27 Sep How to add the ADT Pulse Doorbell Camera
If you recently purchased the ADT Doorbell Camera and want to know how to install it or if you are wondering if you should get one and if you can install it yourself, here is a guide that will take you through the steps so you know how to do it.
You do have to have an existing doorbell already because you use the back half of the doorbell and just replace the button with the ADT Pulse Doorbell Camera.
- The first step is to remove your old doorbell button and you should have two wires. (If you wanted to be really safe you could turn off the circuit breaker for your doorbell, but its low voltage and should not hurt anyone if you do not.) I left it on when I installed the one that I did in this video.
- The second step is to screw the two wires to the back plate
- Then mount the back plate to the wall/door molding where the old doorbell was
- Turn on the little on/off switch on the back of the doorbell so it turns blue on the front
- Log into your adtpulse portal and click on the system tab and manage devices
- Then click add using WPS
- Type in 8 digit PIN
- Wait for it to update the firmware if it needs to
- Test it out and make sure your automations are set if you want recordings and or notifications
Its a pretty simple process and should take you around 10-30 min depending on your experience, tools, confidence, etc…
I love this new ADT Pulse Doorbell Camera because now you can use it for a trigger or motion alert and it is actually in the same app as ADT Pulse unlike Ring and other doorbells. You should be able to talk and see and hear the person on the other side. If you have connection issues you might want to move your base station closer or add an ADT Pulse WiFi range extender.
Please let us know how your experience goes and if you have any additional tips you want to add.
Power Issue: You may have heard of, or are experiencing a power issue with your ADT Pulse Doorbell Camera. This is due to either a bad charge, or from cold weather. If this is the case, this bracket available for purchase here solves that issue.
Shawn Coomes
Posted at 22:15h, 05 OctoberI couldn’t get the notification to pop up when I installed it. The push notifications were on in the pulse app. Even check the pulse portal. Could view it live but like the ring when I pushed the doorbell couldn’t get a notification to come up on phone saying someone was there
admin2
Posted at 09:20h, 26 OctoberYou should be able to enable push notifications, please check out the blog post here or contact ADT for more help.
edwin.mcdermott
Posted at 21:49h, 19 OctoberI really like this doorbell camera and how it integrates with my ADT system. Some notes on installation: (1) My mounting plate was slightly different than the one shown here as it had three slots for mounting screws as opposed to the two shown here. I used three screws to mount the plate. (2) I found routing the two existing doorbell wires to the connecting screws a little tricky. There seemed to be a couple ridges in the way of getting the wires into position to align with the two small slots in the rubber plug that environmentally seals off the electrical connections. It took some patience to get things aligned for a good seal. (3) I mounted the plate snugly to my wooden door frame and then followed all the instructions to let the camera update firmware, register it to my system and then snap it into place on the mounting plate. Everything worked perfectly including test ringing the doorbell. About an hour later, I noticed an alert on my ADT website dashboard that my camera battery was low, and the camera had stopped functioning. The doorbell ring function still worked. I recalled reading in the instructions that cautioned you should not over torque the mounting plate screws and I suspected I had done that. I removed the camera from the mounting plate (a little scary–the two retaining clips on the right side are two-step releases and they’re plastic) and charged the camera using the micro USB port and my Nook charger. I backed the mounting screws off a bit and reinstalled the camera. Everything has worked perfectly since then and today I had a package delivered and the camera caught a video clip of the delivery perfectly! The interaction/notification through the ADT app on my iPhone is just awesome. The doorbell camera is a great addition to my ADT system.
Jay Allen
Posted at 09:30h, 02 FebruaryIs there any way to wire the ADT video doorbell in addition to an existing one? I’ve got a historic door and don’t want to lose the original brass doorbell plate (the doorbell itself is hardwired to a modern chime inside), but there’s a spot to the left of my door I could mount a video doorbell and it’d be able to see who’s at the door.
Ideally if you rang the regular doorbell I’d still be able to use the ADT doorbell to communicate with folks via audio. Or if folks used the ADT doorbell it would also ring the main chime.
admin2
Posted at 09:53h, 04 FebruaryYou could have a new doorbell installed where you want the ADT doorbell to be and then install the ADT Doorbell after that. A regular doorbell at home depot would provide the power needed for the ADT doorbell. We could also look at a power supply and you could wire that to the ADT Doorbell.
Tom Morrissey
Posted at 18:12h, 15 FebruaryI just had ADT install the video doorbell, I have an issue with the power, my original doorbell wires went to a Niles DBI-1 doorbell interface, so when the button was pushed it would create a contact trigger with the Niles unit which would have it play its chimes throughout the house using the whole home audio speakers in each room. To get the ADT video unit to work we had to remove the Niles interface and install a transformer to run continuous power to the ADT unit. Now I don’t get the door bell to ring inside the house. I tried to hook up the Niles unit inline but that just send power to the Niles which causes the inside chimes to play all the time. What is the difference between having the ADT unit in analog or digital mode? the tech set it up in analog knowing I had a digital chime.
admin2
Posted at 08:26h, 25 FebruaryIt has a digital chime so it should be able to accommodate your digital doorbell, but you might need to get a normal analog doorbell at home depot if you cannot get it to work with that digital one.
S Hester
Posted at 08:59h, 22 FebruarySo, this door bell uses the chime from the existing door bell? I can barely hear mine since it has been installed
admin2
Posted at 08:23h, 25 FebruaryYes it uses your pre-existing doorbell. Usually best if that is a normal doorbell vs a digital, but the ADT Pulse Doorbell does have a switch that can accommodate a digital one also. If the pre-existing doorbell has issues it might need to be replaced before installing the ADT Pulse Doorbell
Dan
Posted at 01:12h, 25 JanuaryIs there a way to change the internal battery? I ordered th backing plate about 6 months ago but I think the battery is complete dead. As soon as I unplug it it goes completely dark on less than 1 minute. Unplug it into the USB port and it back running perfectly within 2 minutes. I think the battery is just done for.
admin2
Posted at 09:05h, 27 JanuaryThere is not a way to replace the battery, unfortunately. You will need to either get the bracket that helps solve this issue or replace your doorbell depending on what version it is.