IOS App 5.21.0 Update Solar Charger Status – Add a Ring Solar Device to Extend Battery Life

Hi All

My iOS App has updated to 5.21.0

On my device health I have a new feature Solar Charger Status – Add a Ring Solar Device to Extend Battery Life

All my ring devices are connected to Ring solar panels. What does this feature do if it is not detecting my Ring solar Panels. I get a trickle charge from the Ring Solar panels

Attached pictures

Regards

Ken

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I came here looking for this answer as well. The release notes of that version indicate that you can “Choose from three power options: Battery, Plug-in or Solar” I see no option to set it and my camera is connected to solar.

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This is what the HelpDesk told me to do

Not very helpful as I need to get a ladder out and climb up to the ring spotlight cam and solar panel. Doesn’t make a difference. I have 9 solar panels and all 9 states the same message


I see you’re reaching to us because you have questions about the feature that asks you to add a solar panel to extend battery life. I understand if you would like to clarify since you already have it connected on all your Ring devices. Don’t worry, I’d be more than willing to verify it for you.

Does it show the same thing for all of your devices?

Check each device if it shows the same message. If it does, try to unplug the solar charger or panel from the Ring device. Inspect both the cable and port to ensure they are clean and undamaged. Then, reconnect it to the device and check if you will still get the same message.

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I spoke with them last night and they told me the same thing but I too need a ladder and it’s cold and snowy here so that’s not happening any time soon. I told them I shouldn’t have to touch the camera to make this work and there should be a way to reboot the camera with the app but alas there is not. Realistically the camera should just see the panel with the update but that’s not the case either. Pretty much everyone I see says this is not working for them

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So I hauled out my ladder, climbed up, unplugged the panel, removed the camera battery, then put it back in and plugged in the panel again. It did not resolve the issue.

Does anyone from ring monitor these boards?

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Wow your braver than me !!!

Here in the UK its raining 24/7 there is no way I’m going up on a ladder in the rain.

Pretty extraordinary they would expect us to do a reset on the device and solar panel given the solar panel has a 4 meter extension running off the battery spot light cam running upwards !!!

This is what I got from ring Support last night

"

Thank you for the follow-up emails.

I already consulted this with our Technical Team. There is no need to be concerned with this message if your devices are already connected and charging okay with the solar panels.

We’re sorry to hear the Ring app is showing confusing messaging about the solar status of your Ring device; rest assured that our team is investigating and working to resolve it as soon as possible. If there’s anything else I can help with in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to ask.

We very much appreciate your patience.

Best Regards,"

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Well iOS App 5.21.1 update is now released 31st Dec

This hasn’t fixed the Solar Charger Status on all my many devices !!!

Has any one seen this working ?

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I found this while researching the app status too.

I’ve had a doorbell 2 at my folks place for a while now just on battery but decided to give the solar mount a go when I installed one at home for us yesterday.

So far the battery has dropped to 97% from 100 while connected to the solar charger and the app doesn’t detect the charger.

I guess first up I should unmount the doorbell from the charger and put a meter in it to see if there is any output at all.

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Hi neighbors! While there are limited troubleshooting steps to take when involving the solar panel, it’s important to be mindful of device and environmental variables.

If you are seeing a message in your device health in iOS that says “add a solar panel,” this is not an indicator of your Solar Panel failing to charge. This added feature is advertising the Solar Panel as an addition to your battery-powered devices. We have received a lot of feedback on this being put here, and are working on a fix to remove this in the near future. We appreciate your patience in the meantime, and hoping to have this message removed by late summer time. Please note that it’s best to observe the battery percentage throughout a sunny day to see if the battery level is changing if you are having your doubts.

For those that are noticing a battery draining with a Solar Panel connected, as seasons change and cold weather is more consistent, the charge life of a battery can differ. Check out our Community post about battery draining for tips and tricks on optimizing battery performance.

The best steps for troubleshooting your Solar Panel are as follows:

  • Clean panel to remove any dirt, dust, or debris.
  • Check the adapter is securely plugged into the device.
  • Ensure there is no debris or damage to the adapter or port area.
  • In most locations, winter means overcast. Please ensure your Solar Panel is receiving several hours of direct sunlight per day.

If these steps do not resolve your concerns, it would be best to reach out to our support team here for more in-depth troubleshooting.

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Chelsea,

Your response doesn’t make any sense.

The heading in the app is “Solar Panel Status” in bold. That is directly under the battery levels.

Why would ring use the word “Status” on the screen showing, you know, the device status, if this is just a static advertisement?

You need to check with your developers - either this is worded horribly, or it’s a charge status indicator feature that isn’t working. I’d highly lean towards it being the latter.

A charge status indicator would be tremendously useful - as would be a remote reboot feature, by the way.

I don’t really think it’s right to tell all of us that we’re the confused and mistaken ones by the way - when it’s your app blatantly claiming to show “Solar Panel Status”.

That word, “status”, means something. Nobody here is asking remedial tips on how to plug in the solar panel. It’s not that complicated.

“In most locations, winter means overcast. Please ensure your Solar Panel is receiving several hours of direct sunlight per day.”

Ok, we’ll work on changing the weather and tilt of the earth. Did you read what you just wrote?

The question is about the indication in the app, not solar azimuth in winter or “dirt or debris” around the connector, which still isn’t properly answered.

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I think the developers coded this backwards. I’m experiencing the exact opposite problem. I don’t have a solar charger, but my status says it’s connected. I had a chat agent essentially act like I’m stupid and not know what I have. I definitely don’t have a solar charger and my doorbell is hardwired.

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That really seems to be Ring’s response lately - to assume the customer is an ■■■■■. Shame, their support was great even a year ago. Last time I called I got a similar reaction, and seems to be what we’re getting in this thread.

The function is clearly supposed to show the presence of a solar charger, but is broken and coded totally wrong.

As a software engineer myself, I gotta ask, how did this make it out of testing, and why are the official Ring people in support forums so clueless?

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I too get no status on my solar panels connected to spotlight cams. They are charging as one of my batteries just went from 39 to 40% so it is charging.

I think they may be looking for a significant charge rate to indicate the presence of a panel - in the North East winter, it won’t get that.

I just installed my solar charger, bought on the Ring.com website. My battery status still shows a declining charge level, maybe even faster than before. What experience should I be having? It’s been sunny where I am. I can’t say I have a totally unobstructed line to the Sun all day. But it seems like I should be getting some indication that the charge is working, if from nothing else but the charge level.

I can confirm this.

I have the solar panel installed and it charges about 1-2% some days. But it only charges in the afternoon when there is full sunlight on the doorbell. I wasn’t sure when I installed the solar panel if it Was actually working. The only way I could tell (without using multi meter) was turning all motion detection off for a couple of days and taking screen shots each afternoon around 7pm post the sun going down. In doing this I could see the batter would go up 1-2 % on really sunny days.

This new solar charger status on the iOS app is very confusing. My first though looking at it is that my solar panel isn’t working, but I know that this is incorrect. So ring please fix your interface, perhaps actually put some analytics for us so we can clearly see how much impact if any the solar panel is having. The ambiguity associated with the solar charging isn’t really helpful… thanks.

Thank you for your post. This is good information to know. If I have to still pull out the battery to do a charge, then this solar power charger is a complete waste of money. I hope Ring posts some answers here.

Poorty

@Poorty wrote:
I can confirm this.

I have the solar panel installed and it charges about 1-2% some days. But it only charges in the afternoon when there is full sunlight on the doorbell. I wasn’t sure when I installed the solar panel if it Was actually working. The only way I could tell (without using multi meter) was turning all motion detection off for a couple of days and taking screen shots each afternoon around 7pm post the sun going down. In doing this I could see the batter would go up 1-2 % on really sunny days.

This new solar charger status on the iOS app is very confusing. My first though looking at it is that my solar panel isn’t working, but I know that this is incorrect. So ring please fix your interface, perhaps actually put some analytics for us so we can clearly see how much impact if any the solar panel is having. The ambiguity associated with the solar charging isn’t really helpful… thanks.

Have the same issue … So how do I fix this?

In the less than one month that I have had a solar charge for Ring Doorbell 2 I have found that the doorbell is discharging at rate even faster than before, which I can tell via the number of days between when I have been notified by the Ring system that the battery level is low.

@Chelsea_Ring wrote:

Hi neighbors! While there are limited troubleshooting steps to take when involving the solar panel, it’s important to be mindful of device and environmental variables.

If you are seeing a message in your device health in iOS that says “add a solar panel,” this is not an indicator of your Solar Panel failing to charge. This added feature is advertising the Solar Panel as an addition to your battery-powered devices. It’s best to observe the battery percentage throughout a sunny day to see if the battery level is changing.

For those that are noticing a battery draining with a Solar Panel connected, as seasons change and cold weather is more consistent, the charge life of a battery can differ. Check out our Community post about battery draining for tips and tricks on optimizing battery performance.

The best steps for troubleshooting your Solar Panel are as follows:

  • Clean panel to remove any dirt, dust, or debris.
  • Check the adapter is securely plugged into the device.
  • Ensure there is no debris or damage to the adapter or port area.
  • In most locations, winter means overcast. Please ensure your Solar Panel is receiving several hours of direct sunlight per day.

If these steps do not resolve your concerns, it would be best to reach out to our support team here for more in-depth troubleshooting.

I dont need an empty deceptive advertisement in the device health. If you want to promote solar chargers then just display the note, “Add a Ring solar device…” on the same line but under the Battery Level. By creating a new line Solar Charger Status, you imply that we can check or monitor the status of the charger. If that is not the case, then stop this deceptive practice.

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