Many homeowners love video doorbells because they’re an affordable security measure that’s easy to install and allows you to capture the face of any shady person brave enough to visit your front door. After all, seeing a Ring camera here will make most thieves think twice before targeting you, so installing one is a no-brainer. However, even though installation is simple, you might have trouble finding the right height.
How high should you mount a video doorbell for best motion detection? Take a tape measure (or other measuring tool) and install the video doorbell 48 inches (1.2 meters) from the floor. According to almost all manufacturers, including Ring and Eufy, this height gives you the best coverage, captures faces clearly, and triggers motion detection as soon as someone starts approaching your door.
Ring doorbells (and others) typically have a wide field of view of around 180 degrees, so the exact height is the sweet spot. Mounting it higher or lower will result in poor motion detection and increase the chances of capturing motion events that are not so important for security. Since video doorbells can leave blind spots even when they’re perfectly positioned, you don’t want to make this problem worse.
Best positioning for video doorbells
In addition to determining the height, it is also wise to determine where not to place a Ring doorbell. For starters, don’t point it at objects that move frequently to avoid triggering false motion events. If you have a flag on your porch, as soon as it gets windy, your Ring or Eufy doorbell will bombard you with alarms. The same goes for swaying trees or even something as innocent as a bright light. These can all trigger motion detection, which drains the battery faster and fills up your local storage before you can say “ring.”
Of course, some positioning practices may seem obvious. For example, you need to make sure the doorbell camera is positioned within 11 inches of the door frame, although this is typically where most people position a regular doorbell. A much bigger challenge for these devices is anything that’s a little unorthodox, so to speak. If the path to your door has stairs, the elevation changes, or your siding slopes, you need to angle the doorbell correctly. Fortunately, most manufacturers offer mounting brackets or, in Ring’s case, an official Wedge kit to fine-tune the vertical angle. There are many options. Hell, you can even mount a doorbell camera on the side, although that doesn’t offer much benefit.
Other than that, make sure the Wi-Fi connection is good and move on. If you’re still worried about blind spots, Wi-Fi security cameras are pretty affordable these days. Using different devices pointing at all areas of your property is a simple way to create a proven security perimeter – one that most sneaky people will think twice before breaching.
