Ring Security Cameras
Ring Spotlight Cam + Solar not working, reporting 208% phantom battery?
I have had a Spotlight Cam + solar panel up for a while (I think installed it last spring). It was working great, charge was always topped off for the single battery I had in the camera. The camera itself was very protected from the elements as it was mounted to the underside of an overhang over our backporch (at least 7' to the roof edge in any direction). The solar panel was mounted just outside the roofline with great sun half the day and so-so sun the rest of the day. Fast forward to late fall/early winter and the camera stopped working. I finally (I know, I know) got around to taking a look at what was going on., so I hauled out the ladder, climbed up and unmounted the camera and everything looked fine... same with the solar panel. Just in case I took them both down to do some extra troubleshooting. After charging the battery via USB cable and popping it back into the camera, all camera functions appear normal. I ordered a new solar panel, assumign it was the culprit, but the replacement didn't work either. I then checked both the old and new solar panels with a multimeter and they both were pumping out the same voltage/current, so they were apparently fine. I read a thread that said there was a potential issue in the app itself not reporting a connected soalr panel correctly (or at all?), so I drained the batter a bit and then connected the panel to see if it did, indeed, charge, and just wasn't reporting the resence of a solar panel correctly. No dice... camera battery continued to drain slowly. Finally, I'm on a call w/ Ring support right now and they said they can see the camera and that it has 2 batteries, one of which is correct, and the other of which is at 208% (!). So yeah... first off, there is only one battery in there. Second of all, 208% is bogus, ha ha. I was told that because it says 208%, it means the solar panel is connected and working, as if it's a special code or something (nevermind that it would mean it wasn't reporting the actual second battery leel if one had been there...). The support person came back after checking on things again later to let me know the 208% had dropped to 0%... meanwhile nothing had changed on my end other than me leaving the cover of the cam open after checking the batteries. So yeah. I'm stumped. CS seems to be stumped (I'm seeing if I can talk to someone more technical).
5552 •
0 •
1 •
10-04-2020 07:42:40
Didn't find an answer ?
Log in or create your Ring account to post a question and join in the on the conversation.
Community Resources
Most Helpful Members
View All
©2024 Ring LLC or its affiliates