Pathlight/Steplight Battery Life

Products Smart Lighting
#1

Installed 10 Production Pathlights and 10 Steplights as soon as they shipped (was in the preorder group), back in May and now, just about 6 weeks later most of the devices are at about 50% battery life remaining and some have fully consumed all their battery power and now gone offline.

I have dialed back brightness, it’s not a busy pathway (virtually no traffic after dusk), all setup with “low” motion sensing, light sensing is enabled, light sensor threshold set to 5 (center of slider), dusk to dawn is enabled (very dark without this), bridge to WiFi router is -53 (green), bridge to pathlight is -62 (green). Motion is being detected about 7-14 times per day which seems about right with mail man, delivery people, family movements, etc.

These were advertised as having about a years worth of battery life. If I have to change all batteries every 8 weeks this really won’t work for me.

What gives?

#2

ADDENDUM: After powering off my bridge and back on (playing with different locations to improve signal strength to all devices), I noticed all path and step lights got an update. I was on firmware v1.7.25 and now all devices are on v1.7.28.

Anyone know if any battery improvements got pushed with these updates?

Are release notes published anywhere?

#3

You are taking all the right steps to optimize battery usage @Carrera997 . The only other thing I would add is to ensure the duration is at 30 seconds. The longer the lights stay on the more battery it will use. Trying this recommendation, along with different combinations of settings, should certainly lead to a better experience with battery usage.

#4

Can you guys confirm/deny if there was anything in the 1.25 to 1.28 firmware update for path/step that had to do with power consumption? Thx

#5

Hey @Carrera997 , we’ve not done anything new from our side in regards to battery life. Smart Lighting features various battery preservation settings, which should allow users to tailor their usage. Can you confirm that you are using brand new main brand batteries? Also, are your lights operating properly according to your settings?

#6

Thanks. So far yes the lights are operating as desired. I’ve replaced the batteries on 4 dead devices (3 step and one path) and will continue to monitor.

1 Like
#7

With Smart Lighting, signal only travels from the Bridge to the specified Smart Light, and does not jump from Smart Light to Smart Light. The good news is that the command to trigger will jump from device to device as long as they are in a group.

For example, your gate may be too far from the Bridge for your application to control that Smart Light, but if Path Lights are on the way from the Bridge to the gate and are in a Light Group with the Smart Light on your gate, then lights will trigger each other as intended. Keep in mind that it is best practice to keep these devices within reasonable range as operation is much more consistent this way.

Your next best bet may be one of our Spotlight or Floodlight Cameras. However, given the distance, this option might also require an extender that is rated for outdoor use as you’ll need one half way between your gate and your router, along with very efficient Wifi.

Please let us know of any other questions!

#8

Thanks Marley. Understood. All 20 devices do have some bridge connectivity.

Peer-to-peer device communication (vs hub & spoke) might be a nice future enhancent to extend range of path + step lights and reduce overall battery life.

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#9

Hey @Carrera997 , part of my last response was actually indended for a different inquiry from another neighbor, sorry if some of it sounded irrelevant to your scenario! Nevertheless, the portion about distance of travel and efficiency in connection will definitely help with your concerns.

We are interested in the results, feel free to share any further observations you have with battery life while monitoring. Meanwhile, I’ll definitely share your feature request with the team, thank you!

#10

Will do!

1 Like
#11

Hi , does ring plan on making low voltage matching pathlights? I love them so far but do not need everyone to detect motion and not thrilled to have 20 lights on batteries but would like all my lights to match in design. Any info appreciated…Mike

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#12

Great feedback, @Tobinmacys ! I’ve shared it with the team and we will report back on any incoming information :slight_smile:

#13

I recently purchased two steplights plus the ring bridge. However, one steplight will not charge either from solar light or from the USB input. I contacted Ring telephone support and was told to go to my local hardware store and buy a new battery. I insisted the Ring battery was very unique in its form factor and not likely to be stocked in a local hardware store. No retailer in my town stocks a 3.7V 3200 mAh lithium battery. It seems to me Ring should offer some other solution than placing the burden on the consumer to source a battery that has failed in less than 90 days.