Doorbell added to Home Hub, but will not connect to Home-Hub-Wifi, or a Chime

[walders]

*** Edit (sorry, I can't post for 86400 second(s), so I'm doing this by edit***
UPDATE: Reolink support have got back to me (by email). We discussed the Chime: they then pushed new firmware to the Hub, that has allowed me to connect the Chime to the Hub.
Kudos to them for this - I wasn't expecting a firmware-update like that.
***


Hello,
I'm relatively new to Reolink, still... I bought a battery doorbell (by the gate, with no wires available), that connects to my WiFi, and a Chime. The aim is to connect to Home Assistant so that it displays on our panel by the front door.
I then tried to connect it to Home Assistant, but failed... and was informed by Reolink support that I needed to buy a Home Hub to connect to HA.

So I bought a Home Hub. I have set this up, and added my doorbell, but I have two issues, that I suspect are related.

1. I cannot connect my doorbell to the Home Hub, as the Home Hub signal is too weak. The doorbell is by my gate, at the end of the drive (house is offset from the front of the property). I have a TP-link extender, which creates an extension of the Home Hub wifi from my garage, but this doesn't work (the app says that this extended wifi is not on the same network as the hub).
2. I can connect my doorbell to the main Home Wifi, the same as the Home Hub. However, I cannot add a Chime to my Doorbell, UNLESS I have the Doorbell as standalone (not on the Home Hub). I start to add the Chime, and it asks if I have my doorbell powered on (the answer is yes, and I can see a live feed). If I press "yes", it claims that I have not, and will not proceed.

I need the Chime connected, so we can hear the doorbell in two locations of the house.

Any ideas? I hadn't expected connection to be so difficult.

Thanks!

[Chopstix]

@walders I am not aware that the battery door requires a Home Hub. I have a PoE doorbell and it does not. When you initially setup your doorbell as standalone on your own Wi-Fi network, what are the details that led to to contact support? Did you follow the correct steps in the Reolink app?

Let's assume you need to use the Home Hub... If the Home Hub's Wi-Fi is not strong enough to reach your gate (you mentioned extender), you use your home's exiting Wi-Fi instead. To do do, setup your camera as a standalone first and then import it in to Home Hub. From there, you add the Home Hub to Google, not the individual camera.

I can tell you that my experience with Google Home integration with these cameras is dismal. Whether I use standalone cameras or Home Hub Pro connected cameras, I get about 8 seconds of video latency to my Google display. It is useless to the point I have abandoned it. Reolink support has stated that the issue is with my connectivity to the Google servers and there is noting they can do to help me. The camera streams to the Reolink servers, then the Google servers stream it from Reolink, then to your Google display.

[joseph_1979]

@walders Re: point 2. Reolink are aware of this and stated that they shall provide a fix in a fw upgrade of the Home Hub. So for the time being leave it as standalone.

[walders]

(sorry for delay, the system has not let me post replies)
Many thanks for the advice!
@Chopstix installing as standalone first, then importing worked - thanks. It still disconnects from time to time, but I'll check signal strength. Can I turn off my Home Hub Wifi now?
The Home Hub is essential for Home Assistant (can't comment on Google). That is next on my task list.
@joseph_1979 Thanks for the info about the chime. Annoying, but not life-changing. Shame Reolink support was unaware of this!
***

[joseph_1979]

@walders Indeed it is. They really need to improve their software both from features and stability aspect.

If your WIFI is better then use your WIFI and disable the one on the Home Hub. That's what I did on mine.

[Chopstix]

@walders thank you for the update edit. Sounds like everything has worked out the way you need to it. Cheers.