Ring Stick-Up Camera Help

[rk911]

I've spoken/chatted with Ring reps and keep getting different answers so I'm reaching out to the forum to see if anyone has any practical experience with the Ring Stickup Camera (battery).

Situation: I have a gate that I want to watch because our lawn crew and others occasionally will neglect to latch and secure it when leaving. The last time this happened our dog got out and was gone an hour before we realized she was gone. She was found safe, and sound and she now has a GPS tracker on her collar.

I want to mount a Ring Stickup Camera to watch this gate. The wall of the garage where the camera will be mounted is roughly 120-degrees offset from the gate. My question is...doe these cameras look straight ahead, or will the Ring Stickup camera rotate enough on the included mount to watch the gate. Or, do I need one of the Ring wall mounts to accomplish this? Ring makes two wall mounts...a wall/ceiling mount and a pan/tilt mount. I think the pan/tilt mount is specifically used for the pan/tilt camera.

I've had two conversations with Ring and have gotten different answers. Anyone here have actual experience with these cams?

 

[MichaelB]

The specs say it has 110 degree horizontal field of vision, so I think sticking it directly to the wall won’t give you the view you need. The camera with the pan/tilt mount looks like it might service your purpose, but it also looks like it needs a plug in power source.

Edit to add, you might look for an angled wall bracket which you can attach to the wall and then attach the ring cam to the bracket for a front on view.

 

[spencnor]

I've spoken/chatted with Ring reps and keep getting different answers so I'm reaching out to the forum to see if anyone has any practical experience with the Ring Stickup Camera (battery).

Situation: I have a gate that I want to watch because our lawn crew and others occasionally will neglect to latch and secure it when leaving. The last time this happened our dog got out and was gone an hour before we realized she was gone. She was found safe, and sound and she now has a GPS tracker on her collar.

I want to mount a Ring Stickup Camera to watch this gate. The wall of the garage where the camera will be mounted is roughly 120-degrees offset from the gate. My question is...doe these cameras look straight ahead, or will the Ring Stickup camera rotate enough on the included mount to watch the gate. Or, do I need one of the Ring wall mounts to accomplish this? Ring makes two wall mounts...a wall/ceiling mount and a pan/tilt mount. I think the pan/tilt mount is specifically used for the pan/tilt camera.

I've had two conversations with Ring and have gotten different answers. Anyone here have actual experience with these cams?

View attachment 52297

I’ve help a good friend mount a few Ring cameras. A few are wireless and powered by a rechargeable battery only. Note the Ring Stickup camera has different mounting options. I think the wall mount option will work for your situation. I would suggest not mounting higher than 8 feet. 7 feet would be good if you need to change out the rechargeable battery periodically.

I have a number of IP cameras mounted on all sides of my house. The ones mounted at ~7 feet will have the best chance of getting facial shots, instead of tops of heads.

Edit to add: If going with the rechargeable battery only, you can wall mount directly in line, or near, the gate.

 

[rk911]

Not using a hard-wired Ring cam, battery only and no power easily accessible so if the Pan-Tilt mount requires AC then it's not an option.

 

[spencnor]

Not using a hard-wired Ring cam, battery only and no power easily accessible so if the Pan-Tilt mount requires AC then it's not an option.

Then with the standard mounting base you can mount it easily on the wall. The mounting base can be used on the back of the camera and has a ball mount that allows it to be pivoted and aimed.

 

[rk911]

Then with the standard mounting base you can mount it easily on the wall. The mounting base can be used on the back of the camera and has a ball mount that allows it to be pivoted and aimed.

I understand that. Just wondering if the cam can swivel far enough to see the gate wirh the included mount or if i need the wall mount. And will the Wall Mount enable the cam to see the gate?

 

[spencnor]

I understand that. Just wondering if the cam can swivel far enough to see the gate wirh the included mount or if i need the wall mount. And will the Wall Mount enable the cam to see the gate?

Yes. It appears your pictures of the gate will allow you to mount it anywhere you desire on the perpendicular walls. Therefore, you can pivot the camera approx. 45 degrees, or less, and the camera’s horizontal field of view will see your gate.

 

[rk911]

Thanks! That's what I was looking for. Appreciate your time.

 

[rk911]

Update: Bought the camera and have it mounted on the exterior wall of the garage without the Ring Wall Mount accessory, As you can see the camera can be rotated enough to give a clear view of the gate as well as the back door and that is a happy bonus.

New issue. The wifi signal generated from the house is marginal. The cam generally reacts to most human motions...but not always. I have an extender POD in the room in the picture but while it generates a good signal for that room it's barely enough for the cam.

I need to extend a good wifi signal to the garage. Thinking about a repeater mounted on the roof of the house but looking for suggestions from others who have had similar situations. Trenching a hard line under the concrete and paver walks is out.

 

[Al18]

I would solve the problem by having a spring on the gate - so it closes quickly, automatically.

 

[rk911]

I would solve the problem by having a spring on the gate - so it closes quickly, automatically.

It has a spring but it doesn't always catch the latch.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

New issue. The wifi signal generated from the house is marginal. The cam generally reacts to most human motions...but not always. I have an extender POD in the room in the picture but while it generates a good signal for that room it's barely enough for the cam.

I need to extend a good wifi signal to the garage. Thinking about a repeater mounted on the roof of the house but looking for suggestions from others who have had similar situations. Trenching a hard line under the concrete and paver walks is out.

I would say just get a better extender for that room, it should provide a good signal at that distance. We have our internet coming into one corner of the house (upper floor, at least), and then in 2020 I put my home office in the basement on the diametrically opposite side of the house. I got an extender that I installed on the ground floor, and now I can actually get a good signal from it anywhere in the house, so I am usually connected to that now instead of my router.
(That extender is no longer available new, but there are other, newer TP-Link models suggested on that page.)

 

[spencnor]

If you have one WiFi router, consider adding another WiFi AP (access point). If your router is an older one you might consider a WiFi mesh system where you can add multiple nodes, or APs. You get better connections if the 2nd access point can be hard wired back to your main router. If running an Ethernet cable is not feasible, then there are mesh systems with nodes that will connect wirelessly. To get good WiFi coverage space the mesh nodes apart, maybe at opposite ends of your house.

This by Amazon eero is easy to set up. There are many by other manufacturers. Just Google WiFi mesh systems.

 

[robmac]

Ring sells a “Chime Pro” WiFi extender and also a solar panel that keeps your stick up camera charged. I have had good luck with the Chime Pro as it extended my WiFi signal to a wired Ring Spotlight Cam in my driveway.

 

[triangle]

You could also consider installing a Door/Window Contact Sensor. There are various Zigbee ones that people use indoors to help automate things in their "smart" home. For example turn on a light when opening a cabinet or closet door. These switches can also be used to check if the thing was currently open/closed and send alerts with appropriate configuration on your smart home server.

It does take a bit of research and effort to setup everything if starting from scratch. There is likely some sensor that is water resist enough to use outside. Or ones that use Wifi or Z-Wave (Z-Wave has the longest range of the three which might be useful if monitoring a gate some distance from the edge of your home network.). I am not an expert, but have considered getting a Sonoff SNZB-04P to see what it can do.

If you are on the Ring platform I see a "Ring Alarm Contact Sensor (2nd Gen)" on Amazon. I don't know anything specific about it, but prehaps that would be a good companion to a Ring camera.

 

[rk911]

Ring sells a “Chime Pro” WiFi extender and also a solar panel that keeps your stick up camera charged. I have had good luck with the Chime Pro as it extended my WiFi signal to a wired Ring Spotlight Cam in my driveway.

I have a wifi extender in the room in the photo but it's apparently not enough for the cam. I'm looking into adding a wifi extender mounted on the upper wall in the photo. I have an ethernet connection to the wifi sever in that room. That should do it as I'm also going to add an outdoor wireless weather station.

 

[rk911]

You could also consider installing a Door/Window Contact Sensor. There are various Zigbee ones that people use indoors to help automate things in their "smart" home. For example turn on a light when opening a cabinet or closet door. These switches can also be used to check if the thing was currently open/closed and send alerts with appropriate configuration on your smart home server.

It does take a bit of research and effort to setup everything if starting from scratch. There is likely some sensor that is water resist enough to use outside. Or ones that use Wifi or Z-Wave (Z-Wave has the longest range of the three which might be useful if monitoring a gate some distance from the edge of your home network.). I am not an expert, but have considered getting a Sonoff SNZB-04P to see what it can do.

If you are on the Ring platform I see a "Ring Alarm Contact Sensor (2nd Gen)" on Amazon. I don't know anything specific about it, but prehaps that would be a good companion to a Ring camera.

Would that survive a Chicago winter?

 

[triangle]

Would that survive a Chicago winter?

That is a good question. The contact sensors I have seen (I have not researched them) are geared for indoors.

If you had a "Ring Alarm" it seems like the Contact Sensor mentioned earlier uses Z-wave and reports a "250-foot range to Base Station open air, line of sight". Z-wave operates at a lower frequency than wifi and travels farther. So it is better than wifi at connectivity but the transmission speed is lower. So good at sending notifications but not a live camera feed.

Hopefully your new wifi extender will provide you with enough reach. You could also look at using different channels or lower speeds (2.4GHz) like b/g which might also get you more range.

 

[sdtech]

Mounted a ring camera about 75' from the house. It get's wifi from a google mesh in and upstairs room. We power it with the solar panel panel from Ring.

 

[rk911]

That is a good question. The contact sensors I have seen (I have not researched them) are geared for indoors.

If you had a "Ring Alarm" it seems like the Contact Sensor mentioned earlier uses Z-wave and reports a "250-foot range to Base Station open air, line of sight". Z-wave operates at a lower frequency than wifi and travels farther. So it is better than wifi at connectivity but the transmission speed is lower. So good at sending notifications but not a live camera feed.

Hopefully your new wifi extender will provide you with enough reach. You could also look at using different channels or lower speeds (2.4GHz) like b/g which might also get you more

I originally considered some sort of magnetic gate alarm. I spoke with a few companies about that but none of them could enthusiastically state that their products would survive prolonged exposure to below zero temps. But I just don't want to know when the gate is opened, I want to know who is opening it hence the Ring Camera.

Our property is heavily shaded...numerous old oaks and others limit direct sunshine where the cam is mounted. Once I prove my theory that the Ring Cam can meet my expectations I'll likely add the solar panel. I have a small solar panel on our Ring Doorbell but with the shade all the solar panel does is prolong battery life. I wouls expect the same performance with a solar panel on the stick-up cam.

I do appreciate the reply and suggestions.

 

[triangle]

I originally considered some sort of magnetic gate alarm. I spoke with a few companies about that but none of them could enthusiastically state that their products would survive prolonged exposure to below zero temps. But I just don't want to know when the gate is opened, I want to know who is opening it hence the Ring Camera.

Our property is heavily shaded...numerous old oaks and others limit direct sunshine where the cam is mounted. Once I prove my theory that the Ring Cam can meet my expectations I'll likely add the solar panel. I have a small solar panel on our Ring Doorbell but with the shade all the solar panel does is prolong battery life. I wouls expect the same performance with a solar panel on the stick-up cam.

I do appreciate the reply and suggestions.

As for a contact sensor surviving the winter you could look at the specs and see what are the operating conditions versus the storage conditions. I might expect them to survive the cold weather even if that meant the battery did not survive and provide enough power to operate. Meaning if could work only 10 months out of the year, it might still be helpful. If it could be protected enough from the rain and ice or so cheap that you could replace each year.

In any case sounds like you are getting enough from the Ring Camera alone. Hopefully you can get enough solar power to keep things trouble free. Good luck.