Poor Wi-Fi and low battery life?

These are some of the most common issues of everyday technology, especially with smart devices such as mobile phones, tablets and video doorbells. Also, the battery life is sometimes related to the poor mobile and/or Wi-Fi signals so your device has to boost its transmitter power to maintain the stable connection and constantly scan for a better & nearer network, causing high power consumption.

That is why you get some mixed reviews on any device battery life. For one specific device, some get great battery life and some do not. It all very much depends on your local mobile network and home Wi-Fi system.

One very good example here is the Eufy video doorbell, which I have used for a good few years now and it is still on its original battery. The doorbell is wirelessly connected to its chime with an microSD card to record the videos, which is plugged into the socket in the hall. Installed from new, the doorbell battery life has always been okay, lasting just a few months but that was to be expected when you consider mobile phones’ batteries barely last a day or two, plus considering the cold weather that would drain the doorbell battery even further.

However, a couple of years later, its battery life deteriorated to the point that it often needs a charge every two months or so. So I was looking at other video doorbells to replace it and I tried a different brand but its video quality, especially at night, turned out to be very poor and unusable, so I returned it.

I decided to take a good look at my old Eufy doorbell again to see if it can be fixed and whether it needs a new replacement battery (non-removable) and it turned out its doorbell chime power (plugged in the hall) connector had a poor power connection; applying a small pressure to it would cut the power easily, and wiggling it a bit would turn it back on so I decided to take it apart and adjust the power pins with nose pliers so that it will have a good connection.

Coupled with getting an extra Eero router from Fibrus to cover the signal ‘weak’ spot near where the doorbell is, its battery life is now lasting a lot longer than it had even been when it was new!

As I’m writing this, the battery is showing 239 days and has 89% charge remaining! No settings or schedule change or whatsoever; it would have run out by now when it was new! Not only that, but one of Chime’s aerials has been broken off by one of my kids but it doesn’t affect the video or battery performance at all. Newer Eufy chimes do not have the aerials.

A small adjustment(s) or fix to your home Wi-Fi network or wireless device does work wonders!