Protect your Nest Hello Smart Doorbell

With the smart trend in home improvement, I recently installed a Nest Hello smart doorbell for my front door.

However, mounting 2 screw on a piece of plastic to the wall made me feel unsecured about this $200+ piece of equipment.

As you can see from the pictures, I feel the Nest Hello doorbell are just sticking out in the air and that some one easily knock it off with a kick. Or even walking by can accidentally hit it and break it.
Therefore, I decided to made a cover for the doorbell.

As per the specs of the Nest Hello, they are 1.7 in in width, 4.6 in in height, and 1 in thick.

So I decided to use a 2x4, because I mounted my Nest doorbell at an angle.
However, if you mount it straight, you can just use a 1x4 or better if you can get the real 1 in thick since the 1x4 at the home improvement store only give you 3/4 in x 3.5 in. But I think it should be enough thickness anyway.

Using a 1 3/4 in hole saw. I marked the middle of my 2x4 and drill 2 holes as the picture below
As a measurement, I marked 2 center points for drill the hole at 3 in part. After the 2, It would be 4 3/4 or 4.75 in, which give it some room for easy insert the Nest Hello.

Next I use a jigsaw to cut the hole to insert the doorbell

 After this, you should have a part that look like this, you can visualize how the Nest Hello will fit.

For my Nest, I also use the rip saw to cut the angle to match with the mounting of my Nest Hello.

 Since I did some rip cut and rough saw. I used sand paper to smooth out the edges and the cut.

 Next I draw the circle to make a round cut around the wood to make it look nice.

 After all the cut, this is how it fit around the Nest Hello. With some screws, I can secure the wood to the wall. I did not put any wood filler after putting in the screws.

With this protector, I think this feel a lot stronger and secured.

I may have make this a big deal but I think it added a nice touch to the doorbell.

As always, thanks for reading.

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Replace Smoke Alarm Battery

As standard safety, there are several smoke detectors installed through out the house. And for the new standard, all the smoke detectors in the house are wired together to intercommunicate. This type of wiring allow all the alarms go off if one of them goes off.

This is good because if smoke is detected down stairs in the kitchen, it can be heard in the bedrooms upstairs.

However, this come with a little bit of problem. If one of the alarm is not working or chirping low battery, all of the others smoke detectors in the house chirp.

For years, every time I hear chirping, I replaced all the batteries for all smoke detectors in the house. Most of the time, the chirping all go away after I replaced them.

However, a few weeks ago, after I replaced all the batteries, the chirping still exists. I pressed the test button on each of the detectors and they all beep.
Out of frustration, I took all the smoke detectors out from the ceiling.

To remove, just follow the instruction. For the one I had, I just turn it counterclockwise and it will drop down as the picture above.
After that, just unplugged the wiring connector from the unit.

Now I pressed the test button on each of the unit to test which one is having problem.
Turn out one of the battery I replaced was having problem. And after replaced the battery, put all the smoke detectors, they are all working now. No more chirping.

Hope this would help you with smoke detector chirping problem in the future.

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See you in the next Weekend DIYer tip.