door bell 1/4 mile away

The front gate of the ranch is 1/4 mile away from the house. For security reasons I like to keep the gate closed. But what do you do when guests show up at the gate. For friends and acquaintances they can call ahead. But for unexpected visitors there is no way for them to announce their arrival, until now.I have been wanting to install a door bell at the outer torii for a long time but couldn't figure out how, until I did some research. I found this Reolink PoE door bell camera but the information of what it can do and cannot do are poorly provided. It has a wireless chime which you plug into an AC outlet, but they don't tell you how the two units communicated.

The indoor chime is already paired to the door bell camera by default. This suggests to me it is not via wifi but rather proprietary wireless protocol. I infer it is design for typical home where the two units are within short distance for it to work. Obviously not when they are 1/4 miles apart. 

the indoor chime

Before committing to the installation at the outer torii I conducted some bench tests first. If it cannot function for my situation I can return the product back to Amazon in like new condition. 

this is the bench test setup - in the barn

with it in the barn I could conduct some testings except to prove out the indoor chime

I was at the race track this weekend and I was able to conduct some tests with the remote app. When I figured this door bell may work for my situation I knew I cannot rely on the indoor chime, but rather the remote app on the iPhone. I am able to receive notifications on my iPhone and my Apple Watch.

There are also apps for PCs, so I installed the one for the Mac on my iMac and MBA. The ReoLink apps are some of the best I've seen.

Once I am satisfied it meets my expectations I proceeded to install at the front torii.

I figured I would install it on this pole as the gate swings from this side

the hardest work is to feed another Ethernet cable through the 3/4" conduit which already has two cables; I had to pull both out and re-fed them with the additional cable

thankfully I am a Jack of all trades

this is the live view on the iPhone app

I have the most hi-tech setup of all the ranches in my neck of woods

a closeup of the door bell camera and the 24/7 security camera; as secure as Fort Knox

this is the app on my iMac

As I expected, the plug and play wireless indoor chime is useless for my situation. Had I called ReoLink to clarify how the chime communicates with the outdoor unit, I would had shy away from the purchase.

The camera quality is as good as my security cameras and consumes next to no power. The microphone audio quality is exceptional that it performs extremely well in an exposed location. It picks up even crickets' sound and birds' songs as clear as in person without the artificial audio artifacts.

Tonight my neighbor came over for social and I used the opportunity to test out the ring notification, motion detect, the two way communication, preset voice replies, and siren.