I have read previous posts on Floodlight Cam Pro light came on but no alert. Yet I have the added issue of losing detection afterwards. This happened a few times over the past couple weeks (installed the unit 12/6/2023): after a few false light-on’s with no alert (I was watching), I walked out to right in front of the camera and the light did not come on and obviously no alert (so detection wasn’t working). The unit came back working within hours or the next day (I kept testing). I called Ring support and they ran diagnostics to say my internet dropped connections, which is possible, except I installed 2 identical units within a few days and the other one never had this issue.
2 specific questions.
(1) Should I simply return the unit in question and get a replacement?
(2) Can I power off the unit and then back on to “reconnect” the internet?
Hi @user71818. What is the RSSI for your Floodlight Cam and your other Cams? Also, how high is this Floodlight Cam mounted and it the bubble on the bottom parallel to the ground?
Hi Tom_Ring, thanks for responding. I don’ t know how to measure RSSI without a dedicated tool. The camera is about 12 ft from the actual ground but only 6 ft above the deck it sits on. The bubble is parallel to the ground. And on a side note, I thought I would receive some notification, through my Ring App or email whenever I received a response (like from you). Not so? Thanks again.
I have the older floodlight cams. You should be able to see RSSI in the “Device Health” menu for all Ring cameras.
For question (2), yes, you can power cycle (turn off and on) any of the Ring cameras, and they should reconnect automatically. For example, my floodlight cams are controlled by one light switch, and when they get buggy, I will power cycle them.
For unknown reasons, I stopped receiving email notifications from Ring Community for replies etc. back in around 2019 (?). I reported it way back when, but never got a response. I thought it was just me…
Regarding question (1), given what you’ve described, if it were me, I would return and get a replacement while you are still within the return window. Particularly if the RSSI shows to be be decent.
Sometimes, these cameras just have bugs. If with a lot of testing on your part; the second one doesn’t have these issues; and they are both around the same distance to the router, then it is very likely to be an issue with the camera. You could end up spending a lot of time and frustration trying to trouble-shoot.
Hi @user71818. The RSSI can be found in the Device Health menu of the Ring app. Are you trying to detect motion of your deck or on the ground? The Floodlight Cam is designed to be 9 ft above the surface it is detecting motion from. So if your Floodlight Cam is 12/6 ft above some surfaces, it’s not going to detect motion particularly well on either of those areas. You can learn more about this here.
To both, I read this post by Tom_Ring How it Works: Your Ring Device RSSI (Good vs Poor). RSSI for my camera in question is -57 (sufficient). Yet the other camera that has had no issue whatsoever has a RSSI of -65 (lowest end of ‘sufficient’) to -69 (critical). So it sounds like I should return the camera in question for a replacement?
To Tom-Ring, my deck is in the back yard and rather small (8 ft x 14 ft). I set my detecting area to roughly a 20 ft x 30 ft rectangle in hope to catch both deck and backyard. The backyard is on a grade so that outer 30-ft edge of the detecting area is at roughly the same level as the deck.
Hi @user71818. Your RSSI appears to be good to go. I would suggest adjusting the angle of your Floodlight Cam, then moving from out of the frame into the area you want to detect and see how it behaves. Repeat this process, making slight adjustments to your motion settings until you are happy with the results. This is a long process and a bit of trial and error, but it will give you the best results.
Hi Tom_Ring, thanks. I did what you advised and the 2 Floodlight Cam Pro’s seem to have settled into some operation patterns, some of which I kind of understand but wish it be different. Namely, it appears that the floodlight and the alert are “triggered” differently and separately. The alert and the video have been triggered by People only, which also activated the floodlight. But the latter has also been triggered when our car returns to garage (but not when it leaves), deer, snow flakes, blown plant branches on the deck, in other words “motion” activated (not sure why not car leaving the garage). I also heard from Ring Tech Support that the camera detection may be thermally related (infrared?), which may explain car being detecting returning (warm) but not leaving (cold).
Can you confirm that all above are “normal,” even though I really wish both camera and floodlight are triggered by people moving ONLY, and not any other objects or movements. I live in a condo subdivision and would like to minimize any risk of neighbors complaining. I bought the Floodlight Cam Pro with the impression that I would not have to worry about any unintended activation.
Hi @user71818. Yes, the Floodlights use passive infrared motion detection. You can learn more about this here. You find information on the motion detection for the Floodlight Camera here. I hope this information gives you a better understanding.
Hi Tom_Ring, it seems I am back to square one, even though I understand better what to expect overall. This past few days, the deck floodlight (6 ft above the deck) has still been activated by rain drops and snow flakes with no alert, with a frequency varying from every few minutes to a couple times in an hour. After a few such occurrences, the camera actually will not catch people (I went out to check) anymore, even though the RSSI is still good. The same has not happened with the unit in the front, probably because the unit is about 12 ft above the ground. Please advise, especially if you feel I should request a replacement unit for the back. Thanks.
Hi @user71818. The lights have separate motion detection from the camera, which is why some events will trigger the lights but will not generate an alert. This is likely to be the case for things like rain or snow, as you mention. The only other recommendation here would be to try adjusting the Motion Zones for Lights and the Light Sensitivity to see if you can reduce the detections from inclement weather.
The Floodlight Cam only being about 6 feet above the deck is also going to impact the motion detection compared to the recommended installation height of 9 feet. If you’d like more in-depth assistance with the settings, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. You can also get in touch with our support team on Facebook @Ring.