Ring (Video Doorbell)
Discussion
It's better than the Nest cam, because it record locally.
I bought the Amcrest ProHD IP2M-841B
Night recording is fine unless through glass, where the IR leds reflect off the glass.
I have it set to record when it notices motion, and it's limited to 10Gb of storage, quality is set to 1080p, I'm looking in to buying a POE bullet one for outside.
I bought the Amcrest ProHD IP2M-841B
Night recording is fine unless through glass, where the IR leds reflect off the glass.
I have it set to record when it notices motion, and it's limited to 10Gb of storage, quality is set to 1080p, I'm looking in to buying a POE bullet one for outside.
Apologies for digging up a slightly old thread, but I’m considering the Ring doorbell and have a few questions.
Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz*, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
* Looks like the non-pro version is 2.4, but the pro can do either 2.4 or 5.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
How good is the motion detection? Do you get alerted whenever somebody’s cat or a fox walks past, or is it a bit cleverer than that? The web site says that the non-pro version has “basic” motion detection and the pro has “advanced” motion detection, but it doesn’t explain the difference. Any ideas?
Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz*, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
* Looks like the non-pro version is 2.4, but the pro can do either 2.4 or 5.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
How good is the motion detection? Do you get alerted whenever somebody’s cat or a fox walks past, or is it a bit cleverer than that? The web site says that the non-pro version has “basic” motion detection and the pro has “advanced” motion detection, but it doesn’t explain the difference. Any ideas?
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 18th October 07:41
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Apologies for digging up a slightly old thread, but I’m considering the Ring doorbell and have a few questions.
Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
I was initially put off by recordings being in the cloud.Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
However.
Several idevices are looking at this home and away just fine.
My idevices are on the 5ghz and the bell on 2ghz and they can see it just fine.
I was going for the pro but the reality of installation cabling would have been a mess and the battery is down to 40% after a few months (Version 2 bell, battery is removable for charging and is HD). However I have been messing with the settings and some options impact the battery life more than others. I seem to have the sweet spot now so should re charge to get a proper feel for it. 6 months seems reasonable however it is outside and not sure how this battery will fare in the colder months.
I also bought the chime however the phones and iPads all chime away, all with a fraction of a lag from each other, it gets quite musical. Chime dings dongs OK and you can set the volume.
Not looked into my iPhone settings to see if one rule for the ding dong can be set.
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Oh, and another important question...
If your phone is on silent, are the doorbell alerts silent as well? This would be very important for my wife who is a schoolteacher; it would be Very Bad Indeed if her phone rang during a lesson.
That's right, works like any other notification, you can change how you are alerted like you can a text message for example.If your phone is on silent, are the doorbell alerts silent as well? This would be very important for my wife who is a schoolteacher; it would be Very Bad Indeed if her phone rang during a lesson.
I like it, it works well, and I'm pretty sure it's already put off an opportunist looking for car keys as I caught him at 3am standing by the door (motion detection as he didn't press the bell). I asked him what he was up to and he legged it. House across the road broken into same night and their Golf R was taken. Would you believe that the police weren't interested in the footage!?
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Apologies for digging up a slightly old thread, but I’m considering the Ring doorbell and have a few questions.
Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz*, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
* Looks like the non-pro version is 2.4, but the pro can do either 2.4 or 5.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
How good is the motion detection? Do you get alerted whenever somebody’s cat or a fox walks past, or is it a bit cleverer than that? The web site says that the non-pro version has “basic” motion detection and the pro has “advanced” motion detection, but it doesn’t explain the difference. Any ideas?
JMorgan has already answered most of your questions but I'll try and help out as well.Firstly, am I right in assuming that the doorbell can be monitored by multiple smartphones and/or tablets? I assume you just download the app to each device?
Secondly, am I right in assuming that provided it can connect to your WiFi, any device on your LAN should be able to “see” the doorbell even if they’re not actually on the same WiFi network? I have two WiFi networks, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz with different SSIDs. I’m assuming the doorbell probably only uses 2.4GHz*, but my devices are on the 5GHz network wherever possible. Obviously both WiFi networks are fully accessible from each other, so I would hope this would work.
* Looks like the non-pro version is 2.4, but the pro can do either 2.4 or 5.
I’m looking at the “non-pro” version that has a built-in rechargeable battery in the doorbell so it doesn’t require wiring in. They claim 6 to 12 month’s battery life, which seems optimistic; can anyone give realistic life?
How good is the motion detection? Do you get alerted whenever somebody’s cat or a fox walks past, or is it a bit cleverer than that? The web site says that the non-pro version has “basic” motion detection and the pro has “advanced” motion detection, but it doesn’t explain the difference. Any ideas?
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 18th October 07:41
I've had the Ring Doorbell for almost 3 years now and it's very good although the ability to receive a decent Wi-Fi signal is important (obvs). We have a front door with a steel inner leaf and the existing Wi-Fi was struggling to get outside to the doorbell so I put another Unify repeater right by the front door, not ideal, but problem solved.
Works on multiple devices and if you change your devices to silent the app won't make a sound, you will just get the alert pop onto the screen. I turned off motion detection soon after we got it as it was too sensitive, the Pro version might be better but it does us just fine without it.
HTH
Opps. Good point. I powered up the device early on and set it at the point it would be fixed to the wall and made sure it had a good signal. However it dropped out on early on then reconnected (with a good signal). I assume it fell victim to the neighbourhood hubs conflicting channels. Not had the issue since and it remains a good connection.
Superb, thanks guys!
WiFi outside my front door is a little weak (iPhone gives 2 bars occasionally dropping to 1), but I could install another access point at the front of the house if necessary.
It sounds far better than the rather rubbish wireless doorbell I bought 6 months ago. I was hoping we’d be able to carry one of the ringers into the garden with us, but its range is far too poor.
I think I want one of the non-pro ones with one or two of the associated ringers for the house for when devices are switched off.
Anyone know why they say the pro version must be installed by a sparky? How hard can it be?
WiFi outside my front door is a little weak (iPhone gives 2 bars occasionally dropping to 1), but I could install another access point at the front of the house if necessary.
It sounds far better than the rather rubbish wireless doorbell I bought 6 months ago. I was hoping we’d be able to carry one of the ringers into the garden with us, but its range is far too poor.
I think I want one of the non-pro ones with one or two of the associated ringers for the house for when devices are switched off.
Anyone know why they say the pro version must be installed by a sparky? How hard can it be?
Means powered transformer I think needs to be fitted to the Pro?
I have a socket close by in the garage but the getting the cable there and messing the wall through and putting a spur off a socket meant I would have paid someone to do it seeing as I needed to ask the question. At least I would hope it would be a proper job. It might be easy, but not sure what the regs say on adding spurs or whatever the technical term is (hence leaning to a qualified rather than me bodging).
The hassle was why I went for the Ring 2. Argos seem to have an offer on the bell and chime at the moment.
Chimes that I have are mains powered. Small plug in unit. Out the house we use the phones as the ding dong.
I have a socket close by in the garage but the getting the cable there and messing the wall through and putting a spur off a socket meant I would have paid someone to do it seeing as I needed to ask the question. At least I would hope it would be a proper job. It might be easy, but not sure what the regs say on adding spurs or whatever the technical term is (hence leaning to a qualified rather than me bodging).
The hassle was why I went for the Ring 2. Argos seem to have an offer on the bell and chime at the moment.
Chimes that I have are mains powered. Small plug in unit. Out the house we use the phones as the ding dong.
If you have a large house consider getting two or more chime units. You can adjust the volume on each unit but they're not that loud!
Just recently bought the ring doorbell. Seems to work well, but I'm still experimenting with settings. I also can't get the Mac app to run at all which is a bit of a pain.
Just recently bought the ring doorbell. Seems to work well, but I'm still experimenting with settings. I also can't get the Mac app to run at all which is a bit of a pain.
Well, I bought one of the kits with the doorbell and chime.
Haven’t quite got it working fully yet though. It works when both doorbell and phone are inside the house, but when standing outside with the two devices held close to the door the WiFi signal is too weak. I’ve ordered one of the chime/repeater devices to go in the front room close to the front door to see if that helps. It doesn’t help that my front door is of metallic construction, and undoubtedly this is also the reason why I got such poor range from the previous wireless doorbell.
Incidentally, I did trip over one “gotcha” during the installation. It didn’t detect my WiFi network at all, despite sitting right next to my access point (an Apple AirPort Extreme). I guessed that it might be an Apple incompatibility, so reconfigured my Virgin router to provide the 2.4GHz signal instead, and it burst into life.
Looking through the settings on the Apple box I noticed that I had it configured manually to channel 13 (being the highest channel and not supported by all devices, it makes a good choice because not many other people will be using it). Surmising that this might be the issue, I changed it to channel 11, switched WiFi back off on the Virgin box - and everything worked again. So it wasn’t Apple’s fault!
I’ve since found documentation buried in a FAQ on the Ring web site that confirms it: their devices only support channels 1-11, although they are apparently working on a fix.
So I now need to wait for the chime/repeater device to arrive and see if that solves the signal strength problem. I have a bad feeling that my metallic door might scupper me.
Haven’t quite got it working fully yet though. It works when both doorbell and phone are inside the house, but when standing outside with the two devices held close to the door the WiFi signal is too weak. I’ve ordered one of the chime/repeater devices to go in the front room close to the front door to see if that helps. It doesn’t help that my front door is of metallic construction, and undoubtedly this is also the reason why I got such poor range from the previous wireless doorbell.
Incidentally, I did trip over one “gotcha” during the installation. It didn’t detect my WiFi network at all, despite sitting right next to my access point (an Apple AirPort Extreme). I guessed that it might be an Apple incompatibility, so reconfigured my Virgin router to provide the 2.4GHz signal instead, and it burst into life.
Looking through the settings on the Apple box I noticed that I had it configured manually to channel 13 (being the highest channel and not supported by all devices, it makes a good choice because not many other people will be using it). Surmising that this might be the issue, I changed it to channel 11, switched WiFi back off on the Virgin box - and everything worked again. So it wasn’t Apple’s fault!
I’ve since found documentation buried in a FAQ on the Ring web site that confirms it: their devices only support channels 1-11, although they are apparently working on a fix.
So I now need to wait for the chime/repeater device to arrive and see if that solves the signal strength problem. I have a bad feeling that my metallic door might scupper me.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 18th October 17:26
The Ring doorbell installed at my parents' house continues to prove its' worth, but after I charged it last time and reinstalled it the doorbell wouldn't sound.
I have, therefore, used this as an opportunity to buy the Chime. To my delight I have discovered that I can now change the ring sound remotely, via my phone.
Dad's 93, Mum's 88. One of the optional sounds is a scream. What do we think - good idea or not?
I have, therefore, used this as an opportunity to buy the Chime. To my delight I have discovered that I can now change the ring sound remotely, via my phone.
Dad's 93, Mum's 88. One of the optional sounds is a scream. What do we think - good idea or not?
We've had one for over a year, together with a couple of the chime units at other places in the house; as mentioned earlier, they're not especially loud. For us it was quick and easy to set up and we're not at all techy. I didn't even know there were different channels. Ours isn't wired in and I reckon the battery is lasting 6 months before it needs recharging. My wife and I have the ring app on our iphones and it sends an alert to your lock screen if you've set it on silent.
It's been hugely useful for leaving messages actually; my wife and I often leave messages for each other on it. Just as long as no-one sees you chattering away to your doorbell..
It's been hugely useful for leaving messages actually; my wife and I often leave messages for each other on it. Just as long as no-one sees you chattering away to your doorbell..
Dermot O'Logical said:
The Ring doorbell installed at my parents' house continues to prove its' worth, but after I charged it last time and reinstalled it the doorbell wouldn't sound.
I have, therefore, used this as an opportunity to buy the Chime. To my delight I have discovered that I can now change the ring sound remotely, via my phone.
Dad's 93, Mum's 88. One of the optional sounds is a scream. What do we think - good idea or not?
Murder by Death doorbell.I have, therefore, used this as an opportunity to buy the Chime. To my delight I have discovered that I can now change the ring sound remotely, via my phone.
Dad's 93, Mum's 88. One of the optional sounds is a scream. What do we think - good idea or not?
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Well, I bought one of the kits with the doorbell and chime.
Haven’t quite got it working fully yet though. It works when both doorbell and phone are inside the house, but when standing outside with the two devices held close to the door the WiFi signal is too weak. I’ve ordered one of the chime/repeater devices to go in the front room close to the front door to see if that helps. It doesn’t help that my front door is of metallic construction, and undoubtedly this is also the reason why I got such poor range from the previous wireless doorbell.
Incidentally, I did trip over one “gotcha” during the installation. It didn’t detect my WiFi network at all, despite sitting right next to my access point (an Apple AirPort Extreme). I guessed that it might be an Apple incompatibility, so reconfigured my Virgin router to provide the 2.4GHz signal instead, and it burst into life.
Looking through the settings on the Apple box I noticed that I had it configured manually to channel 13 (being the highest channel and not supported by all devices, it makes a good choice because not many other people will be using it). Surmising that this might be the issue, I changed it to channel 11, switched WiFi back off on the Virgin box - and everything worked again. So it wasn’t Apple’s fault!
I’ve since found documentation buried in a FAQ on the Ring web site that confirms it: their devices only support channels 1-11, although they are apparently working on a fix.
So I now need to wait for the chime/repeater device to arrive and see if that solves the signal strength problem. I have a bad feeling that my metallic door might scupper me.
Not sure which front door you have (mine is a Hormann) but as stated previously, I had this issue and put an additional access point by my front door, decent signal strength now. I would suggest you do that.Haven’t quite got it working fully yet though. It works when both doorbell and phone are inside the house, but when standing outside with the two devices held close to the door the WiFi signal is too weak. I’ve ordered one of the chime/repeater devices to go in the front room close to the front door to see if that helps. It doesn’t help that my front door is of metallic construction, and undoubtedly this is also the reason why I got such poor range from the previous wireless doorbell.
Incidentally, I did trip over one “gotcha” during the installation. It didn’t detect my WiFi network at all, despite sitting right next to my access point (an Apple AirPort Extreme). I guessed that it might be an Apple incompatibility, so reconfigured my Virgin router to provide the 2.4GHz signal instead, and it burst into life.
Looking through the settings on the Apple box I noticed that I had it configured manually to channel 13 (being the highest channel and not supported by all devices, it makes a good choice because not many other people will be using it). Surmising that this might be the issue, I changed it to channel 11, switched WiFi back off on the Virgin box - and everything worked again. So it wasn’t Apple’s fault!
I’ve since found documentation buried in a FAQ on the Ring web site that confirms it: their devices only support channels 1-11, although they are apparently working on a fix.
So I now need to wait for the chime/repeater device to arrive and see if that solves the signal strength problem. I have a bad feeling that my metallic door might scupper me.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 18th October 17:26
https://instagram.com/p/BaEfs_QF_MR/
Not got one myself, but saw this on Instagram that made me laugh, there's another video of the same woman just nosing about outside the house
Not got one myself, but saw this on Instagram that made me laugh, there's another video of the same woman just nosing about outside the house
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