The Ring Video Doorbell is one of the best home security cameras that we have seen for monitoring your front door. Great for seeing who is at your door and when your packages arrive. The problem: you may not know when someone is at the door if your phone isn’t with you every hour of the day. You also might not be home every hour of the day. That’s where the Ring Chime comes into the picture.
We have a detailed review on the Ring Video Doorbell so if you haven’t purchased it yet, be sure to take a few minutes. We also examined the Ring Protect Cloud Plan which is useful for archiving Ring video.
When you install the Ring Video Doorbell, it can work with certain chimes. However, it’s not compatible with wireless door chimes or any chime/intercom system using a DC transformer. The Ring Chime helps to solve the problem of an incompatible home chime. it also will solve the problem of hearing your doorbell when not at home and when your phone isn’t with you.
The Ring Video Doorbell work extremely well as long as your phone is by your side. You can hear an optional alert when someone “rings” the bell. You can also set the Ring Video Doorbell to send an alert when it detects motion. That’s exactly how any home security camera works. If it sees a person that isn’t supposed to be there, the camera lets you know. But this is a doorbell. Your phone isn’t likely to be with you every minute when at home.
If you have one of those incompatible chimes, the Ring Chime allows the Ring Video Doorbell to work like, well, a doorbell. Once this is installed, and paired with the Ring Video Doorbell, you will now hear a normal doorbell when someone is at the door. For those that don’t have their phone strapped to their eyeballs at all time, this accessory is for them.
Hooking up the Ring Chime is straightforward. You need to find an outlet to plug it into. There aren’t any cables. It’s a small white box measuring 2.75” x 1.88” x 1.3” weighing in at a little over two ounces. It’s a small white box with an AC plug on the back.
The Ring Chime connects to via typical wireless protocols 802.11 b/g/n just like the Ring Video Doorbell. it connect to the Ring Video Doorbell through the Ring App. The Ring Chime will be triggered by your Ring Video Doorbell anywhere it is connected to the internet.
Think about that last sentence. The Ring Chime doesn’t have to be in the same house as your Ring Doorbell. That’s pretty neat. And although we haven’t tried this, it appears that the Chime can connect to multiple Ring Video Doorbells. This means that if you have multiple homes, you can attach a Ring Chime inside your office, and hear the doorbell for both homes. OK, maybe that’s weird. Just ‘sayin.
So, do we recommend the Ring Chime? Yes. A strong yes. Your phone isn’t going to be with you all the time. Additionally, you aren’t going to be at home all the time. Others may need to hear the doorbell and they may not have the app installed on their phone. I’m surprised they don’t package this as an included accessory because this increases the usefulness of the Ring Video Doorbell substantially.