Built in batteries

We received a Ring 2 doorbell that has a built in battery as a Christmas gift. It was installed with the battery fully charged and hardwired to the old bells connections. After only a month we received a low battery message. Upon researching this found out lithium batteries don’t last long when it’s cold. As the battery is built in I’ll have to disconnect the hard wires connected to the back of the doorbell every time the battery needs charging. The only videos I can find about Ring doorbells show the removable batteries and not the headache that comes with built in.

I am having the same problem. Fully charged the doorbell and installed via hardwire method. Within about a week, the battery % was depleting although it still said power source was hardwired. Doorbell has stopped detecting motion and sending notifications. Only feature that works is live view. What’s the point of the hardwire feature if you still have to remove the doorbell to charge it?? I also live in a place with cold winters (Minnesota, United States)

So every time the batteries run low we’re going outside, unscrewing the hard wires, charging the battery, and screwing the wires back on the doorbell. I guess if your Ring has a built-in battery you’re better off not making more work for yourself by hardwiring it. Great engineering.

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I did some more research and I found out that most homes (especially ones 10+ years old) are wired with simple low-voltage doorbell transformers that do not supply enough voltage to power a smart/video doorbell. They simply only supply enough voltage to power a standard push-button doorbell. I found my doorbell transformer in my mechanical room and I will be swapping it with a higher voltage (but still low-voltage) transformer to see how that works and I will update you with what I find out. Here are some links I found helpful:

P.S. I am not even going to bother testing my current transformer for voltage, I am just going to buy a new $20-ish one from a home improvement store or Amazon that specifies it supplies enough voltage for video doorbells.

@jaydeb1949 Here is a Ring article I forgot to add. It provides a link to a “Ring Approved” transformer but you can get a similar one with same voltage rating from home depot or other store for $10 less.