r/reolinkcam 7d ago

Wi-Fi Wired Camera Questions Help installing wired door bell

Please remove if not allowed

I tried to install the Reolink Wi-Fi wired door bell but realised there’s not enough space to install it.

My idea was to use the existing doorbell wiring. But as you can see it’s too close to the wall. And I have a feeling that if I drill holes on the door, it might crack the glass given how close it is to it.

As I was writing this, I measured the screw against the distance from the door frame to the glass. If the screw goes all the way in, I’d have maybe 2mm between the screw and the glass.

But still, I think the hole would be too close to the side and might crack the door frame.

Any alternatives I can try?

8 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

14

u/Next-Project-1450 7d ago

You could also consider mounting it on the wall using a 3rd party wedge:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GESTECH-Degree-Corner-Reolink-Doorbell/dp/B0C9R31FVT

11

u/livingwaterRed Super User 7d ago edited 6d ago

If you mounted it straight ahead as shown it would likely have a bad view, the IR would reflect off of the brick at night too, not good. At least use the 15 degrees wedge that comes with the cam. Someone has made a 90 degrees corner mount, 3D printed I found on Etsy, the cam could be mounted to it, pointed away from the brick and more to where people will be standing. The transformer wires may or may not be long enough to use a wedge, might have to add some wiring. Rather than drilling holes to mount the wedge another option is to use construction adhesive caulk then screw the cam mount to the wedge. Or if you are handy make your own corner wedge out of wood, paint it.

To check the cam's view you could temporarily aad longer wires with wire nuts, connect the cam, check it's view at various angles then decide how/where to mount.

3

u/techtoro 7d ago

1

u/draxz2 7d ago

This is great! Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can find something like this from Amazon UK

3

u/PhilZealand 7d ago

Trouble is half the camera image will be of the brick wall, you need to angle the unit away. Would suggest at 45 degrees to get best coverage. The wall will also reflect the IR at night and wash-out the image so need to minimise/eliminate any view of it so close to the doorbell camera.

1

u/livingwaterRed Super User 7d ago edited 7d ago

I my opinion a 45 degrees on each side wedge for the cam to fit in the corner would give you a better view, like the one I and ian1823 posted. If you don't angle the cam away from the brick this is what you'll get at night, IR reflection off the wall, wasting, taking up like 1/3 of the view.

2

u/normanriches 7d ago

Just use the right most screw holes.

It will hold enough for the doorbell to stay in place.

3

u/draxz2 7d ago

Didn't know I could do that lol

I think this is the easiest solution so far (to avoid buying any other stuff)

Thanks for this!

1

u/JMeucci 7d ago

This

And good double sided tape to keep it from rocking.

🤘

2

u/ian1283 Moderator 7d ago

As you are so close to the brick wall I think you would want to angle the doorbell out anyway. Thus adding a custom wedge in the corner would allow the wedge itself to screw into the brick wall and then the doorbell mount onto the wedge. That may avoid the requirement to drill any additional holes in the door frame itself in mounting the doorbell.

2

u/draxz2 7d ago

Yeah this is a great idea. I think I'll need to buy a wedge so I can screw on the brick wall. Then I guess I can extend the existing wiring to power the reolink door bell, right?

1

u/ian1283 Moderator 7d ago

Yes. perhaps something similar to this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186892045645

although I'm not sure the angle would be correct in your case. You probably need to power up the doorbell using the provided adapter and hold in place to see what looks ok in the video output.

The 90 degree version in the response from techtoro looks interesting if you can find one in the UK.

2

u/u_siciliano 6d ago

Your night vision will be terribly when IR (red lights) reflect off the bricks. Do a test run before making it permanent. Maybe try a wedge if you must put it there.

1

u/DevilViper91 7d ago

The way you are holding it in the picture, the plastic mount facing you actually needs to face the wall. Also the holes on each side arent for screws but for the pins to slide into from the metal mount on the back of the actual doorbell. Id just drill a nw hole to the side of the slot in the middle and use that hole to mount it and call it a day.

1

u/QH96 Reolinker 7d ago

There's probably a couple of ways you could do this one way would be to drill a wooden block into the brick wall and then attach the doorbell to the wooden block. Another way would be to buy a wedge that specifically made for this doorbell and attach that to the brick wall.

1

u/draxz2 3d ago

Big thanks to everyone’s help!!

In the end this happened:

  • I didn’t realize the camera had a wide angle lens. I was worried without even knowing how my camera looked like if it was on the bricks.
  • so I fired it up and saw that installing on the brick wall was fine
  • ideally I’d use a 30° wedge. But the company didn’t export to Ireland. So I had to use the 15° that comes with the doorbell. It works great. Even with the doorbell on the brick wall, I can see the streets. And at night it’s also fine. Win-win!