Ring Cameras

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
As from today, my mums house is like Fort Knox - no living thing can move within 20 ft of her house without my phone going ballistic! There are cameras at the front, the side and the back as well as a camera door bell. I can talk to anyone who approaches the house or rings the bell, sound a siren or switch bright lights on.

It sounds wonderful but it's not quite set right, even though my sister, who is in charge of the app, says she has set it to only alert us if something as big as a human being in in the danger zone. So far tonight, I have been alerted by several cats, a fox, cars going by in the road, the steam from her boiler and probably by moths flying by!

Mum has not set foot outside other than to go to the bin at 4pm and no one has been to the house but I've jumped out of my skin so many times when my phone starts jingling! I know it will be brilliant once it's set right, we want to protect her from the horrible people who have been knocking at her door to ask for money or sell her overpriced cleaning products. I can't wait to tell them where to go through the camera!

Guess what my sister will be doing tomorrow! And I've switched my phone to mute and wrapped it in a cloth to stop it vibrating through the night'

Does anyone else have such cameras?
 

marionq

Registered User
Apr 24, 2013
6,449
0
Scotland
I have posted elsewhere about the mini camera I set up to watch my husband if I nipped out to the shops. My concern was that he would fall but as it turned out he did fall on the first day he went into respite!

I have decided to still use the camera though and it is now at the inside of my window frame angled to cover the front door so that if I felt like it I could glance at my phone rather than check who is at the door. Not as sophisticated as yours but I’ll give it a trial.
 

Dimpsy

Registered User
Sep 2, 2019
1,906
0
As from today, my mums house is like Fort Knox - no living thing can move within 20 ft of her house without my phone going ballistic! There are cameras at the front, the side and the back as well as a camera door bell. I can talk to anyone who approaches the house or rings the bell, sound a siren or switch bright lights on.

It sounds wonderful but it's not quite set right, even though my sister, who is in charge of the app, says she has set it to only alert us if something as big as a human being in in the danger zone. So far tonight, I have been alerted by several cats, a fox, cars going by in the road, the steam from her boiler and probably by moths flying by!

Mum has not set foot outside other than to go to the bin at 4pm and no one has been to the house but I've jumped out of my skin so many times when my phone starts jingling! I know it will be brilliant once it's set right, we want to protect her from the horrible people who have been knocking at her door to ask for money or sell her overpriced cleaning products. I can't wait to tell them where to go through the camera!

Guess what my sister will be doing tomorrow! And I've switched my phone to mute and wrapped it in a cloth to stop it vibrating through the night'

Does anyone else have such cameras?

No, but I want one!!
Do keep posting and let us know if you succeeded in stopping the cold callers in their tracks!
 

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
I will let you know what happens over time. The only person calling at the house was my daughter and I'd already told her about the cameras so she and I had a chat so impound practice using the microphone! I think one of us will need to be quick to respond to the doorbell before mum invites them in! But then I think I will phone her and ask to speak to her "visitor"
 

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
Update.

You need a really good broadband signal to operate three spotlight cameras and a camera doorbell. We have paid for the fastest broadband available from her phone company and the best router but The camera for the back garden receives the weakest signal and my sister wants to fit an extender (?) to improve it as the signal sometimes drops out. Luckily this is the least important one in my opinion as I'm more concerned about dodgy visitors at the door than potential burglars! But she is buying one tomorrow.

There is a delay between getting the alert and accessing the camera, I have to grab my phone or iPad, put in the password then find the right camera. But I think this will get easier over time. I am all fingers and thumbs with the excitement!

I am still confused about what to press to talk through the camera! I need to practice with someone I know when my mother is not close by - I don't want to freak her out!

We are still getting alerts from cats and even a magpie on the kitchen roof even though the cameras are set to not pick them up! So my brother in law is getting out the ladders at weekend to reposition a couple of cameras slightly.

But it is probably the best technology around to give me peace of mind. I can see all callers and check on mum when she wanders into the garden to feed the birds. If she fell, I could get help immediately. I can check that she has got home safely from her daily walk to the shops.

I just need to stop my brother from pulling faces and making rude gestures to the doorbell camera when he visits!
 

Mumof3kids

Registered User
Aug 12, 2018
115
0
I got the Ring doorbell for my M&D and it works brilliantly. I can see who's at their front door and when they don't hear the doorbell from their living room I can speak to whoever is at the front door on their behalf. Twice now I have spoken to the lady who is trying to drop off dad's meds from the chemist but they've not heard her ring the bell!!

The only issue can be dad (with VD) switches all the electrical sockets off so inevitably the router can be switched off. I downloaded the app on mums mobile phone too but to be honest, she doesn't know how to work it. But it gives me peace of mind so I am happy with it.

The thing that has made me laugh was that if their wheelie bins had been brought onto the drive before I arrived, dad would take the credit for bringing them in :) (which given he barely goes through the door suprised me). Sure enough, once the Ring camera was in situ we could clearly see 2 different neighbours very kindly bringing their bins back on the drive.
 

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
Mum has had her security system fitted for a few weeks now and it's working well. Me and my two siblings have the app on our phones so one of us is able to respond to alerts as necessary. I tend to ignore the alerts if I know my brother are sister are there with mum but try to check at other times.

There are issues with sensitivity and placing ( bloody cats and magpies!) but I'd rather gear more alerts than miss some callers. Mum enjoys a walk to the shops most days, I hear her leave the house and the return again 10 minutes later, clutching her bag of chocolate and biscuits.

We have only had one suspicious caller, mum has previously been targeted by people calling and either asking for money or selling her things, and on that occasion she was still in bed so did not answer the door. We have kept a recording of the caller should he " pop by " again!

I've even used the microphone to speak to mum when she was fretting about a parked car outside the house, mum is very obedient when the house tells her to leave the car alone and go back indoors!

But the best thing is the peace of mind of knowing who is calling and making sure that mum is safe in the house.
 

Jenni_B

Registered User
Aug 24, 2019
104
0
France
mum is very obedient when the house tells her to leave the car alone and go back indoors!

.
Ha! This is great.

I will mention the system to my sister in case she thinks it would be useful for if she needs to leave her OH on his own for a short while (which is now almost impossible). If I didn't live in France I might get one for myself to see who's calling! (We get many cold callers - mostly tradespeople touting for business.) Over here, doorbells (and letterboxes) are on the outside of your front gate and the culture is that visitors - even friends and neighbours! - don't come through the gate unless and until invited. It feels much less intrusive (especially if the gate is kept locked) and I can peek clandestinely through a front window to see who is ringing the bell.
 

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
If have to add that getting the system was not cheap - over £800 in total even after a discount. We have three spotlight cameras with microphones on the side, back and front of the house and a camera doorbell. The front camera and doorbell do overlap but it gives us a much better view of the street rather than just the area around the front door.

The downside of this is the triple alerts I get when someone calls - first the front camera, then the one from the doorbell camera then finally the ring from the doorbell! I do switch the sound off my phone at night as mums newspaper is delivered around 4 am so don't want waking up! Also had to disconnect the alert from the side camera as it picks up the steam from the boiler even though it has been moved twice and set to only pick up large objects eg people. But it's still useful to be able to see the back door and drive if other alerts warn me that Mum is pottering around outside at the bins or feeding the birds.

The other cost for us was having to install the Internet, but at least I can now log on and play games on my iPad while I am there!
 

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