Responses (44)

T

tedu

I have had my spotlight cam (single battery) in place with the solar panel for about eight months. It worked great up until a few weeks ago. Now the battery never gets over a 4% charge. I thought it might be a dirty solar panel so I cleaned it but the device still does not charge. Any ideas on what it might be. Thank you

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14-11-2019 19:35:46

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J

jaywohlfeld

UPDATE:This makes no sense... the camera seem to be charging as of the date of my prior post, and it seemed to charging even on cloudy days. But within the last few days nothing, and it's been sunny, very sunny in fact. I am wondering if there was another firmware update that went and screwed it up again. It makes no sense that it charges up 3 or 4 percent on cloudy days, but bright and sunny no charge and even 1 or 2 percent drainage during the day. This sucks, it's back to the way it was before now. :(

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30-01-2020 19:08:07

S

SoSweet_Trini

There was another update today which I did and I haven’t seen any difference....I actually got a notification that one of my Spotlight Cams need recharging and that’s with having 2 batteries installed...I told hubby that this weekend I need him to unplug the solar panel for all 3 spotlight cams and plug it in again and we will see if it works if not I guess next weekend we will uninstall and reinstall....hope there’s some solution to all this craziness because at the end of the day these devices are costly and I have 5 devices 3 of which has double batteries and solar panels attached. Just frustrating...sorry for my rant!!!!!

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30-01-2020 19:43:59

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jaywohlfeld

Yep I am aware it would be due to a firmware update, nothing to do with an app update. People seem to confuse the two on what they accually effect.Weird though, seems I spoke too soon. Got a 2% charge today and to note there was a lot of activity/motion detection. This system is just odd. lol

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30-01-2020 21:43:05

R

river2018

same here camera was ok even charging in cloudy days and now back to NO charging at all

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31-01-2020 01:54:26

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1moreRobot

We updated our iOS app as soon as the reports started coming in. Our battery continues to decline daily. We have had this up and running for several years and never had to manually charge the battery a single time until this whole debacle started. We had always stayed at or near 100% no matter the season. Whatever improvements others have seen in recent days, they have yet to come to our house.

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31-01-2020 02:43:13

K

kaykayp45

I’m having the same issue. I’ve spoken with Customer support and have been waiting almost a month for a replacement battery. Don’t know what good that’s going to do when it’s clearly an issue with the solar panel. I’ve disconnected and reconnected to no avail. I’ve had others look at it and the connections are good. RING what do you plan to do about this issue???‍♀️?

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09-12-2019 13:13:09

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C

ClintJ

I'm having issues also. I have 4 spotlight cams with solar. It seems once the temps get cold they won't charge. I'm located in MA. Just got out of a text chat with ring. Trying to find out what I should see in the Solar Panel Status area under Device Health. All I get on all 4 cams is "add a ring solar panel to extend battery life". I have a panel on each cam and it doesn't even know it. I'm guessing the firmware on my cams is not capable of reporting. My units are all about 1 year 3 months old. Starting to tick me off.

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22-12-2019 20:00:32

L

Larry

Yeah that seems to be a new field for me and like you it says to connect a panel when one has already been connected.

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22-12-2019 21:26:57

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JAgs

I’m having the same issue with my Two solar powered spotlight Cams. Issue came on suddenly end of November. I now have to charge batteries manually. App indicates solar panel is not connected. I’ve never had this issue before November of 2019. Chat with rep did not help, nor did camera resets, or app reinstall. This is silly.

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28-12-2019 22:48:15

M

MacX1993M

Same notice for me with the newest update. It used to say solar powered as my power source but now it’s recommending I purchase a solar panel even though both cams have panels connected.

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31-12-2019 01:28:53

S

snowchiefs

So how do you get the batteries charged using the solar panel?

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03-01-2020 15:13:19

K
kurts
I'm having the same issue. I have two solar pannels side-by-side one charging a spotlight cam (no issues) and one that's not charging the stick-up cam. Oddly, I saw the stick-up go down to 9%, then charged all the way to 100%, but then went down to 0% and won't recharge.Did anyone get a solution from Ring?
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09-12-2019 20:50:33
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C

ClintJ

I've just about had it with this charging issue. My 4 spotlight cams always charged. Ever since the line SOLAR PANEL STATUS was added to Device Health on my phone the batteries will no longer charge like they use to. If I had one cam I'd be suspecting something with it or the panel but when 4 stop all at the same time something is rotten in Denmark. Could it be the phone software is screwed up and will no longer report properly? I know when the temps get well below 32°F charging becomes an issue. We were at 50° yesterday with full sun on the panel. It would not charge. There was one instance sometime back the battery was not fully charged. It was a warm day, sun out but no report of an improving charge level. Right before the end of the day the battery level went from 80% to 100% in an instant. That's weird. Yesterday I put in a different fully charged battery in a cam. From use it went to 99%. Right now it's above freezing and the panel is in full sun. The cam has not been used but it refuses to go to 100%. What the hell is going on? Ring seems more interested in pumping out a variety of new products than in taking care of existing customers. I spent an hour in a text chat the other day. The guy didn't have a clue what I was talking about when I mentioned the SOLAR PANEL STATUS field. I had to send him a screen shot. I had to delete the app from the phone, restart the phone and load the app again. It was the same software version. 5.21.0 I leave home for weeks at a time sometimes. I don't have anyone to come climb a ladder and change a battery. I'm a pretty patient person but this is really starting to grind my gears. I'm going to start visiting some sales sites and expressing my displeasure. There has not been one Ring rep chime in here. Ring, please fix your software and end this issue. If I wanted to be on a ladder changing batteries all the time I wouldn't have bought solar panels. One last point! You added the field to the software. Why? All it does is tell me to add a solar panel to extend battery life. It doesn't even know there is one there.

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24-12-2019 16:31:08

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V

Valerie1

Hiany update on your issue? My cameras have all stopped charging after a year ... suddenly batteries flat. Nothing has changed, weather is the same as this time last year ??‍♀️

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23-06-2020 23:30:52

J

JLo

What good is a solar panel that isn't even recognized by the attached camera? Don't tell me to clean it or reconnect it - I wouldn't be writing this if I hadn't already tried that and everything else. This product is a failure.And why is this community forum just full of problems with no solutions?Where is the customer support?

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24-10-2020 21:38:55

K

kurts

Ring Support was able to help me. In my case it was as easy as reseting the camera and repeating the setup.

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24-12-2019 18:56:26

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L

Larry

So completely reset and remove the device and then go through the whole setup again? That seems really tedious as I have the camera tied into SmartThings, Alexa, etc., but if that is the only way...

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26-12-2019 16:40:25

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ClintJ

I just performed a hard reset. 35 seconds on the cam button then a regular push. Set it up all over again. Still nothing in Solar Panel Status. I wish I knew if there was suppose to be something there and if anyone else is seeing anything there.

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26-12-2019 19:08:35

J

Jesmyers81

Removing and reading didn’t help mine. I had the same problem and was sent a replacement cam so it has just been adding and It’s still not charging and says add a solar panel when I already have one added

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04-01-2020 22:09:40

D

Den6112

Morning all. I’m having the same issue with my spotlight cam & solar panel set up. After speaking with an advisor this morning they said they were unaware of this thread and any issues surrounding the solar panels being detected by the camera. They had me up and down ladders to get to my camera to reset it and eventually told me it’s likely that the solar panel is broken and are sending me a replacement. Although I doubt this is the issue I thought I’d go along with it to just appease them. And when it doesn’t work I will contact them again. She did mention that according to their system my camera has 2 batteries in it- which it doesn’t. Clearly something wrong somewhere!

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05-01-2020 09:31:31

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ClintJ

I have 4 spotlight cams with panels. They ALL started acting badly at the same time. Coincidence? I don't think so. Tech support was no help. I felt like I was training them not the other way around. I'm finding the cams will charge sporadicly as long as they have not been used to much. In settings, I've had to lower the frequency down to the lowest level.Here's the bottom line. For over a year, through all 4 seasons my 4 cams and solar panels worked great. This past fall all 4 began to charge poorly. What conclusion would any thinking person draw from that?

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05-01-2020 12:07:58