Ring Floodlight Camera Pro - Design Flaw - PIR Sensor - Customer Feedback

Not sure how I can get this in front of the product design team at Ring, so opening a general topic thread about this.

Recently I bought a Ring Floodlight Camera Pro to replace my Ring Floodlight Camera Plus in front of my attached garage. After installation, I noticed this new product’s PIR sensor detecting radius is less than half as far versus my previous Ring Floodlight Camera Plus! Please note, I already have the motion zones max distance set. I believe the reduction in detection radius is due to the overall design of the PIR sensor in the new Ring Floodlight Camera Pro.

When reviewing the FAQ for the Ring Floodlight Camera Plus (https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000124983-Proper-Positioning-for-Your-Floodlight-Cam) it mentions that the PIR sensor should be parallel to the ground (as seen in the attached image below). When reviewing the image you can see the PIR sensor of the original Ring Floodlight Camera Plus is intuitively designed at an angle relative to the actual device; to enable the user to set up the camera pitched down while the PIR is parallel to the ground, thus ensuring maximum detection of 10 meters for the Passive Infrared Sensor/motion-activated lights.

However, when you review the new Ring Flood Light Camera Pro you can see the PIR sensor is designed directly perpendicular to the device! Due to the PIR sensor being perpendicular to the device, this drastically reduces the overall potential range & radius of the PIR sensor detection when setting up the device in the identical angle and height as compared to the previous Ring Floodlight Camera Plus.

One may just suggest to pitch the angle of the new camera higher to increase the overall range & radius of the Ring Floodlight Camera Pro’s PIR sensors. However, to achieve the same radius/distance of the previous PIR detection, this requires the Ring Floodlight Camera Pro to be angled significantly up. When in a crowded urban environment with neighbors across the street, this is not ideal or feasible. Having the Ring Floodlight Camera Pro angled significantly higher would be unintentionally capturing footage of your neighbors across the street. Even if you set up Privacy Zones, the appearance of the physical security camera perched at such a high angle is unsettling for others.

Message to the Ring Product Design Team: your new Ring Floodlight Camera Pro is a great product! I truly believe the new feature ‘Bird’s Eye View’ enabled in this product is a fantastic unique feature. However, if this new feature requires the product’s PIR sensor to be designed perpendicular instead of angled (like the Ring Floodlight Camera Plus), this has negative impacts on the performance of your PIR sensor which triggers the floodlight (the main/core purpose of the product)!

I’m a long time customer of Ring, always excited when you have new products/features available. I hope this honest feedback about the Ring Floodlight Camera Pro can be brought forth to your product design team!

Having an adjustable PIR sensor would be ideal. Even when mounted horizonal it would help.

Hi @BlueSkyEnergy. Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback! I’ve moved your post over to our Feature Request board so other neighbors can vote and share their feedback on your design suggestions as well. The Feature Request board helps us to organize and share your requests with our teams here. :slight_smile:

This is a major design flaw. By definition, it makes sense to point the camera down, to maximize the ground area covered, in particular the ground close to the camera, and minimize the sky area covered. But pointing the camera down minimizes the sensor’s view so the floodlight doesn’t trigger.

1 Like

This is a major, undocumented design flaw, as the manual refers to the prior design. If I had known this, I never would have bought the device. I now either need to decide to position the camera for optimal video or lighting. I should have both, especially in a next-gen “pro” model.

2 Likes

I purchased a 3 Pack of the floodlight CAM in 2021 under Order # 001-2891637. 2 of the 3 floodlight CAMs are no longer operational. Although no longer under warranty, this is unacceptable. Will RING address this problem?

Just installed Ring floodlight Pro. Updated firmware and setup zones lowered sensitivity still getting Light coming on when no activity has been triggered. There are hundreds of updates saying it’s a firmware issue and lost track. Has anyone seen an update for new firmware to resolve the issue.

Sorry have not posted much so new to the forum.

Many Thanks in advance