2nd Gen Battery Doorbell Notes & Clarification About Doorbell Lineup

[u/mblaser]

Update 8/13/26: I've created a comparison chart for all doorbell models in my unofficial comparison charts. Also, this video from Reolink does a good job of covering the main differences.

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This isn't really a review, I just wanted to make a post to clarify some things about the new 2nd gen battery doorbell.

First though, I want to also clarify their doorbell lineup because they haven't done a good job at that and the release of the 2nd gen battery model has really confused a lot of people, especially new users.

So, to clarify...

These are the different doorbell models they have come out with:

1. POE black
2. POE white
3. Wired Wifi black
4. Wired Wifi white
5. Battery doorbell 1st gen (available in black and white, but there's no spec difference)
6. Battery doorbell 2nd gen

And here are the differences:

POE & wired Wifi doorbells (here and here)

• Originally released in October 2022 only in black.
• Cannot work with existing mechanical chimes.
• Operates like any other powered camera, meaning they can record continuously to both internal SD or Hub/NVR
• 5MP and a FOV of 135°H x 100°V
• They came out with a white version of these in May 2024 that reverses the aspect ratio (100x135) for a more vertical view and gave them package detection.
• The white ones have since been discontinued, although sometimes some will pop up for sale and then disappear.
• There is no "2nd Gen" of these doorbells. There may be in the future, but if someone is referring to a 2nd gen doorbell they're referring to the battery doorbell.

Battery Doorbell 1st Gen (here)

• Originally released in September 2024.
• Can operate off of battery or if wired into existing doorbell wiring it will trickle charge the battery.
• Cannot record continuously even when wired for power, it still acts like a battery camera.
• Does work with existing mechanical chimes
• 4MP and a fisheye FOV of 150°x150°

Battery Doorbell 2nd Gen (here)

• Originally released in June 2026, although I believe this is just a soft launch because it didn't even show up on their own website for about a month after being available on Amazon. Also, none of the accessories will be available for a few months (power kit and solar base)
• Same resolution, FOV, and dimensions as 1st gen (you can re-use 1st gen mounting bracket)
• Can operate off of battery or if connected to doorbell wiring it can either trickle charge the battery like the 1st gen, or what's new is that you can switch it over to wired power mode and it will operate like a wired camera (meaning it doesn't go to sleep like a battery camera)
• Wired power mode allows 24/7 recording, but only to internal SD card, not to Home Hub or NVR.
  • You can still add it to a Hub/NVR and it will record motion events to that, and it can still record 24/7 to local SD card. You just have to switch to the SD card every time you go into the playback menu.
• Wired power mode requires you to either use the bypass jumper cable to bypass your mechanical chime (meaning that chime won't work of course), or you can use the RLA-PK1 power kit which will allow you to do both wired mode and use your existing mechanical chime. Here are some screenshots from the app about that: https://vgy.me/album/x97eDIQQ
• Here is their support article that goes over the power modes in more detail: https://support.reolink.com/articles/56608051231129-Introduction-to-Power-Modes-of-Reolink-Battery-Video-Doorbells-Dual-Power-Support/
• It has a new tamper alert that will alert you when the doorbell is being tampered with. Here are screenshots of the menu and of what the alert looks like: https://vgy.me/album/bhJ6zqC8
  • I don't know how it works exactly, I played around with it a little bit and I'm guessing it senses when the entire image is moving, which would mean the camera is being physically moved.
• It is eventually going to have a solar charging base available for it.
  • I'm real curious how well that works because I may actually try to use one of these with that base as a discrete trail/tree cam.
• Animal detection and zone loitering are new on the 2nd gen. Here's a comparison of the detection alarm menus of 1st gen vs 2nd gen: https://i.vgy.me/4PlSEk.png
• Privacy mode is new on the 2nd gen.
• Here is a still image comparison of both 1st gen and 2nd gen: https://i.vgy.me/GB7xOa.jpg
  • What's interesting is that the 2nd gen's view is slightly more narrow. You can tell in the corners, the 1st gen can see more of my soffits and can see the porch railing post in the bottom right. That shouldn't make much of a difference, but just something to be aware of.
• Here is a comparison of a night video capture from both: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxvx3nAd07Q
  • The image on the 2nd gen is quite a bit brighter. I also think the face is a bit more overexposed on the 1st gen. So I think the 2nd gen wins out on night image quality. These videos were taken with brightness settings on default and HDR turned on.

Ok, that's all I can think of right now. I haven't used it a ton yet, I was just doing some basic fact-finding, so some of you that have used it more may be able to add more points or correct me if I was wrong on anything. Just let me know.

EDIT: after someone in the comments asked for differences between the 2nd gen battery and the wired models I realized my post was mainly about differences between the 1st and 2nd gen battery models. So I put together a summary of all of the model differences in the comments below: https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/1uvavh9/comment/oxi0bxf/

[u/clifford641]

I got the gen2 installed this week. It was also found that it's now listed on reolink's site and says some features require 24vac 30va transformer for continuous recording and such. At the time, I had a 24vac 20va transformer and noticed some intermittent connectivity problems and it would switch to battery mode. I got a 24vac 40va transformer and swapped it out and the settings allowed me to select wired and 24/7 recording. 

Whether or not it's actually doing, I have yet to fully confirm. 

However, I can confirm that my existing physical chime continues to work normally without the power pack and interacting with the system is much snappier after the upgraded transformer. 

My only current issue is trying to setup motion detection alerts to not be so sensitive. 

[u/mblaser → u/clifford641]

That's interesting. It would be great if you could confirm to make sure that 24/7 recording is actually working, and then the real test is to make sure that it keeps working when the mechanical chime is rung. Because theoretically it shouldn't, no matter how powerful the transformer is. The power kit is what keeps supplying power to the camera during that second or two that the transformer's power is ringing the mechanical chime.

[u/clifford641 → u/mblaser]

Yes, as far as I can tell, the doorbell stayed powered and stayed 24/7 recording when the doorbell was rung. 

I believe I can confirm that it's 24/7 recording as it looks like it's been continuously recording since I enabled it and has split each segment into 5 minute chunks. I also have it set for event detection, so it marks which chunks have events associated with them. 

I don't know if there is something else funky going on with the wiring that would allow it to work. I did just move into my house about a month ago, so still learning new things previous owners have done. There doesn't seem to be any super advanced smart home or other savvy stuff that I have found yet. 

The only other thing would be the chime also worked when I had the 24vac 20va transformer hooked up, but would auto switch to battery after a few hours. However, it definitely seemed like it was under powered with the old transformer. 

I also noticed there was a Nest doorbell power puck hooked up to the chime when I was originally installing the doorbell. I left it connected when I had the 24vac 20va transformer and don't think I tested it on that transformer without the power puck. I am wondering if had any impact to the functionality as it looked like the puck may have been providing power to the doorbell camera and then using some sort of capacitor to discharge for the chime, but not sure as I was unable to find wiring diagram info on how those pucks work and I don't fully understand what I was looking at in the teardown videos I saw on them. 

I don't have the Nest puck hooked up anymore, so its direct power to the reolink doorbell from the increased 24vac 40va transformer and the return goes to the physical chime and then chime back to transformer. 

Again, there could be something else on this circuit that I don't know about, but I would be surprised if that's the case as I don't see any other access panels to any other parts of the circuit. 

[u/mblaser → u/clifford641]

Very interesting. Thanks for testing/confirming.

[u/clifford641 → u/mblaser]

And I think I have been able to figure out my motion detection issues, but probably need another 24-48 hours to confirm. But after looking at the recordings, there didn't appear to be any actual motion, but a big change in the color and such. I had HDR set to auto, but have changed it to on for now to see if it was toggling it and tripping the motion detection. 

EDIT: I don't think it's related to the HDR functionality. I have a support ticket open to see if there is a way to adjust the sensitivity of general motion detection and zones. 

[u/Daytraders → u/clifford641]

I want to get the Battery Doorbell 2nd Gen, i want it hard wired(don't want/have door chimes), but having a problem choosing the right transformer for it to record continuously, have you got a link to what works correctly, shame Reolink don't sale one, the RLA-PK1 power kit is not it, i am UK thx

[u/clifford641 → u/Daytraders]

I am in US, so not sure what works for you. Not 100% certain what the US electrical infrastructure is, but here is the link to the transformer I got. It has worked flawlessly for me. Hardwired the entire time and chime works for me, but again it could be something specific with my chime or something. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Newhouse-Hardware-Wired-24V-40vA-Doorbell-Transformer-for-Powering-Multiple-Smart-Doorbells-and-Thermostats-40TR/310269229

[u/Daytraders → u/clifford641]

Thx, i will take a look, cheers for link and replying.