My ring doorbell is hardwired but showing a low battery why?
12 Likes
Hello @lascott518 ,
You didnât mention which model Ring Video Doorbell that you have âHardwiredâ, but if it is an original Ring Video Doorbell (1st Generation), or Ring Video Doorbell 2, or the newer Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen/2020 Release), or Ring Video Doorbell 3 or â3 Plusâ . . . then your Ring Video Doorbell is actually a battery-powered device and cannot operate without the battery. The old pre-existing house doorbell wires only provide a slow âtrickle-chargeâ to your doorbellâs battery and these wires cannot power the doorbell alone.
The pre-existing house-bell wiring will slowly"trickle-charge" the battery as long as the house-bell transformer is between 8 to 24 Volts AC and rated at 40 Volt-Amp (watts) maximum. It is highly recommended to fully charge your battery with the USB recharging cable before hardwiring. On your smartphone Ring App you can monitor the battery charge on the Device Health page. You will noticed that during heavy usage (frequent Motion-activations or âLive Viewsâ, etc.) that the battery level will decrease, because the trickle-charge cannot keep up with the electrical high-load demand. But then when the usage work-load decreases, the âtrickle-chargeâ will slowly recharge the battery back up, so you may never need to charge it up with the USB cable.
I donât know if you own a Ring Video Doorbell 3 or 3 Plus, but if that is the case, there is a little known improvement that could give you the illusion that your doorbell is not charging properly. The trickle charge the Ring Video Doorbell 3 gets from being hardwired is modified to charge the battery and in order to maximize the lifetime of the battery, so the âRing Video Doorbell 3â and â3 Plusâ now waits for the battery to hit below 90% before using the wired power to recharge the battery. Once the battery level falls below 90%, it should start charging and display a âlightening boltâ symbol in the center of the Battery Icon on the Device page to indicate that it is charging.
With your Ring Video Doorbell properly setup and connected to the house pre-existing wires, your should see âPower Source - Hardwiredâ and Battery charge status level on the âDevice Healthâ page. Also, on the other Device page, you should see a green âBattery Iconâ (upper-right-corner) with a âLightening Boltâ in the center of this icon, indicating that your battery is indeed getting the âtrickle-charge.â If you donât see these indications with the wires connected, you might still be only operating on the battery power alone, and you should press and hold the black Reset Button for 20-seconds and then release (this will start a hard Factory Reset and be automatically restart the entire setup procedures for you to get the wired option).
In your case, you should recharge your battery back up with the USB cable. Then monitor to see if it drains again. Also check to see if your Doorbell was operating only on battery power and has drained down (not displaying âHardwiredâ or missing the âLightening Boltâ in the Battery icon). If you have the correct displays on your Ring App for âHardwiredâ then you might have your settings with heavy usage and the slow âtrickle-rechargeâ is unable to keep up with the heavy battery drain, so you might have to change some of your settings to reduce the load.
If you continue to have it showing âLow Batteryâ, then you should telephone Ring Support for additional help, at:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036196372-Get-in-Touch
Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19, their available hours have been changed also:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041597471-Ring-s-Response-to-COVID-19
I hope you find this information helpful. 
7 Likes
This is excellent information. So I should probably send this extra (back-up) battery back to Amazon since I am hardwired and getting that charge.
1 Like
Iâve got a Ring Doorbell 2 and having the same issue. Doorbell is hardwired and has been for over 2 yrs w/o any problems but in the last couple of weeks itâs not keeping a charge. I replaced the battery with a new one thinking maybe the battery died and wouldnât take a trickle charge anymore but Iâm still having the same issue with a brand new battery. I have NOT changed any settings in 2 yrs on it, so not sure whatâs going on. In the app, itâs showing âHardwiredâ and shows the green with charge symbol for the battery. When I ring the doorbell, I can hear the original doorbell chime (from the hardwiring) so I know itâs still wired. I have recharged the battery (outside of the unit) several times and it lasts about 3-4 days before I get a notice that itâs down to under 25%. Since I havenât changed anything on the doorbell in 2 yrs, I thought it might have been a bad battery that would no longer take a charge but thatâs not the case. I have turned off LiveView (which again Iâve had going for 2 yrs now w/o issue). Any thoughts on whatâs causing it no longer to charge? I guess I can pull the unit and check the voltage and the hardwires but the app does show the battery supposedly trickle charging.
7 Likes
Same issue with both of my Ring 2 doorbells. I have had them installed since the beginning of the year. Last week the back doorâs battery went critically low even though the hardwire was still active. I uninstalled, charged it up fully and then re-installed and it has stayed at 100% since then. Now the front door is showing the same even though it is hard wired and shows that it is charging. Will be calling support.
2 Likes
A little more reading and I think I found the issue. It has been consistently below freezing for the past couple of weeks and apparently the charging cuts off below 0 deg C. This is a pretty ridiculous flaw as the doorbells are meant to be mounted OUTSIDE. They should have a provision to run off the hardwire power if the temperature gets too low. See the following:
I think my only solution here will be to wore a quick-disconnect so I can take them inside and charge them when it gets below freezing.
RING, IF YOU READTHESE. THIS IS A TERRIBE DESIGN DECISION.
4 Likes
Hi @jpcritzerjr. When you hardwire your battery operated doorbell, the hardwiring will serve as a trickle charge. As with most batteries, extreme cold and excessive heat can affect their ability to perform optimally. If you live in an area that is prone to adverse weather, a powered doorbell like the Ring Wired, Ring Pro or Ring Elite may be a better option. I hope this information helps!
2 Likes
I have 4 outdoor cameras that run on 24-40vbc and Wi-Fi and not one problem in 7yrs
1 Like
Iâm getting the same thing on my doorbell; looks like Iâll have to give it a boost charge over night as the cold weather has played havoc with the amount of power it has retained. What a terrible design⌠if Iâve gone to the effort to hardwire it youâd think itâd just power it like any other doorbell 
6 Likes
I am facing the exact issue with ring pro , did you find a solution.
I have the exact same problem, weather and cold canât be the problem. I live in the Northwest, our weather this year is no different than it has been the last two years. I have had my ring 2 doorbell hardwired over two years and never had a problem with battery level till recently. Something must have changed with one of the updates that is causing a larger power drain on the battery.
5 Likes
I have a Ring Doorbell 3 and this just started on mine as well itâs been hardwired for over a year and now shows the battery is critically low. If I check the device health in the app, it used to show âhardwiredâ and now shows âbatteryâ. This better not be a software update that stops us from using the home wiring and forces me to buy a solar charger or second battery.
3 Likes
Well that is the COMPLETELY opposite of what support has told me today.
They stated EMPHATICALLY on 3 occasions 3 different advisors IT WILL NOT CHARGE HARD WIRED AND WILL NOT SHOW ANYTHING OTHER THAN BATTERY [not hard wired or lightening bolt through battery] and it will have to be removed for charging especially if the voltage is on the lower end of the scale. SO a trade descriptions issue cured as they admit it does not function [gen 2 model]
Same exact problem. My Ring Doorbell 2 has been hardwired for 2 years. Now it says battery and itâs down to 85%. What has changed???
3 Likes
I have the same issue too. I have the Ring Doorbell 2. Hardwired since October 2018 without any problems. Battery percentage never dropped and itâs never needed charging.
yesterday I got an alert saying the battery needs charging because itâs at 15% and now itâs at 3%.
2 Likes
I had a Ring video doorbell 2 a few weeks ago. After I fully charged the battery and use it without hardwired, it will consume around 3% of battery power per day. When the battery power was dropped to 87%, I put a connector with the charging wire to an 24V AC transformer. The device indicated that it is Hardwired. After two days of usage, I removed the charging connector and the device is showing 100% charged battery. However, the battery power lever is dropping very fast. It went from 100% to 87% within an hour. Then it will continue to consume less power just like before the charging (around 3% per day). I repeat the process (at 75% level, hardwired charging till 100% reached, remove charging wire, use battery power, within a short time, it dropped back to 75%) and found that the hardwired charging seems to be only a symbolic charging. The battery is not really getting charged (or the charged level is not really reflecting the actual battery power level). Thatâs the most possible explanation about the fast dropping of battery level (to the point of before charging) after charging âcompleteâ.
Hopefully, the information gathered could help the staff of Ring to fix the issue ASAP.
3 Likes
I have the same issue - my Doorbells are gen1 - 5x of them, bought at different times, some years apart from the 1st one - now suddenly they are all showing up as battery either below 25% or at 0%. All hardwired - canât express more frustration - does it mean that now I have to go replace all batteries, its ridiculous .
3 Likes
Yesterday my 4-year old hardwired Gen1 doorbell started showing battery (not hardwired), and battery dropped ~ 25% during the day today. I have it off charging now. Cold is NOT the issue, as I live in Florida. It has NOT been excessively hot, either. I have NEVER had to charge it since I installed it.
2 Likes
Iâm having the same issue with the ring doorbell hardwired but shows battery low and Live feed turns off⌠I live in Florida so the cold isnât the problem⌠havenât had an issue since I installed it 3 years agoâŚ
I wonder if Ring did a firmware update that maybe causing the battery drain⌠reminds me when Apple sent their update for the older phones causing the batteries to drain quicklyâŚ
I think they got sued for that since most people were told they need to buy newer phones
3 Likes
I have a new Ring Doorbell 3, I fully charged it with the USB and connected it to be hardwired.
I see the battery symbol with the lightning bolt in the middle but the battery is not sufficiently charging at all, it is now at 68% and still falling.
It is clear that whatever âlogicâ you have applied to the âtrickle chargeâ is flawed and when hardwired the battery is not charging correctly.
This is clearly an issue and is certainly not âSolvedâ looking at the many reports from your customers.
I am in the UK and the recent temperatures are around 10 degrees celcius so not too cold or too hot.
Ring really need to take notice of these reports and fix this issue or they will soon be out of business as people move to one of the many other providers out there!!
7 Likes