Can Ring Floodlight Be Mounted Horizontally

Can Ring Floodlight Be Mounted Horizontally Under Eaves? (Yes, but…!)

Does your home have an existing flood light hook-up under an eave or soffit and you’d like to install a new Ring floodlight cam there but you’re concerned about mounting it horizontally?

Can Ring Floodlight be mounted horizontally?

While the preferred install for Ring floodlight cams is vertical, since the product was designed to perform optimally in this “vertical position”, you can absolutely mount it horizontally under an eave or soffit. To accomplish a horizontal mount of the Ring floodlight, the camera ball-socket mount must be adjusted and rotated 180 degrees. All you need is a screwdriver and a couple of minutes!


The problem with mounting Ring Floodlight horizontally

Long story short, the Ring floodlight cam has a design flaw in that it wasn’t really built to be installed horizontally, only vertically.

can ring floodlight be mounted horizontally

After scouring Ring’s support site, community forums and twitter account here is the contradictory information I found on the topic:

Ring community forum: “Installing the Floodlight Cam directly on an eave or soffit at a vertical angle can affect motion and light triggering as well as the camera’s view. This is because the sensors and camera will be pointed directly to the ground rather than being at the preferred angle facing out. It will likely keep it from functioning properly and recording.”

Ring support site: “Can I install Floodlight Cam upside-down or horizontally? Yes. Floodlight Cam can be mounted on a wall or ceiling.

Ring’s twitter account: “We do not recommend installing in this manner [horizontally] as your device’s field of view, video and motion detection will be adversely affected. However, we will be sure to share your concerns with our Development and Design teams for consideration.”


The main issue here clearly has to do with the field of view of both the motion sensor and video camera.

If placed at the wrong angle, the motion sensor will be compromised and not pick up movement and you’ll have a hard time capturing the desired area with the camera.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is hundreds of Ring floodlight users have successfully mounted their camera horizontally under an eave or soffit.

While many different approaches were tried, there was a clear winner that only required a single tool and very little time.


The best way to horizontally mount Ring Floodlight cam

Here’s the only adjustment you need to make to the Ring floodlight cam in order to properly mount it horizontally and not compromise any functionality:

  1. Use the screw driver that comes in the box to completely remove the screw that controls the camera/motion sensor angle
  2. With the screw removed, pop out the camera from the ball-and-socket connector
  3. Next loosen the ball-and-socket connector lug nut at the base by hand
  4. Rotate the ball-and-socket connector by 180 degrees such that the tightening screw is now at the top of the camera
  5. Pop the camera back into the ball-and-socket connector and replace the screw

Here’s a video explanation of the steps above if you’re having trouble following.

This entire process takes only a minute or two and allows the camera/motion sensor angle to adjust uninhibited as needed when in the upside down, horizontal position.


The hack to horizontally mount Ring Floodlight cam

If the adjustment above does not give you enough range of motion with your camera/motion sensor for your horizontal application, there is another approach you can take.

I will warn you that this process does permanently modify the collar of the ball and socket mount. This likely voids any warranty you might have with the Ring floodlight.

Now that that’s out of the way here’s what to do to increase that range of motion:

  1. Use the screw driver that comes in the box to completely remove the screw that controls the camera/motion sensor angle
  2. With the screw removed, pop out the camera from the ball-and-socket connector
  3. Use a cutting tool (like a dremel) to grind the ball-and-socket connector down to the desired spot. This way the camera angle can move up, unrestricted.

Here’s a video explanation of the steps above if you’re having trouble following.

This process takes a bit longer and requires a specific tool in order to grind down the camera arm sufficiently enough (and with enough control such that you don’t accidentally nick the wiring).

I really only recommend this approach if your specific setup requires it.

That said, enough folks have gone this route successfully that I think it’s safe to say it works and is a viable option.


Replacing an existing light fixture with Ring Floodlight

Now that you have two approaches to improving the camera/motion sensor angle, you’re ready to install your Ring floodlight horizontally!

Remember, before making any changes to an existing light fitting, always go to your circuit breaker and cut the power!

It’s amazing how many injuries could be avoided by simply taking this step.

With the power turned off, you can now follow these steps to replace your existing light fixture with your new Ring floodlight:

  1. Remove the existing fixture (there is no standardization here, so take a look and you’ll figure it out. It’s usually just a few screws that need to come loose)
  2. With the wires exposed, go ahead and remove the wire nuts (you can check with voltmeter to make sure power is actually zero if you want to be extra safe)
  3. Now disconnect the wires and remove the existing fixture entirely
  4. You may also find some old mounting hardware that needs to be removed
  5. Attach the new Ring floodlight hardware/mounting bracket. Play with it a bit as the location of this bracket will determine where the camera ultimately faces!
  6. Use the hanging hook from the package to hang the Ring flood light while you work on wiring it
  7. White wire to white wire, black to black, ground to ground
  8. Push the light up into the mounting screws and secure with the provided nuts
  9. Now with the light set, you can set position of camera but loosening the screw at the back
  10. Adjust each LED light, if necessary, by hand loosening and tightening each bracket
  11. Complete the setup in the Ring smart phone app!

Here’s a video explanation of the steps above if you’re having trouble following.


Conclusion

While there is contradictory information from Ring on their suggested floodlight cam mounting/installation, it is definitely possible to mount it horizontally under an eave or soffit.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to rotate the camera ball-and-socket connector by 180 degrees. This only requires a screw driver and just takes a minute or two.

If that adjustment doesn’t give you enough range of motion, you can permanently modify the collar of the ball and socket by grinding a section of it down.

Hopefully this has helped you during your installation process. Let me know in the comments below.