Fixing Doorbird Home Assistant Integration Errors Fast

How to Fix Your Doorbird Home Assistant Integration

Integrating your Doorbird video doorbell with Home Assistant unlocks incredible automation potential, allowing you to create custom alerts and link your doorbell to other smart devices. However, setting up the integration can sometimes be tricky, leading to unavailable entities or a non-functional video stream.

This guide will walk you through the most common problems and their solutions, helping you get your Doorbird and Home Assistant communicating perfectly.

Understanding the Core Requirements

Unlike many cloud-based integrations, the Doorbird integration works locally. This means Home Assistant communicates directly with your Doorbird device on your home network. For this to work, three things are essential:

1. A Dedicated API User: You must create a special user in the Doorbird app with the correct permissions.
2. Network Accessibility: Home Assistant must be able to reach the Doorbird's IP address.
3. Correct HA Configuration: The details entered into Home Assistant must be precise.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide

If your integration isn't working, follow these steps in order to find and fix the problem.

1. Create and Verify the Doorbird API User

You cannot use your normal app username and password. You must create a separate user specifically for Home Assistant.

• Open the Doorbird app on your mobile device.
• Navigate to Settings → Administration → User.
• Tap the Add button to create a new user. Name it something descriptive, like homeassistant.
• Create a secure password for this new user.
• Crucially, you must grant this user permissions. Tap on the user you just created and go to the Permissions section.
• Enable the following permissions at a minimum:
  • Watch always (API) - Required for the live video stream.
  • Events - Required to receive notifications for doorbell presses, motion, etc.
  • Relay - Required if you want Home Assistant to be able to trigger the door/gate relay.

2. Check Your Home Assistant Configuration

A small typo in your configuration.yaml file (or in the UI setup) is a frequent cause of failure.

• IP Address: Double-check that the IP address you entered for the Doorbird is correct. It's highly recommended to set a static IP address or DHCP reservation for your Doorbird in your router to prevent it from changing.
• Credentials: Confirm that the username and password you entered in Home Assistant match the dedicated API user you created in step 1, not your personal login.

3. Examine the Home Assistant Logs

The logs are your most powerful diagnostic tool.

• In Home Assistant, go to Settings → System → Logs.
• Restart Home Assistant and look for any error messages containing the word doorbird.
• HTTP 401 Unauthorized: This error means Home Assistant is reaching the Doorbird, but the login is being rejected. This is almost always a permissions issue. Go back to step 1 and ensure the API user has the right permissions.
• Connection refused or Timeout: This is a network issue. Home Assistant cannot reach the Doorbird at the specified IP address. Proceed to the next step.

4. Investigate Network and Firewall Issues

If the logs indicate a connection timeout, the problem lies in your network.

• Same Network: Confirm that both the device running Home Assistant and your Doorbird are on the same local network and subnet.
• Firewalls: If you have a firewall (like pfSense) or are using VLANs, you must create a rule that allows traffic from Home Assistant's IP address to the Doorbird's IP address. The Doorbird integration needs to be able to establish a connection to the doorbell.
• "Client Isolation": Check your Wi-Fi router or access point settings for a feature called "AP Isolation" or "Client Isolation." This security feature prevents devices on the same Wi-Fi network from talking to each other and must be disabled.

By methodically verifying your API user permissions, configuration details, and network path, you can resolve nearly any issue with the Doorbird Home Assistant integration and start building powerful, customised automations for your smart home.