Physical on/off switch for Floodlight cam

It seems that this question has been asked before but there doesn’t seem to be an answer.

The description of the product says that it can replace an existing floodlight setup.

Normally, an existing setup is connected to a physical toogle switch so that when you need light in that area, you can just turn it on with the physical toggle switch.

But once I replace my existing floodlights with a floodlight cam, there does not appear to be a way to use the physical toogle switch to turn on the lights for illumination. In fact, keeping the Floodlight cam attached to a physical toggle switch means that I’m powering off the whole unit when I toggle the physical switch to “Off”.

I or my family member would have to go find my phone and access the application to turn on the lights. Is that right? If so, it’s not very good for an existing installation where the light is used for illumination. Seems pretty basic so I thought I’d ask before I gave up on the product.

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Hey @Kminor. The Floodlight Cam requires constant power so that it can power on the camera or lights whenever needed. You would need the app to manually control the lights to turn them on/off. I recommend checking out our Ring Smartlighting System, as it seems to be a better fit for you!

@Chelsea_Ring I don’t understand your suggestion. You are recommending that I replace my functioning lights smart lights? How does that help me get trying video functionality there? I don’t need smart lights. I want a video camera and my current lights to share the same location and power source. I just want to not have to look for my phone every time I want to turn on my lights. It would be nice if there were a button / switch accessory that gave you a physical way to remotely control the light on the floodcam. Or have a second set of optional electrical terminals. The first pair is for straight uninterruptible power (hot and ground) and the second set to take the wiring from a wall switch. Thanks but I think I’ll have to find some other solution.

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I have had a floodlight cam for almost 2 years and unfortunatly, this is how it works. To manually turn them on (or off), you need the app. Mine is controlled by a manual switch because sometimes, they just won’t turn off when I want so I have to cut the power to it.

the Issue I have with this is that even manually over riding and switching off the lights. They still come back on. I have tried going in to light motion settins and turning off, but at some point it resets itself and comes on again regarless of any overrides. I think this is the big issue with the system. It would also be nice to be able to dim the lights like with my spotlight cam. Currently I am regretting going with ring and should have just gone with my guy instinct and gone with Eufy. Dissapointing really

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I used to be able to toggle the light switch controlling power to my Ring flood light cam and that would activate the flood light for about 30 seconds. That feature no longer appears to work. I’m not sure why, perhaps a software update disabled this functionality? I echo your desire to operate the flood lights without using my phone.

Guys, I think there are options to solve this problem. Ring just needs to sell a toggle switch with bluetooth transmitter so that you kept power to the switch but the switch toggled the light on or off via the Bluetooth connection. Or it could be an IoT device using the same WiFi as the ring device.

This can be solved.

But it you make it look like an actual light switch (i.e. replace an existing light switch, you probably have to imprint a warning that the switch doesn’t interrupt power to the device.

There fixed. When can we have it so I can buy one? :slight_smile:

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I found this old post and I was hoping as I kept reading that a solution would have been found…doesn’t appear so.

I’m also looking for a physical switch that I can use to control the light on my Ring camera. I would want to stick it to the wall next to the original switch that is providing power to the camera/light (and is locked to the on position). This would be great for situations where you have replaced your existing light with a Ring camera/light, but don’t want to use motion or the app to trigger the light. For example, I would like to replace a light near a hot tub, but don’t want the light turning on while we are out there. And I want it to be easy for anyone to use a physical switch to control the light instead of the phone app (which they may not have installed).

Hi @user32388. If you connect a Ring Floodlight Cam to a light switch, it will disconnect from the wifi and turn off completely every time you flip the switch off. When switching it back on, you would then have to reconnect the Camera to your wifi network in order to control it via the Ring app, as flipping the switch would not automatically turn the lights on either. You can find more information on what controls are available for the lights and the light settings on your Floodlight Cam in this article from our Help Center.

Ok, let see if I can possibly ask this question in the simplest layman’s term. My front entry lights are sharing the same on/off switch as my Floodlights cam. It is currently replacing the old security floodIight. I really hate to have all the exterior lights ON just to keep the power and wifi on for the cam. Unfortunately, once I move that switch to the off position, it automatically shut the camera functionality. Can anyone here please tell me if there’s a way around this? Otherwise the cam is useless for me and I’ll probably have to select a different option of camera.
Thanks

Hi @Alusine01. The Floodlight Cam requires continuous power to function, so turning the power off via the light switch will turn the device off, meaning neither the lights nor the camera functionality will work.

@Alusine01

The lights are off by default at night, unless triggered by motion for which you can set how long you want the lights to stay on up to 15 minutes after being triggered. If you don’t want the lights to be turn on with motion, you can turn off “Motion-Activated Light” in the settings in the app. (Device Settings/Light Settings menu).

Does that answer your question?

This is obviously an extremely annoying issue that many people are dealing with including myself. How many people have a floodlight you can replace that is not connected to a switch?

I have an Airbnb location and it is impossible to find an area to hook my floodlight camera that is not connected to a switch. So I either have to leave all my porch lights on 24 hours a day to record but every time I have a guest they turn off that switch so then my camera does not work!

This seems like a very simple easy fix and here it is if anyone at ring is reading this. Simply add an internal battery into the floodlight camera that kicks on every time someone flips the light switch off to keep the camera recording.

Any time the switch is turned back on it would automatically recharge the internal battery so you never would have to replace it or recharge it manually. Hey Ring! Hit me up if you wanna buy this invention from me! Haha!

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