Which ring doorbell ?

[gigz]

My brother wants a ring doorbell but his front door is is on a public path (straight out of his front door onto the path) so he wouldn’t want it going off every time anyone walks past but would still want it to record as it’ll pick up his car. Also he has an Alexa so instead of buying a chime can he use this as a daytime chime ?

 

[secureiam]

realistically mission impossible I believe.

Don't install ring devices.
However even if you can dumb down ring being activated for passes by, then it could affect the motion of the vehicle potentially. always have the driver side to face the doorbell, so you have a close up of anyone in drivers seat.

Ring don't record continuously I believe, but if they did to sdcard or NVR, then better to not to go battery operated.

some doorbells claim to have AI which may help but unless you have had a play you cant say how it will behave same with units with PIR's.

 

[opps]

The ring will record anyone walking within the range of the camera. We have one at home. I don't get notifications because she what scowls at me never opted to let me have access. She muted the notifications on her phone because she got fed up with the constant pings.

The Ring footage is uploaded to the Amazon cloud and accessed via your phone/tablet/pc.

You can use an Amazon Alexa speaker instead of buying a plug in chime. You set a skill in the Alexa speaker.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/smart-h...create-alexa-routines-for-ring-video-doorbell

Be aware that if you want it hard wired you will need a mains transformer (and a length of "bell wire"). The more expensive Ring door bells are supplied with one but if you don't have space on the consumer unit, you will need a separate two module enclosure. When I fitted one a while ago for a customer, I used a length of flex and put a 3amp plug on it to provide power to the bell transformer.

Alternatively, he could remove it every x days and use a USB charger to charge it up. A bit of a faff though.

 

[Mottie]

Our one is a battery operated one. I have a spare battery to swap over when needed (you get notifications automatically when the battery gets low) it takes about 30 seconds but I also have the ring solar charger that extends the battery life. In summer you could get six weeks or more before needing to charge/swap the battery.

 

[secureiam]

The reality of a video doorbell directly onto the main walk way ie terraced houses with no front garden it Be activating regularly especially if there is a shop or pub at the end of the street.

the annoyance of it pinging will be bad enough but the batteries won’t last very long.

ring charge for storage from what I understand after an initial free period.

If there is an option to use mains power and batteries that can be charged you can try the battery option and see how you get on.

like I say I don’t install ring but there so many products out there that do the same thing, some store the data on the wireless chime inside the house and you put a SIM card in that.


Have em to get the best fit for the criteria you want.

come across so many battery doorbells that have run out of juice.

 

[opps]

Our one is a battery operated one. I have a spare battery to swap over when needed (you get notifications automatically when the battery gets low) it takes about 30 seconds but I also have the ring solar charger that extends the battery life. In summer you could get six weeks or more before needing to charge/swap the battery.

The battery on the Rings that I have fitted is not easy to swap out. Which one do you have?

I guess the battery life is impacted by the amount of times it triggers and the quality of the camera/recording duration/etc.

 

[opps]

ring charge for storage from what I understand after an initial free period.

Good point, I didn't realise that there is a monthly charge. Amazon charge a min of £2.50 pm after the 30 day free trial. That will cover a min of two "cameras" for 30 days of storage.

https://en-uk.ring.com/pages/protect-plans

And I very much doubt that they allow you to use cheaper (or free) 3rd party cloud storage. Shockingly, the link mentions that if you pay the £2.50 pm you will get a one year warranty. The one year warranty that you are legally entitled to regards of whether you pay for a subscription or not.

That said, in my limited experience both the Amazon and Google camera sets ups have user friendly interfaces. I do however wonder what they do with the data that they store.

 

[Mottie]

The battery on the Rings that I have fitted is not easy to swap out. Which one do you have?

Ring doorbell 2. Just info one screw on the bottom using the supplied tool, pull off the bottom cover, unclip battery, slot in new one, replace cover and screw. Job done.