Experiences with the Ring Video Doorbell

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#1851534 23-Aug-2017 21:29

RickW: I can't get over how fast it is compared to ifttt. less than 2 seconds after motion being detected and the lights turn on vs sometimes upto 3 mins with ifttt.

That's the reason I only use IFTTT to backup gmail attachments to drive, and Stringify for all my house stuff.

Plus it does more than one thing at a time.

RickW

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#1851537 23-Aug-2017 21:33

I'm just having a look at what else it can control and it seems pretty cool. I might have to replace my fibaro controller with a smart things one so I can Integrate some more lights and the heat pumps.

RickW

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#1851632 24-Aug-2017 07:33

Or maybe not, the smartthings hub is still not available in nz/au

blakamin

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#1851980 24-Aug-2017 15:14

I've got Google home and harmony hub as well as the hue bridge so I'm pretty much covered for now.

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#1852008 24-Aug-2017 16:12

I've had the doorbell and a couple of the stick up cams and a chime for a few months now.

I like the idea, but they have a few problems, some of which can be addressed by adjusting placement but some of them are just design flaws:

1 - It can take a couple of seconds for the Chime to react to a doorbell press/motion event. It'd be great if the Ring products could talk to each other on the local network rather than relying on sending information between each other via the Cloud

2 - There is no way to adjust the duration they record video for. I've frequently found 30 seconds is not sufficient, particularly for the stick up cam

3 - Battery life is well below what they state, particularly for the stick up camera. Adding their solar panel fixed that problem really well though

4 - The motion detection range on the Stick Up cam is quite short and easily confused by foreground objects (like branches)

5 - The camera field of view on the stick up cam is woeful. 80 degrees is hopeless! I saw today that they have a bunch of new models coming soon with 140 degree fov.

6 - The Stick up cam and the first gen door bell are only 720p. All the new ones coming are 1080p.

7 - Wifi connectivity is crucial and unfortunately, they don't seem to cope well with only a good or average signal. They really need an excellent signal.

8 - Lack of local recording is disappointing

On the plus side, their customer support has been really good. They sent out a free Chime Pro to try and improve the signal strength to the stick up cams and when the doorbell started to act up, they very promptly sent out a replacement.

Overall, I'm happy enough with the doorbell but regret the two stick up cams. I'll be looking to replace them with the new models (possibly the security light one) asap.

michaelmurfy

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#1852422 25-Aug-2017 11:22

Really enjoying my doorbell. Had my neighbor ring it last night but I was stuck on the phone. Went over to their house instead 5mins later and she was pretty amazed.

And now, my sister pulls the fingers at it every time she gets detected.

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BlueShift

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#1852505 25-Aug-2017 13:15

michaelmurfy:

Really enjoying my doorbell. Had my neighbor ring it last night but I was stuck on the phone. Went over to their house instead 5mins later and she was pretty amazed.

And now, my sister pulls the fingers at it every time she gets detected.

But how do you know she hasn't been doing the fingers at your door all along?

540trickzter

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#1855882 31-Aug-2017 12:08

Can someone confirm whether the Ring Video Doorbell can still ring the wireless chime if internet connection goes down? (ie. Just work as a normal doorbell.) Or does it need a WAN connection no matter what.

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#1855883 31-Aug-2017 12:10

540trickzter:

Can someone confirm whether the Ring Video Doorbell can still ring the wireless chime if internet connection goes down? (ie. Just work as a normal doorbell.) Or does it need a WAN connection no matter what.

Chime will not ring if there is no WiFi. You need a physical Doorbell wired up for that and it is supported on Pro version

540trickzter

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#1855904 31-Aug-2017 12:43

maxeon:

540trickzter:

Can someone confirm whether the Ring Video Doorbell can still ring the wireless chime if internet connection goes down? (ie. Just work as a normal doorbell.) Or does it need a WAN connection no matter what.

Chime will not ring if there is no WiFi. You need a physical Doorbell wired up for that and it is supported on Pro version

I was hoping if both the Ring Doorbell and Ring Chime were both connected to your own internal wireless LAN network, the Ring wireless Chime would still work as a normal doorbell if the Ring Doorbell was pressed. But that sucks if it doesn't. So I guess it needs a WAN connection no matter what then.

Xtreme Martial Arts / Bo Staff Trickzter

maxeon

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#1855962 31-Aug-2017 14:14

540trickzter:

maxeon:

540trickzter:

Can someone confirm whether the Ring Video Doorbell can still ring the wireless chime if internet connection goes down? (ie. Just work as a normal doorbell.) Or does it need a WAN connection no matter what.

Chime will not ring if there is no WiFi. You need a physical Doorbell wired up for that and it is supported on Pro version

I was hoping if both the Ring Doorbell and Ring Chime were both connected to your own internal wireless LAN network, the Ring wireless Chime would still work as a normal doorbell if the Ring Doorbell was pressed. But that sucks if it doesn't. So I guess it needs a WAN connection no matter what then.

Oh, i just realised you were talking about WAN connection. If so, I am unsure to be honest. If they both are on LAN it might work I have to test that scenario. I suspect the app talk back to server for recording but signals the Chime to go off?

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540trickzter

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#1855980 31-Aug-2017 14:53

maxeon:

540trickzter:

maxeon:

540trickzter:

Can someone confirm whether the Ring Video Doorbell can still ring the wireless chime if internet connection goes down? (ie. Just work as a normal doorbell.) Or does it need a WAN connection no matter what.

Chime will not ring if there is no WiFi. You need a physical Doorbell wired up for that and it is supported on Pro version

I was hoping if both the Ring Doorbell and Ring Chime were both connected to your own internal wireless LAN network, the Ring wireless Chime would still work as a normal doorbell if the Ring Doorbell was pressed. But that sucks if it doesn't. So I guess it needs a WAN connection no matter what then.

Oh, i just realised you were talking about WAN connection. If so, I am unsure to be honest. If they both are on LAN it might work I have to test that scenario. I suspect the app talk back to server for recording but signals the Chime to go off?

I just asked on the Ring facebook page.

The Ring Chime needs a WAN connection to their cloud server to "chime". That's pretty stupid if you ask me. They need to make the Ring Chime a direct wireless connection with the Doorbell (like other general plug-in wireless doorbells) so it can still Chime in the event that there is a internet outage.

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lchiu7

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#1871825 24-Sep-2017 09:28

This is somewhat of a belated post since I just installed a Ring 2 doorbell for a friend.

Firstly the WiFi at the front door (having to go through two doors) was pretty so the Ring app would complain about poor reception. In the end got a wireless repeater that plugs into a wall outlet which helped.

But performance has been terrible. When the doorbell is pressed the phone alerts (iPhone) but then app just circles and circles around and sometimes might get a connection to the video feed or more often times out.

Interestingly and not sure why, my friend tells me ti works better when she's not home but at work on a 4G network.

Anyway did some investigation and discovered her ADSL connection was getting about 09.Mbs upload speed. I suspect that is the problem, since the Ring doorbell has to upload the video somewhere. Arranged to upgrade her to a Spark's fibrebasic plan which should provide 20Mbs upload and hopefully fix that. Also the new modem Spark will provide ought to have much better WiFi than her current Telecom branded ADSL modem which might remove the need for repeater.

When it works, the video quality is great but with a 20-30s delay in getting the signal, it's hardly usable.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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#1871846 24-Sep-2017 09:50

Infrastructure. Low WiFi, low quality DSL. Guess no filters installed?

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lchiu7

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#1871850 24-Sep-2017 09:55

That appears to be the situation. I have no idea if filters are installed but they must be. But now we're moving to fibre basic and they are also switching her to VoIP phones so I need to make sure the installation is done correctly.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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