Ring Doorbells are great devices that enhance your home security without much hassle.
Sometimes they don’t work as intended, though, such as picking up cars from the street.
Do Ring doorbells really record cars driving by?
The Ring Doorbell may record cars passing by if the motion zones within the app include the street. For the best results with your doorbell, you should customize motion zones that include where you expect visitors to approach and exclude areas like the street with cars.
In this article, I’ll be covering how Ring doorbells detect motion if they can pick up cars driving by, and some other relevant info.
How Do Ring Doorbells Work?
Ring doorbells are a type of doorbell equipped with a motion sensor-activated camera and often an included 2-way speaker. A Ring doorbell lets you monitor your home’s security, being able to see who’s at your front door and interact with them from as far as thousands of miles away.
No more days of wondering if your home is safe from burglars or other criminals, namely, porch pirates stealing packages!
You can conveniently monitor your home from your smart device and even communicate with anyone approaching your door via the 2-way speaker in the Ring doorbell.
Ring Doorbells Recording Cars Driving By
Ring doorbells can potentially pick up cars driving by your house if the sensitivity is sufficiently high or motion zones are set very far.
Normally, you would just want to be able to see anyone approaching your door or in certain areas on the side.
Every car going by can trigger a lot of notifications for the owner if they live on a high-traffic street.
Ring doorbells are capable of recording as far as 30 feet (9.14 meters) away, depending on the exact settings used in the app and the doorbell model.
You don’t want the doorbell going off every 5 minutes, so it’s necessary to customize the motion zones and schedules in the paired Ring app on your smart device.
What Are Motion Zones in a Ring Doorbell?
Motion zones are customizable zones you can set within the Ring app, which determine the range your Ring doorbell can detect motion from and record with its built-in camera.
Ring not only uses motion but an infrared sensor that detects heat.
It means Ring won’t pick up and record a tree blowing in the wind, for instance.
A few heat signatures it can pick up are people, animals, and cars.
Not all Ring doorbells are equipped with infrared sensors, so you may want to exclude trees swaying in the wind or shadows created by buildings or trees.
Using the settings of your Ring doorbell is vital to effectively protect your home and prevent potential false positives – cars are a big one.
Animals can also trigger the doorbell, like dogs or cats moving within the assigned motion zones.
To best monitor your home, you should use the motion zones and the sensitivity setting to adapt the Ring doorbell to your unique needs.
Another useful feature is Motion Scheduling, which lets you set a routine for when the doorbell will monitor. You may wish to disable it when you’re home, for example.
Motion Zone Sensitivity
You can alter how sensitive the Ring doorbell’s motion sensors are within the app. You can set the sensitivity high to pick up more motion events, or low to get fewer motion events.
Here’s how to set motion zone sensitivity:
- Tap the 3 lines in the corner of the app.
- Select your device within the Devices option.
- Select Motion Settings, then Motion Sensitivity.
- Here you can drag your motion sensitivity slider to your preferred setting.
How To Change Ring Doorbell Motion Zones
To set effective motion zones, you must first look at the area as the doorbell does, in the camera display.
According to Ring, the angle of the sun and surrounding features like trees can create false-positive motion events.
They also suggest positioning the doorbell to avoid sunlight, if possible.
The best way to use motion zones to monitor your home is to think about what areas from the doorbell camera you expect traffic from and those you don’t.
Trees in the wind may also trigger motion events if your doorbell isn’t equipped with an infrared sensor – it would detect any motion.
You want to think about the way people might approach your door, and to exclude areas that people don’t go to, like behind walls or gates. You can also exclude areas like trees and foliage.
How to change ring doorbell motion zones in the ring app:
- Tap the three lines in the top corner of the screen.
- Select your device within the Devices menu.
- Select Motion Zones within the Motion Settings menu.
- Directions should appear to assist you with setting your motion zone boundaries.
- Drag the edges of the colored boxes to assign motion zones within the camera’s field of view.
- Select Save when you’re satisfied with your motion zone placement.
- Tap the name of the motion zone to rename it if desired.
- Select another motion zone and repeat.
Along with the motion scheduling feature, setting good motion zones is central to your Ring doorbell securing your home and minimizing false positives.
After learning all of this and you think is not worth it to have a ring doorbell, or you’d like to find a better option, check this blog post where I break down the best Ring Doorbells alternatives. There’s a couple in there where the recording range is even bigger!
Motion Scheduling
You can set motion schedules to exclude certain periods of time from motion detection and recording.
You can set this to ‘disarm’ the Ring doorbell when you’re home, for example, or when you expect guests.
Whether it’s the garbage truck or a friend, if you know the time they’ll visit, you can set a motion schedule to exclude that time.
How to use motion scheduling in the ring app:
- Tap the three lines in the corner of the display.
- Select your device within the Devices menu.
- Select Motion Scheduling within the Motion Settings menu.
- Set the day as well as the beginning and end times you want to schedule the exception for.
- Tap the schedule’s name to rename it if desired.
The motion schedule will automatically go into effect, and you can’t manually turn on the motion alerts without first disabling or canceling the motion schedule.
Final Thoughts
The Ring doorbell is a convenient and powerful tool that helps monitor and secure your home. They’re equipped with cameras capable of seeing cars on the street, though settings allow you to exclude these areas.