A few months ago, I installed a few of the Ring Spotlight Cam Wired security cameras around my house. We purchased these cameras to replace the Arlo cameras we had installed a couple of years ago and while we have spent quite a bit on these security cameras, changing out the Arlo battery powered cameras to a wired camera wasn’t easy, but well worth it.
Many of you might be asking why I chose to go with a wired camera since it’s much easier to install a wireless/battery powered camera.
Well, for one, you’ll get very important and useful features in a wired camera that you can’t get in a battery or even solar powered security camera. 2 of these features are the most important in my mind:
- Software Motion Sense
- 3 Second Look Back
Software Motion Sense
With battery or solar powered security cameras, they rely on infrared motion sensors. These type of motion sensors aren’t the best in a large area, especially when you are mounting these cameras outdoors as the range is limited to within 20-30ft, at best.
With my old Arlo battery powered cameras, there were times that the infrared motion sensor wouldn’t even trigger until I was within 5ft of the camera. And, it’s not just with the Arlo cameras. Even with the Ring Doorbell (not the Doorbell Pro) and the other basic Ring cameras, they have the same issue.
With the Ringspot Cam Wired security cameras, these don’t rely on infrared motion sensors. They actually use software to detect motion and you’re also able to set motion zones, areas where you only want motion to trigger the camera.
The way it works with wired security cameras is that in the background, video is constantly recording. The camera doesn’t wait for a motion trigger before it starts recording. It’s always recording in the background. While it’s constantly recording in the background, it uses software to detect changes within the motion zones that you set.
So, technically, it can detect motion up to 70ft or more. I have one of these mounted at one corner of my front yard and it detects motion on the other side of the front yard at around 40-50ft away. When I had the Arlo battery operated camera that uses infrared motion sensors in the same spot, I had to be within 10-20ft for it to trigger.
3 Second Look Back
I don’t know if you have experienced it yourself or seen security camera footage where by the time there’s a motion trigger and the camera starts recording, the person is either already out of the video frame or whatever he/she’s done is already over. So, it didn’t capture anything of importance.
With wired security cameras such as the Ring Spotlight Cam Wired and other brands such as the Arlo Pro Wired versions, you’ll never have this issue.
The way it works is that since the camera is constantly recording in the background, it always has video footage to go back to. Once the software detects motion within the motion zone, the systems goes into the video buffer and outputs the video including the 3 seconds before the motion trigger.
The output video length is 1 minute after motion is triggered, but with the 3 second look back feature, your total video length can range from 1 minute 2 seconds up to 1 minute 4 seconds. It’s not exact but you’ll never miss a thing ever again!
Arlo calls this feature the 3 Second Look Back feature. Ring doesn’t mention it in any marketing material or technical specs, probably because Arlo has it copyrighted or something. Who knows… Even though Ring doesn’t mention it, all the Ring Video Doorbell Pro and Wired cameras have this feature.
I’ve had the Ring Video Doorbell Pro for a couple of years now and with this 3 second look back feature, I’ve caught things that the basic Ring Video Doorbell would have missed by the time it started recording.
The first time I saw footage from my Ring Video Doorbell Pro, I thought it wasn’t working right because nothing was in the video frame at the beginning until 3 seconds later. Later on, I realized it’s an awesome feature after looking at some of my neighbor’s footage as they have the basic Ring Video Doorbell without this feature.
Why doesn’t the Battery or Solar Powered security cameras have these features?
These features aren’t included in higher end versions just for upsell. These features require that the camera be constantly recording in the background and for that to happen, you need lots of power. So, that’s why the cameras need to be wired and plugged into a power outlet.
Aren’t solar powered cameras always powered? No, these are still technically battery powered and the solar panel only recharges the battery and only during the day. If you tried to have these features on a solar powered camera, your camera batteries wouldn’t last the night.
Installation
The toughest part is routing power for these wired cameras. It took me a while to plan it out as I needed to install new power outlets in certain areas so it wasn’t easy, but well worth it. If you’re not up to the job of routing new outlets yourself, it’s not that expensive to hire an electrician.
The cost of these higher end units and installation is well worth it if you want a good working security camera system.