Unless you’ve got some scenic views from your doorstep, you don’t typically want to see waves from your Ring spotlight or floodlight cam. Water getting inside of these cameras is a surprisingly common problem.
Water has a way of getting into even the most well protected outdoor tech. The good news is that making sure your outdoor Ring devices are weatherproof is pretty easy.
You can prevent water from flooding your Ring camera with three easy steps. First bring the camera inside and let it rest until the water evaporates. Then you can reposition the camera under an awning, add a rain hood, or caulk the base of the camera to ensure that it’s more water resistant.
We’re going to walk you through everything from Ring’s waterproofing philosophy to tips for getting your cameras watertight.
Get to Know the Ring Spotlight and Floodlight Cams
Ring makes plenty of great tech, but the Ring Floodlight Cam and the Ring Spotlight Cam are two of their best outdoor smart home devices – since they contain both sirens and lights.
Both of these cameras are designed to be mounted outside and feature the same cloud storage, two way communication, and ability to light up a section of your property while recording video. The Ring Floodlight Cam can be powered by plug-in or hardwired options, and the Ring Spotlight Cam has battery and solar options too.
The differences really start to stand out when we take a look at the Ring floodlight camera. It's got two massive flood lights that allow it to get quality night vision, day or night.
Is the Ring Floodlight or Spotlight Cam Waterproof?
Neither of these cameras are waterproof. The Ring Floodlight Cam and the Ring Spotlight Cam are advertised as being “weatherproof.” This is something entirely different than waterproof, and it's worth talking about what keeps these two measures of environmental resistance separate.
What Does “Weather Resistant” Even Mean?
Weather resistant and waterproof are simply two different standards that our technology has to live up to. Here's a really quick way to understand the difference between these two measures.
Waterproof means that you can dunk something under water and it's going to keep working. Waterproof also typically means the device is weatherproof by default. Your waterproof watch is just as at home going underwater while swimming as well as out jogging in the rain.
Weatherproof merely means that a device can stand up to what Mother Nature can throw at it. It's capable of withstanding cold weather, hot weather, and a normal range of rainfall. This includes particularly hard rainfall even in windy climates.
In short, weatherproof means you can leave it outside exposed to the elements and waterproof means you can submerge it.
The Ring Floodlight Cam has an IP rating of IP65, meaning that it is “water resistant” but not 100% weatherproof. This means that both of these cameras would probably struggle to withstand direct (high pressure) spray from a hose – and so, it might struggle with big storms, too.
With that said, Ring have thought about some level of weather resistance and they are built accordingly, however somehow water can still find its way into these cameras (the same is true of Ring's doorbell range, although the two outdoor cameras have slightly more weatherproofing than the doorbell range).
How to Prevent Water from Getting Into Your Ring Spotlight Cam
There’s an old engineering saying that applies here: Everything leaks.
Try as we might, we just can’t seem to keep water out 100% of the time. This means that we’re going to have to problem solve when leaks occur. Here are some quick fixes for getting your Ring cameras high and dry.
Bring Your Device Inside for a Few Days
One of the most common problems that gets moisture inside of the outdoor Ring cameras is condensation.
Humidity is incredibly hard to protect against when it comes to sealing these complicated electronic devices. Water vapor flows in all directions and can get inside to the most miniscule cracks in the weatherproofing, or even through included rubber grommets.
If you live in a climate that has a reputation for being more than a little humid, you might have to manage your device by bringing it back inside.
Bringing your camera inside gives it a chance to level out the humidity inside the device to match the humidity outside the device. This should allow the water vapor to slowly leave the camera through the same cracks it got inside from. Keep in mind that this is only a temporary solution.
The condensation will likely continue to get back inside your device when it goes outside again. You can always cycle your cameras with a few days outdoors in a few days in doors to keep the humidity under control while you test out our more long-term solutions.
Reposition Your Camera
The position of your camera is also a major cause of water getting into the housing.
Let's check off some of the more basic problems first. If your cameras are on an exposed wall with no awning above it, there's a good chance that rain water flowing down the wall is also flowing into the camera. Repositioning your camera underneath and awning is a great way to give it some additional protection from the weather.
If your cameras are already underneath the awning and they still have water coming in, we're going to have to take a closer look at how the cameras have been positioned.
The awning above your camera might also be causing the problems we are trying to stop. The next time it's raining, take a look at how the water flows down the walls of your house. Older awnings sometimes focus water down specific pathways. You can reposition your cameras to be outside of the direction that the water's flowing.
Also keep an eye out for drips and leaks in the structure above and around your camera. Those can be either exposing the camera to undue moisture or a sign of bigger leaks that are also affecting your smart home tech.
Invest in a Rain Cover
Installing an entire awning is probably out of the question, but there are options where you can still give your Ring cameras the same amount of protection that an awning can offer.
There are a variety of different rain covers for these Ring spotlight and flood light cameras. There are plenty of models that, effectively, look like tiny awnings for your camera. These give it extra water protection while having a minimalist and subtle impact on the look of your home.
They're also rain covers attached directly to the camera. The Ring community lovingly calls these hoodies. They really do look like your Ring spotlight camera is wearing its own rain hood.
These are great solutions for preventing water from getting into your bring camera as long as you're okay with changing of the style a little bit.
Silicone Caulk to Prevent Water Ingress
The next solution we're going to talk about is definitely going to earn you some Home Improvement points.
One of the biggest sources for water ingress into these Ring cameras is on the backside of where they've been mounted to the wall. This is particularly the case for powered cameras that are physically hardwired into your home. The good news is that there's a quick fix that we can do with a trip to the hardware store.
You're going to want to grab some silicone caulk that you can use to seal the connection in between the wall and the camera. That microscopic gap between the camera in the wall might only be big enough for a sheet of paper to slide through, but water is more than capable of getting through that gap and then dripping through the back of your camera's housing.
All you need to do is run a bead of caulk around the area where the camera meets the wall. This will give the camera a watertight seal and some extra mounting security.
Here’s a bonus tip when it comes to caulking anything on the outside of your home. You always want to leave a very small section open which allows water to exit if it happens to be entering from behind the wall itself. In the case of these Ring cameras, caulk the top, the sides, and the bottom corners while leaving a small slit on the bottom open for drainage.
Now that we've checked out everything and from home layout to home improvement, let's take a look at the last tip for fixing a leaky Ring camera.
Cash in Your Warranty
This is the perennial solution for pesky Ring camera problems that nothing seems to fix. Even if you've mastered every solution on this list, the problem might be the factory's fault and not anyone else's.
Ring is fairly forgiving with their warranty. If you got a camera that keeps getting flooded, they're typically eager to replace this factory fault. If for some reason they rejected your warranty claim, you can always try returning your camera to the retailer, if it's still close to your purchase date.
Remember also that Ring Protect Plus or Pro subscribers get extended warranties on their devices too. So even if you purchased your Ring outdoor camera a good few years ago, it might still be covered.
