New frigate installation

GeoffS

GeoffS

n3wb
Aug 25, 2026
8
9
Tasmania
Just finished getting frigate running on a Raspberry Pi 5 and it's running well.

Pi has an NVME expansion board fitted with 2 x 1 TB NVME drives and a pcie HailoL8 TPU.
Only 3 cameras at the moment so no great load on the system, Detection works very well.
A lack of a GPU limits face and license plate recognition but might upgrade to a mini-itx system to fix that

Only problem I have is with the Reolink doorbell that keeps dropping out for reasons yet unknown. Other camera are Dahua
 
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GeoffS said:
Reolink doorbell that keeps dropping out for reasons yet unknown.
Click to expand...
I also know problems like this with my Reolink Doorbell Wifi. See e.g. New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ? ff.

Even under Home Assistant I can see in the HA log that HA loses connection to the Reolink doorbell approx. 1 - 2 times per day. This usually happens in the dark when the doorbell's IR is also activated. And no, that's not because of my WLAN here because in the log of my Asus router there is no connection loss to the Reolink Doorbell Wifi and my previous Imou DB61i doorbell never had a problem with a connection loss. This was also powered by the bell transformer and connected via WiFi.

I have already mentioned elsewhere that I suspect that the hardware of the Reolink Doorbell Wifi is/is simply somehow "overloaded" when it has to do "too many" tasks. In my case, for example, it is integrated into Home Assistant, into my Dahua NVR and the Reolink app probably also has a connection to it. When I then try to access the WebGUI of the Reolink Doorbell Wifi, there are always timeouts.

Many users who only use the Reolink Doorbell Wifi via the Reolink app may not have the problem and probably won't notice it at all. Personally, this annoys me a little, as I don't know this behavior from my Imou DB61i doorbell and haven't had it before.

Yes, I could of course also test how the camera behaves if I no longer have it integrated into the Dahua NVR and/or perhaps no longer under HA, but such an operation would be out of the question for me anyway, so I'll save myself such attempts.

For me, absolutely stable and reliable operation is a priority and unfortunately that is not the case here with the Reolink Doorbell Wifi. :( But unfortunately there is currently no alternative to the Reolink doorbell that really fulfills my wishes and ideas for a doorbell mentioned here: New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?

BTW: Like you, I only use Dahua cameras and a Dahua NVR. :)
 
Nice setup! The Pi 5 with an NVMe board and Hailo TPU sounds like a pretty capable little system, especially with only three cameras. Interesting that detection is working so well. For the Reolink doorbell, I'd check whether the connection is dropping at the RTSP stream level or whether Frigate is losing the feed for some other reason. That might help narrow it down before you start changing hardware.
 
@GeoffS ,
Maybe I missed it but is your Reolink DB Wi-Fi or POE?
 
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Jim_OS said:
For me, absolutely stable and reliable operation is a priority and unfortunately that is not the case here with the Reolink Doorbell Wifi.
Click to expand...
To wrap this up for my own records: It appears that the instability I experienced with the Reolink Wi-Fi Doorbell was indeed due to the old doorbell transformer - rated at only 8VA - failing to provide a stable and sufficient power supply through the 2-wire (0.6 mm) doorbell cabling. Since last Friday, I have been using an ABB TS 25/12-24 C transformer (25VA), and I haven’t encountered a single issue since.

Jim_OS

Post in thread 'New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?'

Jim_OS said:
Even though I've only tested it for one night so far, last night – with IR deactivated – was the first night the Reolink Doorbell WiFi didn't seem to go offline.
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To wrap this up: After three nights with IR disabled, I can confirm that my 24V 8VA doorbell transformer supplies enough power to prevent the Reolink Wi-Fi Doorbell from cutting out in the dark.

I also ran tests using color mode at night. Here is what that looks like:

Reolink_Doorbell_night_color.png

However, since I have not only the two aforementioned additional Dahua cameras with their IR activated covering the entrance and courtyard...
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Specifically, there have been no timeouts - even when the Reolink Doorbell was integrated with multiple devices and services (NVR, Home Assistant, etc.) and I accessed its web GUI - nor have there been any connection dropouts. In other words, the doorbell hasn’t rebooted due to insufficient power, even at night (when the infrared lights are active).

If you are powering your Reolink doorbell via a transformer rather than PoE, and you experience connection drops that aren't related to your Wi-Fi network, it is worth checking the power rating of your transformer. This applies even if other doorbells - in my case, two Dahua models - worked perfectly fine with that same transformer previously.

Note: As mentioned, these observations are based on only four nights of use so far.
 
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Since it's PoE, power probably isn't the issue like it was with Jim_OS's Wi-Fi one. How is the doorbell added in Frigate, RTSP or the http-flv stream? Frigate's docs recommend http-flv for Reolink cameras 5MP and lower, since Reolink's RTSP tends to be the less reliable option, and the doorbell should be in that range. In go2rtc that looks like this:

ffmpeg:http://DOORBELL_IP/flv?port=1935&app=bcs&stream=channel0_main.bcs&user=USER&password=PASS#video=copy#audio=copy#audio=opus

Use channel0_ext.bcs for the substream, and make sure HTTP is enabled in the doorbell's advanced network settings. If you use two way talk, keep the http-flv stream for video and add the RTSP stream as a second source just for the audio.

The docs also suggest setting the bitrate mode to "On, fluency first" and Interframe Space to 1x, if the doorbell's firmware has those options.
 
jeremyx said:
Since it's PoE, power probably isn't the issue like it was with Jim_OS's Wi-Fi one. How is the doorbell added in Frigate, RTSP or the http-flv stream? Frigate's docs recommend http-flv for Reolink cameras 5MP and lower, since Reolink's RTSP tends to be the less reliable option, and the doorbell should be in that range. In go2rtc that looks like this:

ffmpeg:http://DOORBELL_IP/flv?port=1935&app=bcs&stream=channel0_main.bcs&user=USER&password=PASS#video=copy#audio=copy#audio=opus

Use channel0_ext.bcs for the substream, and make sure HTTP is enabled in the doorbell's advanced network settings. If you use two way talk, keep the http-flv stream for video and add the RTSP stream as a second source just for the audio.

The docs also suggest setting the bitrate mode to "On, fluency first" and Interframe Space to 1x, if the doorbell's firmware has those options.
Click to expand...
Think you're right with this one - need t use the flv stream instead of the rtsp one.
 
GeoffS said:
Only problem I have is with the Reolink doorbell that keeps dropping out for reasons yet unknown.
Click to expand...
^ Here you said "Reolink doorbell".....
GeoffS said:
POE as are the Dahua. Only wifi is a recently added Tp-LInk
Click to expand...
So the doorbell is what? TP-LINK or Reolink?
 
Jim_OS said:
I have been using an ABB TS 25/12-24 C transformer (25VA), and I haven’t encountered a single issue since.
Click to expand...
A quick update: The ABB doorbell transformer didn't solve the issue for me either. See: New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?

In other words, I’m still experiencing these dropouts with the Reolink Wi-Fi doorbell, and I’m currently not aware of any other potential solution to the problem.
 
Jim_OS said:
A quick update: The ABB doorbell transformer didn't solve the issue for me either. See: New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?

In other words, I’m still experiencing these dropouts with the Reolink Wi-Fi doorbell, and I’m currently not aware of any other potential solution to the problem.
Click to expand...

Is the doorbell dropping from Frigate only, or is the live view while directly connected to the doorbell also dropping? Are you using FFMPEG on Frigate for the doorbell? What is the exact URL (minus credentials and IP address) that you're using?
 
No, I don’t use Frigate at all. :) I only created this post here because I had previously mentioned the topic of the power supply in this same place.
 
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