I decided to replace the motion detector floodlight that was at the top of our wall above the garage door. Mainly because one of the two lights was out and the motion detector bit would turn the light on or off without regard for any motion being detected. That is, it was a complete crap-shoot whether walking by the light would activate the lights, and the lights would sometimes turn on when nothing was going by.

Since I already had a Ding!™ (not a real brand name) doorbell, I figured I’d use one of their fine products.

As much as I like a chance to experience acrophobia, I waited for a visit from my son to let him install the floodlight/camera. After it was hooked up and mounted, I followed the directions for connecting it to my wifi and my phone’s Ding!™ app.

My phone’s Ding!™ app started showing me the floodlight’s camera view. All was good with the world.

Well, it was good for a while. A little while later, I tried to check the new floodlight/camera from the living room. My phone’s Ding!™ app told me that the new camera was offline.

When I ordered the floodlight/camera, I was worried that the wifi signal wouldn’t carry as far as the outside of the garage. I checked the wifi signal with an android app called Wifi Analyzer. It told me that my wifi signal was fine where the floodlight/camera would be.

So why wasn’t it working now? A thought occurred to me. I opened the garage door. A few minutes later, the floodlight/camera was online again.

That raised the question: What good is a security camera that only works when the garage door is open? I didn’t have a good answer.

I started googling wifi access points and wifi extenders and ordered a wifi extender which showed up the next day. The installation process was pretty easy, but there were a couple of false starts until I found a spot that would carry the wifi signal thru the garage door to the floodlight/camera.

Once I found the right spot, the floodlight/camera has been working perfectly.