Ring Doorbell 2 suddenly has phantom motion alerts

Every hour or so I get a motion alert, but nothing shows up on the recording. While home, I’ve also physically checked for any activity and have seen none. Anyone else having this problem? It’s activating so often that I’m no longer checking the recordings, which defeats the purpose of having the Ring.

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Are they phantoms, or is your doorbell becoming very sensitive to smaller things- shadow movements, etc. Some of us have had issues with this recently where things are setting it off that didn’t previously: https://community.ring.com/t5/Video-Doorbells/Ring-Pro-suddenly-far-more-sensitive/td-p/3066

Mine seems to have gotten another recent SW upgrade and it works much better. I’m trying different settings to confirm this is reallly true.

I can’t figure out anything that would trigger it. My doorbell is aimed at my detached garage. No car or pedestrian traffic in view. I’ve been present when it triggers and I don’t see anything in the back yard like a squirrel. There is a tree in the distance that could be triggering it.

I just purchase the Ring2, and installed last night. I too am getting an alert about every 30 minutes or so. I have attempted to adjust all settings (very limited by the way!), and am still getting the alerts. All videos show nothing during the alerting period, not even a breeze? If this is what to expect, I will be returning mine.

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Hey neighbors! The Video Doorbell 2 utilizes adjustable motion detection which detects heat signatures within the field of view and zones. Check out our Community post about how these devices detect motion to learn how it works.

If altering motion settings is not decreasing motion detection, a wedge kit may also help to angle the Doorbell downwards to avoid vehicles, if this is a common trigger.

There’s an entire thread about this. In October many of us suddenly had doorbells (I’ve a Pro) that became far more sensitive. We didn’t change our settings or zones. The geniuses of Ring marked it solved but that’s false. We still get far too many motion alerts of a spec of a pedestrian in the distance when we never did before. That’s the phantom alert we get.

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Yesterday, my doorbell chime that is connected to the Ring 2 started “pinging” – randomly chiming – in varying patterns at varying intervals, but about once every 1-3 minutes. There is no motion, no wind, no heat (its 25 degrees right now). It did it all night. Should I be searching for solutions under “phantom motion” alerts? Is there a better term? Any ideas?

Thanks

@Bearfan1

Is it triggering exactly every 30 minutes? All day long or just at night? I just installed two new floodlight cams. And the flood lights turn on exactly every 30 minutes all night long, with no external motion or trigger at all. So even though you’re posting about your doorbell 2, your comment about it being every 30 minutes or so seems oddly similar to what’s happening to my flood lights… I’ve been on the phone with ring support for hours the last couple days. They haven’t figured it out yet…

I just installed a 2 and if I choose Standard on the motion frequency, I get an alert every 15 min, if I choose light I think it’s at 20 min. It’s exactly every 15 min, I am sure it’s not motion based, but time based. Did I really buy this thing to just send me a 30 second video every 15 min?

@Turbo

Sorry to hear… The symptoms of your Doorbell 2 issue sound slightly different. But the commonality is that your cameras are triggering repeatedly on exact, repetitive time periods (not motion based).

On the floodlight cams (wired), the lights trigger every 30 minutes, regardless of sensitivity, all night long. When only the lights trigger, there is no alert to the phone app, and no video gets generated unless the video camera was also triggered. Another possibly related issue is that both of my floodlight cams are unable to update the firmware. Even when linked with a hotspot, it still would not update. So, that rules out firewall.

In the floodlight cams, the video camera and the lights have different triggering systems. With this floodlight cam issue, the lights triggering is not associated with the cameras triggering Except once which may have been a fluke, but seem like a really high coincidence.

I installed a Doorbell 2 a couple years ago, in battery mode. It was really buggy, but the main problem is that it missed a lot of people and lost connection regularly but triggered on practically every car… It’s gotten better with firmware updates…

If you just bought it, you might consider just returning and buying another one to see if it does the same thing before calling Ring support. I tested the Doorbell 2 inside the house before drilling holes into the doorframe. Otherwise, you can call Ring support right away–results may vary…But again, it seems weird that all these new devices are having problems with repeated, regular triggering…

It took several calls over a couple days until I was finally able to speak to a Level 2. I spent 2 hours on the phone with him on Saturday night (woohoo!) doing various trouble-shooting over the phone. It was escalated, and I am still awaiting to hear back. Trying to get home technology to work is like a part/full-time job…

@Turbo wrote:

I just installed a 2 and if I choose Standard on the motion frequency, I get an alert every 15 min, if I choose light I think it’s at 20 min. It’s exactly every 15 min, I am sure it’s not motion based, but time based. Did I really buy this thing to just send me a 30 second video every 15 min?

Marley-

Thanks, but changing the motion detection when the doorbell has worked fine for ~ 2 yrs doesn’t seem to be getting at the problem. also, until I rebooted the bell, it did its phantom pinging and dinging all night. It was like the ghost of Lionel Hampton was jamming with Charlie Parker, but I could only hear the vibrophone track.

We’ve always had an occasional ding here and there, and I figured it was a flash of light or a bird or something, but this is different.

Why are so many users having the same NEW problem all at the same time?

Firmware 1.16.00263 and my device health check is very good.

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Mine started this samething about a week ago. It had been working fine for 6+ months and now it is going off evey 10 minutes. i have the mtion detection set way down.

Still having phantom motion alerts. Traffic isn’t an issue. Heat isn’t an issue. This is a software issue that RIng needs to fix now, otherwise I am getting rid of it and switching to Nest. It was working fine for several years and now all of a sudden it goes off randomly with NOTHING moving in the field of view.

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Sorry about the delayed response. I was working with Ring support through a chat, and then trying the different solutions to see if any would work. What I have done so far is installed the 5 degree wedge, and waited, still received a lot of false motion detected alerts, the same for adding 10 degree wedge, and 15 degree wedge. Chatted with support again, and this person “Payton” wasn’t much help. Just told me to unmount it, and stick it in a drawer, or closet to see if I keep getting false alerts. The support I had last week was much better. I am returning it (purchased on Amazon) and getting a replacement. If that doesn’t work, then I will be done with Ring products.

Hey neighbors! Thank you for sharing your experience. If you have not already, please take a look at our Community article about motion detection with our battery operated Doorbells. A great next step would be to bring the doorbell inside where there is no motion to ensure there is nothing environmental that could be causing false alerts.

@Bearfan1 Please let me know how it goes with your replacement. We are happy to assist further! :slight_smile:

I’m having the same problem with the Ring 2 doorbell. Starting a few weeks ago, it started showing motion when nothing was there. It worked fine up until this false motion detection problem started. It’s aggravating since it is at a home where senior citizens live and is need for security. Someone checks whenever it goes off through the night wish is very often now with this problem. Help???

Just an update. Two nights ago I removed the battery, and plugged it in to charge overnight. Yesterday morning I reinstalled the battery, and then adjusted the motion detection for a larger range. I received my new replacement Ring Doorbell yesterday, but I have not changed them out yet, as since I removed, and charged, and reinserted the battery I have not had a single false alert yet? Not sure what happened, or why? I have 30 days to return the original, but now I am waiting to see if it starts doing it again prior to returning it.

If I have to take this thing off my house and disconnect the wiring, I am just going to throw it in the trash.

Bottom line, it was working great until something happened on Ring’s end. A firmware update or something. Now there are a bunch of complaints about false motion alerts.

It happens day or night, rain or shine. There’s no traffic on that side of my house. No sidewalk. There’s nothing I can see in the triggered videos that could explain it. This is a software error of some sort and you need to figure it out ASAP or you are going to lose a lot of customers. I am texting my brother right now to see if he is having any issues with his Nest doorbell…

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I was getting it too. I’ve had it for 2 1/2 years. Every time I look at the false alert I can see what looked like there was lightning that hit the camera and set it off. There is no lightning or lights that would set this off. I had it wired so i thought maybe this thing was getting a power surge or something. So I took it off and replaced it with a nest hello which is also powered and have had no problem. I then put the Ring on the back door and ran it only on battery. Same thing. I believe this is something Ring did. It was working fine for 2 1/2 years now everyone is having this problem.

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@Marley_Ring

Here is my latest update. To recap: I purchased the Ring Video Doorbell 2 and was getting constant motion alerts with nothing to be seen. I mounted numerous wedges to try alleviate the issue with no success, I initiated a return with Amazon, and received a replacement. While waiting on that I removed the battery from the original one, and charged it overnight, and re-inserted it into the original which seemed to resolve the issue (only for about 6 hours) then the false motion alerts started again. I mounted the replacement, and it also was giving false alerts. I then took the original one, and stuck it in my linen closet, and was still receiving alerts. I contacted support, and they sent a replacement to which I mounted last night, and between midnight, and 8 am this morning I received 20 (not exaggerating) false alerts. I beleive the problem is that people are having issues, and ring support knows there is a problem, but to appease everyone they send a new (used) replacement that must have been a return from someone elses problems. I will try one more time with support on this issue before completely abandoning Ring products, and letting my displeasure be known to as many people as I can. Obviously by the comments from other users there is a firmware/software problem that Ring isn’t owning up to?!

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