It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell • Hacker News Board

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#51

Post by AngryData » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:12 AM UTC

t098i3 wrote: post #16

artisinal wrote: post #12

I fail to see the relation between a video doorbell and stopping a burglar. Burglars wear masks. Also, a doorbell ringing on the outside of the door is not only silly but in case of an apartment complex highly annoying for your neighbors. And make sure your neighbors like being monitored through your five services. Personally I have a button outside my front door. It is connected with a copper wire to the other side…

I used to have local teenagers messing around on my property and it completely stopped after putting up some lights and cameras. It stops most casual crime.

Are you sure the teenagers didn't just get older and moved on?

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#52

Post by KPGv2 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:17 AM UTC

HDBaseT wrote: post #43

artisinal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then go for a CCTV system with local storage for the whole apartment complex instead of a cloud based personal surveillance system. Then you don’t need 5 cloud services and people can go back to knocking.

When I break into peoples houses, I tend to take the NVR with me.

People who break into houses are going for a few obvious high-dollar items. They're not searching for a server closet they don't know exists. They're looking for laptops, pharmaceuticals, jewelry. High dollar, portable items. not a strange-looking device hidden in a closet. And obviously you can put it in a rack that requires a key to open. They won't bother.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#53

Post by engine_y » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:17 AM UTC

mrb wrote: post #49

I am super sensitive to over engineering. For my doorbell I wanted something that lets me play a custom bell sound. You would be surprised that 99% of the solutions out there are complete over engineered stacks that depend on wifi devices, Internet access, connecting to various cloud services... So I built my own: a basic wireless button sends a radio 433 MHz signal, and my receiver is plugged inside the house and tr…

Over engineering is subjective / evolving.

You could have bought a bell...

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#54

Post by mathisfun123 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:18 AM UTC

t098i3 wrote: post #44

mathisfun123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment used to say something about shooting people on sight, which perfectly tracks with the demo that owns these cameras.

No it didn't.

I know you think you're being clever but in a week this archive will have your original comment https://hackerbook.dosaygo.com/?view=news&p=1&year=2026

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#55

Post by jonhohle » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:18 AM UTC

I’ve used a Ring doorbell for over a decade and have never been able to get it to work with a physical doorbell. In two different house, with additional power dongle and after replacing transformers, every time I have it trigger the mechanical doorbell power drops enough to brown out the Ring leaving it in an unusable state until I power cycle it (which means disconnecting the transformer in the garage, at the bell, or behind the ring; all of which require disassembling something). I’ve searched for solutions and have come up empty, but have a similar problem to the linked article. My phone is typically on silent and I ignore the notification due to notification fatigue.

I like just about everything about the device, but I just want to have a normal door chime again.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#56

Post by KPGv2 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:20 AM UTC

mathisfun123 wrote: post #19

t098i3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have local teenagers messing around on my property and it completely stopped after putting up some lights and cameras. It stops most casual crime.

People steal things from stores which have had cctv for decades. I have no idea why people think these goofy webcams have any effect other than invading the privacy of your neighbors.

> People steal things from stores which have had cctv for decades.

The crime there (shoplifting) doesn't begin until they leave.

In the case of a burglary, the crime begins when they enter.

Seems to be a pretty important distinction when discussing whether knowing a person is physically present on your property alerts you to a crime in progress.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#57

Post by cube00 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:20 AM UTC

AngryData wrote: post #50

ezfe wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's video surveillance, it makes it more likely they'll go elsewhere. That's literally the whole point of Ring.

People always say this, but is there any evidence it is true? Home burglars aren't exactly the cream of the criminal crop.

Take a walk around the neighbourhood, plenty of houses still don't have any video surveillance.

There's no shortage of footage of people casing a place spotting the camera then wondering away. The smart ones look like they're any other lost delivery driver complete with package in hand. Thanks to the rise of gig work nobody has uniforms anymore. No that it really matters, plenty of stolen uniforms in play too.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#58

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:21 AM UTC

KPGv2 wrote: post #52

HDBaseT wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I break into peoples houses, I tend to take the NVR with me.

People who break into houses are going for a few obvious high-dollar items. They're not searching for a server closet they don't know exists. They're looking for laptops, pharmaceuticals, jewelry. High dollar, portable items. not a strange-looking device hidden in a closet. And obviously you can put it in a rack that requires a key to open. They won't bother.

[deleted]

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#59

Post by The_Blade » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:23 AM UTC

KPGv2 wrote: post #52

HDBaseT wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I break into peoples houses, I tend to take the NVR with me.

People who break into houses are going for a few obvious high-dollar items. They're not searching for a server closet they don't know exists. They're looking for laptops, pharmaceuticals, jewelry. High dollar, portable items. not a strange-looking device hidden in a closet. And obviously you can put it in a rack that requires a key to open. They won't bother.

AI has driven so many highly paid software professionals into the Your Friends and Neighbors lifestyle

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#60

Post by KPGv2 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:23 AM UTC

VladVladikoff wrote: post #3

I’ve recently been looking into what older gen IoT devices I can buy used for cheap and are also hackable (some existing progress has been done before me is my bar). My first adventure was with an Amazon Echo Dot 2, I picked up two off Facebook marketplace for $5 each and managed to vibe code my way into a working implementation of LibreEcho (which does not currently support the echo dot). I’ve got that wired into my…

Amazon had these little Dash buttons about 10 years ago. The goal was you would click one, and it would re-order that product from Amazon. Many were branded.

Basically just a wifi button. I hacked one so I could, in my brain fog, record the moment i started and finished feeding my infant by sending a ping to a server via a simple click.

There's a bunch up on eBay. Could probably 3M tape one beside your door. Easy solution, esp if it's shielded from rain.