Need to be able to temporarily disable light on Spotlight cams

I have a wired spotlight camera in my patio. This evening, I wanted relax in my patio. However the Spotlight came on every time I twitched. I temporarily disabled motion and notifications in the app. I setup disarmed mode to disregard this camera when in that mode. However, I could not get that light from coming on constantly. This is extremely annoying. If there is no way to properly control a light on a camera, then the firmware needs to be fixed asap.

Hi @Bob454! The Spotlight Cam features various settings to control the motion and lights from the Ring app. It sounds like you’ve already altered the motion settings and light duration settings. While disabling motion will help, I recommend also minimizing the light settings in the Ring app.

To do this select “devices” from the Ring app menu, select your Spotlight Camera, select device settings, then select light settings. There you’ll be able to alter brightness and zones specific to lights. I hope this helps! :slight_smile:

Hi Marley,

Thank you for responding, but this does not answer the problem at all. I don’t want to change the light output of the camera or change the motion zone in which it detects motion. I want to be able to simply turn the entire functionality of the camera (video recording, motion reporting and the light) on and off from the Ring app. I don’t want to have go to the garage, get a ladder, physically unplug the camera and later reverse the process every time I want to enjoy a beer in my patio.

There must be a way to simply tell a specific camera to sleep. I thought that is what the modes are for. I select “disarmed” mode and the camera turns off. It should be that simple. I’m not asking for something complicated or a special feature, just what should be there already.

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Solid feedback @Bob454, and very understandable. At this time the lights are not controlled by modes, as you are aware. Disarmed mode will only disable motion detection and live view for the Spotlight Cam. Consider this feedback shared with the team, but feel free to also add it to our Feature Request Board so other neighbors can share their same desire all in one place.

For now, using modes and minimizing light settings will be the best way to accomplish this. Thanks again for the feedback and being the best part of the Community, neighbor! :slight_smile:

Hi,

If using modes would actually accomplish that, I would be Satisfied. But it doesn’t. With modes, the end user should have the option to turn lights off period. I should not have to further adjust the lighting intensity or zones every time I use my patio, because Ring is too lazy to do proper software engineering. As it is, I have had to reduce the overall effectiveness of my “security” system, by turning off an area for motion sensing. Did that, so I don’t have to excessiviely alter settings, each time. That is not good for security. That is not good software/firmware design. The fix/feature I am asing for is relatively simple and should have been a no-brainer in the first place. So, I am anything but satisfied.

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I have to agree with you that this is the most annoying feature and deficiency of the Ring products. Your use is exactly mine, I may want to just go sit on the patio at night and look at the stars or enjoy the outside sounds in the dark and the light constantly comes on. I finally rigged up a switch to cut the power to the camera altogether rather than go through a half a dozen steps in the app to turn off motion zones for lights only to forget to turn them back on again. They really should fix this so that it could just be a one touch snooze feature.

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I echo this as well and if Ring is listening a simple “kill switch” is what’s required! Very annoying and silly that you have to go through a process, that to me doesn’t seem to work all the time, to kill the desired light. I think the community needs to keep pestering because I’ve also asked this question before and got a similar response… ADD A SIMPLE SOFTWARE TOGGLE TO DISABLE LIGHT

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I have been using the Ring products for years now and generally they are great but I have been looking for the answer to your question also and can’t find anything. There should be a simple disable for a specific time just like the snooze option. I too like to sit outside on my deck at night and the light beaming on me is brutal. My spotlight camera is hardwired without an on off switch so this is very frustrating. A complete snooze with no motion detection and no lights for set times like 30 and 60 minutes would be perfect and then you wouldn’t have to worry about turning it back on when you went inside. Seems crazy that the Ring software people haven’t implimented this already.

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It’s not possible guys. It’s not a software issue is a hardware limitation within the light sensor in floodlight cams and spotlight cams. If you notice, their new products like smart lights can completely disable the light if needed.

If you were to install the spotlight camera on a timer would you have to reprogram the Wi-Fi when the camera came back on with the timer?