@BrianK169 wrote:
My ring doorbell 3 is so bad at capturing motion, that it’s basically not even worth using (I have it set properly in the settings, but for example, I’ll see the mailman walking away, but not approach. Or if a car pulls up the driveway fast enough, the camera doesn’t detect it at all.) Figuring it was the wifi conneciton causing the issue, I bought a wifi extender (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R92CL5E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) , and the app said the connection was good. The doorbell is near the front door, and it’s a standard brick Ranch 1200 sq ft house. The wifi extender (2.4ghz) is directly on the wall (the same wall behind the door bell) right when you enter the front door. The rouer is in the basement.
My question: do I simply have the wrong kind of wifi extender? Is it the connection causing the motion not to go off properly? Or could it be a faulty unit from ring? Is there any hope? I have not heard back from ring customer support in at least 2 months.
Thanks a ton in advance!
@BrianK169 ,
Concerning your Wi-Fi extender, it probably should NOT be directly on the opposite wall. Currently, the distance between your Router and Doorbell is about the same distance between your Router and Extender, so both doorbell and Extender have about the same signal and path from the router. You should move the Extender closer to the Router (generally about halfway). So now a stronger signal can reach your Extender, and then Extender will provide a closer, stronger Wi-Fi singal to the Doorbell. Also, Video requires a much higher Wi-Fi data-stream connection. A strong signal connection doesn’t necessarily mean a good connection. In my case, even with a good RSSI (low value #) signal strength number (displayed on “Device Health”), my issue was the Wi-Fi path of the Video data-stream between the router and my camera was passing through a double-brick fireplace with a metal chain grating in front of it. This path degraded the data-stream. Since I couldn’t reduce the distance between my mounted cam and router (to improve Wi-Fi reception), a Wi-Fi ‘repeater’ type-device enabled me to have the signal path “go around” the brick/metal grate. Any good 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi repeater, or the Ring Chime Pro bridge the signal interference issues.
I know you stated, _“I have it set properly in the settings” _ but since you didn’t write exactly what your settings are, it might be worth double-checking just in case something got overlooked or can be tweaked a bit to improve your Doorbell’s activation performance.
These are things you can try modifying/checking/tweaking:
- Probably the most important setting tweak . . . Adjust your “Motion Frequency” to “Frequent”. Your Ring Doorbell is Battery-powered. Even when you have your doorbell 'HardWired", the battery still is actually powering the doorbell. The hardwired power trickle-charges the battery, but doesn’t power the doorbell. Since battery-life can be rapidly depleted, the default setting on your doorbell is set so it doesn’t capture every event. You can change that by selecting the “Devices” from the main menu > select your doorbell > Motion Settings > Motion Frequency > then select “Frequent” (note: the Motion Frequency option is often missed, because you may have to scroll down below Motion Schedule).
-If Doorbell Cam detection is missing or producing a late activations, it might be a setting on your phone app. Select “Devices” from the main menu > select your doorbell > Motion Settings > Motion Verification (or “People Only Mode” on some Ring devices). If toggled ON, the doorbell tries to make activations more accurate using algorithms to determine human-motion, and will not activate for every event. The algorithms-processing-time might delay the cam for 1-2 seconds. While these are toggled ON, it can screen out non-people motion, such as animals, cars, or tree movement, etc. and miss/delay some motion-events. Also, these algorithms are used to determine if it is a human-motion by looking at both body heat coupled with movement . . . and with hot summer daytime temperatures, these algorithms can have difficulty detecting body-heat movement against low-contrasting hot-backgrounds). But the algorithms should be fine during summer night-times. You could try to Deselect “People Only Mode” / “Motion Verification.” Toggled OFF, you’ll detect more motion, but then you may get unwanted, annoying non-people activations.
-Initially adjust “Motion Settings” to set MAX on Motion Sensitivity" (with “People Only Mode” toggled off). You will pick up more motion since it is not screening for people only. With “People Only Mode” toggled ON, you will not be able to adjust “Motion Sensitivity.” Then gradually tweak back from MAX to a setting that sufficiently cuts down on unwanted non-people detections.
-Adjust where you aim the camera to optimize motion-detection. Avoid pointing cameras where other hot heat sources are in the activated detection zone areas. You can use a combination of Motion Zones, and/or the Wedge Kit (angle cam a little downward) and/or the Corner kit (angle left or right slightly).
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040747611-Utilizing-Motion-Detection-with-your-Ring-Video-Doorbell-3
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039088511-Using-a-Wedge-Piece-to-Properly-Position-your-Ring-Video-Doorbell-3
I hope this helps you 
