Add post: The privacy-friendly video doorbell that failed in cold weather

package.json

@@ -15,45 +15,45 @@
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src/collections/posts/lastmod.json

@@ -22,5 +22,6 @@
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 	"src/routes/posts/(2025)/environment-variables-in-sveltekit/+page.md": "2025-11-05T14:06:22.000Z",
 	"src/routes/posts/(2025)/it-aint-easy-to-move-a-side-project-off-big-tech/+page.md": "2025-11-07T20:24:14.000Z",
-	"src/routes/posts/(2025)/managing-environment-variables-with-vercel/+page.md": "2025-11-12T20:58:01.000Z"
+	"src/routes/posts/(2025)/managing-environment-variables-with-vercel/+page.md": "2025-11-12T20:58:01.000Z",
+	"src/routes/posts/(2026)/the-privacy-friendly-video-doorbell-that-failed-in-cold-weather/+page.md": "2026-01-09T16:49:30.000Z"
 }

src/collections/tags/iot.json

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+	"id": "iot",
+	"label": "IoT",
+	"path": "/tags/iot"
+}

src/routes/+layout.svelte

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 	<SiteHeader
 		links={[
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+			{ title: 'Posts', href: '/posts' },
+			{ title: 'Notes', href: '/notes' }
 		]}
 		class="z-10 shrink-0"
 	>

src/routes/posts/(2026)/the-privacy-friendly-video-doorbell-that-failed-in-cold-weather/+page.md

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+---
+title: The privacy-friendly video doorbell that failed in cold weather
+author: thilo
+publishedDate: 2026-01-10
+description:
+  A Reolink video doorbell promised to be privacy-friendly, but failed in cold weather with poor
+  event detection and severe battery drain.
+tags:
+  - iot
+---
+
+<script>
+  import { Figure } from '@maiertech/sveltekit-helpers';
+	import DoorbellImage from './DoorbellImage.svelte';
+</script>
+
+During the holidays, I installed a
+[Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery)](https://reolink.com/nl/product/reolink-doorbell-battery/) on my
+front door. After a honeymoon that lasted a few days, winter came to the Netherlands and with
+freezing temperatures my excitement for this doorbell quickly reached a freezing point. But more on
+that in a minute.
+
+About 2 years ago, I had a
+[Google Nest Doorbell (Battery)](https://store.google.com/product/nest_doorbell_battery?hl=nl) for
+about 6 months. After the first mild Dutch winter, its image started flickering and when I removed
+it for a reset, the mounting mechanism broke. A common problem with this model. To Google's credit,
+I received a full refund. But I started to wonder whether it's a good idea to install an IoT device
+in a spot where it is exposed to the full range from dry freezing cold to scorching hot humid
+weather with direct sun exposure and occasional heavy rain splashes.
+
+Fast forward to late 2025. I wanted to give a video doorbell another try. But this time, I wanted to
+bypass Big Tech and go for a model that works locally without subscription and without the cloud.
+After digging through endless negative doorbell reviews, I settled on Reolink. Their battery
+doorbell ticked all the boxes: local storage, no subscription required, optional wired installation,
+works with my mechanical chime, battery-powered (in case of a power outage), and affordable. And a
+beautiful piece of hardware, IP65 rated, that works in a temperature range from -10°C to +55°C. At
+least that's what the specs say.
+
+<Figure caption="The Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery) looks stunning but fails in cold weather." class="mb-8 max-w-xs">
+  <DoorbellImage />
+</Figure>
+
+The first few days, while the temperature was still close to +10°C, the doorbell worked almost
+flawlessly. It kept trickle-charging the battery back to 100%. And triggers worked reasonably well.
+But I noticed some firmware quirks.
+
+But let me first explain my constraints. Dutch neighborhoods are dense, and therefore, my doorbell
+camera (like many other doorbell cameras in the Netherlands) captures a public sidewalk. I don't
+want to capture anything happening in a public area. It's none of my business. I want to capture
+only what happens on my property. Google Nest offers intuitive detection zones for this scenario.
+Just mark a detection zone located on my property and Google will alert me if someone steps into
+that zone. Anything happening outside gets ignored. My neighbor can walk his dog on the sidewalk
+without me ever knowing about it.
+
+Reolink reverses this logic. It offers non-detection zones. Reolink does not disclose the logic of
+non-detection zones. But from what I can tell, anything touching a non-detection zone gets ignored.
+That's a problem when the public sidewalk is in the center of the camera view and it's literally
+impossible to walk to my front door without touching the non-detection zone. In my case,
+non-detection zones broke meaningful event detection.
+
+As an alternative, you can enable or disable detection based on object size. For instance, someone
+walking on the sidewalk across the street will appear small in the camera view and can be ignored.
+But the mailman approaching my front door will at one point appear large enough to trigger an alert.
+But this approach is very unreliable. My son's playdate was small enough to evade detection until
+they rang the doorbell.
+
+Another quirk was that whenever someone left the house, event detection would not trigger. I
+literally managed to take the above picture of the doorbell without triggering an alert. This made
+me wonder whether person detection is based on an object getting larger. If you leave the house, you
+never get larger in the camera view, only smaller. But I'm just guessing here.
+
+Then winter came and with temperatures below +5°C, the doorbell started behaving erratically. The
+battery stopped charging and started draining quickly despite being wired up to the doorbell
+transformer. I get it that the battery won't charge if temperatures drop below 0°C. But the battery
+should not drain when wired. The other issue was that at low temperatures, motion detection kept
+failing. I could walk up to the doorbell without triggering an alert. Within a few days, you reach a
+point where you have to detach the doorbell, remove the wires and bring it inside for charging.
+That's absurd for a wired video doorbell.
+
+The last nail in the doorbell's coffin was customer support. You get the usual remove it, reset it
+and re-install it. But the moment I asked to for a return label and a refund, the response speed
+slowed down. I felt like I was being put through all kinds of hoops to discourage me from returning
+the doorbell.
+
+I wanted to like this doorbell. There are so few options out there for privacy-conscious consumers.
+Reolink has a whole range of privacy-friendly cameras, including affordable PoE cameras. Therefore,
+when I ended up with a choice between a privacy-friendly video doorbell with flawed event detection
+and a Big Tech surveillance device that nickels and dimes me for flawless event detection, I felt
+stuck between a rock and a hard place.
+
+For the time being, I reverted back to a dumb doorbell in combination with an old Google Nest
+camera. The camera is attached from the inside with a suction cup holder to a window at the
+entrance. Event detection works flawlessly, no matter how cold it is outside. But I have to shell
+out a subscription fee to Big Tech.
+
+This feels like a defeat. But I hope that it's temporary and that with
+[Matter having added support for cameras in v1.5](https://matter-smarthome.de/en/development/matter-1-5-arrives-bringing-long-awaited-cameras/),
+there will be more privacy-friendly camera options with flawless event detection in the near future.
+And I hope Reolink will iterate on their video doorbell to make it work reliably in cold weather.

src/routes/posts/(2026)/the-privacy-friendly-video-doorbell-that-failed-in-cold-weather/DoorbellImage.svelte

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<script lang="ts">
+	import src from './reolink-doorbell.jpeg?enhanced';
+</script>
+
+<enhanced:img {src} alt="The Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery) installed at my front door." />