby. If your transformer can’t supply enough current, it gets pulled from the battery.
There’s no way of me testing that as if I turn off the mains I lose the homebase 2 as well so can’t view the doorbell. The transformer in the consumer box doesn’t have its own cut out switch. And as you can probably tell from my post the last thing I want to do it start disconnecting the wires into the doorbell.
I’m certain on day 2 I saw a 92% and after this point a 94 or even 96%… as I say all I see now is a plug symbol.
The only other thing is play the waiting game if its still going in 2 months then its probably charging…
Just disconnect one of the secondary wires at the transformer and it should drop back to the % indicator in a minute or two. Its low voltage (18-25 vac) and low current, so as long as you don’t short it out on something you should be ok.
What is the rating on your transformer? That’s the critical issue. There have literally 50 or so posts on this board and reddit from people that had an off-spec transformer that couldn’t supply enough current. Rating should be printed on the transformer.
If you just try and wait it out with an under-spec transformer, you’ll eventually pull the batteries down and damage them so they won’t get full life or stop taking a charge altogether.
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I’m just going on John’s post above
“No, it isn’t. If you have the app up to date, it should show the battery icon when it is not charging (on android at least).”
I could take it off and leave it disconnected a few mins to see what it shows I suppose.
Showing 86% so still unsure if it’s charging or not.
Worst case i could install a slightly different transformer into the consumer unit say 8v 1amp but I thought 500ma would be enough to trickle charge the doorbell?
My transformer is 8v 500ma
Your transformer rating isn’t going to be enough to keep your battery charged and operate the doorbell. You might squeak by for a while if no one ever pushes the bell or gets detected, but eventually your battery will die. Eufy specs 18-24 vac and 30 VA. This board and reddit are full of people that didn’t do that and either killed the batteries or the doorbell.
Eufy doorbell manual states the spec required is 8 to 24v. UK generally run on 8v doorbells, the US I understand are generally 24v. I’ll take the doorbell off again and look at it in a couple of weeks and if it’s still up mid to high 80s % I can only assume it’s charging fine surely? On the Eufy Facebook group someone has posted they have the same transformer as me and theirs charges ok.
Reply from eufy technical
"Yes, glad to let you know that the doorbell is charging. You may notice that there is a charging icon at power manager page.
In this case, could you please keep the doorbell installed with your existing wires and see if it works? Since we didn’t test your existing chime before, I’m so sorry that I cannot promise you if there is issue later or not.
Thank you again and have a great day!
Reference Ticket#53 if contacting a CSR
Eufy Customer Support Engineer"
Dear lia***,
Yes, the doorbell would not show a mains plug symbol if it isn’t receiving enough to charge.
Thank you again and have a great day!
Eufy Customer Support Engineer
If you’re not satisfied
Eh, I’m also using a 8va transformer and I have never had any problems what so ever. It’s always charged perfectly.
Unfortunately, the “days used” field has been broken for very long now, but here’s the stats,in order of appearance; total detections, filtered and recorded. So it’s definitely busy around the day, but I only ever see the battery icon when it’s above 80%, when dropping below it starts to charge again.
I think you should start worrying when it’s wired up and you see a percentage below 80% (like maybe 50% or even lower).
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I think some American friends are basing the voltage requirements on this forum on what’s used across the pond.
All I see now is a plug icon so according to eufy tech that means it’s charging…
Shall see if it eventually cuts out… haha