The motion detectors for your Ring Alarm system are a crucial part of the Ring of Security around your home. For homeowners with pets, however, such systems become problematic. With fines for false alarms running into the hundreds of dollars, you definitely don't want your pet triggering your alarm while you're not at home. This article will give you some tips on keeping both your home and your pets safe.
Small pets and the Motion Detector settings
The Ring Alarm motion detectors use Passive Infrared sensors (PIR) to scan whatever room they're placed in. These detectors use heat to detect motion in the room and when a warm body like a human or animal passes in the area it is monitoring (its field of view) the sensor detects the change. The PIRs used in Ring Alarm, however, are "pet-friendly." That means they have settings which are calibrated to ignore heat sources from animals that are approximately 30 pounds or less (at medium setting) and 50 pounds or less (at low setting).
Ring Motion Detector sensitivity control can be found in the Device Profile menu in the Ring app or web portal. Even with these settings, your small or medium sized pet may still set off the alarm. It's therefore advisable to use your seven-day practice period to try and adjust the sensitivity slider on your Ring Alarm to a point where your animal no longer sets off the alarm. Note however that this control only adjusts general sensitivity and depending on your pet, you may find that there is no setting where it does not set off the alarm. In that case, you may need to consider other options.
Larger pets and Motion Detectors
If you have a larger pet or multiple pets, they are more likely to set off the Motion Detector unless you set it to the lowest settings. We recommend that you test your Motion Detector to see if your pet or pets trigger your Ring Alarm. If you have an issue, a pet gate can keep your pets away from Motion Detectors when you're not home.
Consider closing doors in your home to lock the pets in a section of the house that has no motion detectors. If the layout of your house is a bit more open, consider using indoor security gates to keep your dog away from the monitoring area. This method is less effective with cats though, in which case you may have to consider locking a cat in a room while you're away.
