Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

That’s a very good question, they have literally ignored this problem hoping people will just tire and stop talking about it somehow, after spending hundreds on their faulty products.

Experiencing the same issues as everyone else is talking about. 2 cameras attached to solar panels that worked fine until November. Now have to charge them every 3 weeks with two batteries in each camera. This needs fixed!!!

I have SEVERAL of the Ring Spotlight Cameras with Solar chargers in and around my horse barn, pen, waterer, etc. One (1) camera was charging fine initially but hasn’t in the last few months. I’ve switched batteries, I’ve switched Solar Panels (from working units) and it’s DEFINATELY the camera itself not charging the battery. Again, good batteries, good solar panels, works any way I switch them out EXCEPT on a single camera. Purchased 6/2020…guess I’ll be sending that one back.

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We are having the same problem. We installed one of the outdoor stick up cameras with solar months ago and it’s been working well. We installed a second one last month. Now, both are indicating that the battery is low (5-6%). The solar panels are clean. What is the problem? We don’t have time or interest in climbing up there to replace the batteries. Do we need replacement solar panels?

What is a 5W panel? Will Rind swap our panels for the 5W panels for free?

I’ve been dealing with the same issue where the solar panel; does not charge the camera. I’ve switched camera with the solar panel and still no charge. I’ve switched solar panel with the camera and still no charge. I’m only coming up to my first year with ring. But the problems with these solar panels or cameras hasn’t been resolved. I feel like Ring just replaces cameras and solar panels with another broken one. It has reached appoint where ring isn’t worth the monthly subscription and anymore money. Honestly your better off switching companies; that’s what i will be doing and i’ll be warning people to do the same; not worth buying ring. I’ve seen so many people complain about these same issues and still ring hasn’t resolved it. Its time to go to Eufy. People have switched from ring to Eufy with no complaints and they have 2k resolution; better quality and its free monthly.

Same issue sick of ring; I wont purchase anything else from them; even if they replace a camera or solar panel it still doesn’t work. Ring isnt worth it anymore. Time to switch companies; I’ve heard a lot of people go to Eufy from ring and they love it. I’ll be switching no more paying monthly for something that cant do its job. If we buying solar panels we shouldnt have to go and switch batteries every 3 weeks. Ring is just replacing broken camera and solar panels with other broken cameras and solar panels. Its ridiculous; it’s horrible how many people complain of the same thing and they continue to ignore the problem.

I can relate to your frustrartion; Same issues for months nothing gets resolved with ring; they don’t actually fix any of the problems we tell them because if they did there wouldn’t be thousands of people complaining about the exact same thing. They will do exactly what they did to me; send you a new camera and it wont charge. then send you a new solar panel still wont charge. They replace broken with broken. Time to leave Ring; it’s not worth the headache anymore.

I hope this helps those with the ring solar panel not charging their spotlight cam.

Mine also stopped working after around a year. So I recently got around to opening it up, and to my horror!


So much moisture had got in!

Next post…

So I ordered a new panel, some hot glue sticks and was ready to DIY water proof a new solar panel hoping it would last me many years! It arrived, glue gun warmed up, opened up the solar panel and…


It was already water proofed with a glue type substance!

So, it must have been a know issue by Ring! Going to raise a complaint now!

Hope it helps? It only takes a few mins to unscrew your solar panel to see if its the same inside as mine was.

Now shows connected in the app now, working a charm.

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I am to feed up with Ring right now over the solar panels not working. Bought our spot light cam solar from Ring in October of 2019 for over $200.00 and we noticed that the solar panel stopped charging the battery. In February of 2020 we bought 2 Quick Release Battery Packs for $58.00 because the battery in the spot light camera was draining because apparently the solar panel wasn’t charging the battery. I finally got feed up with this issue and after reading all the other Ring users have the same issue decided to call Ring to see about this issue. After I explained that we had already cleaned the panel and unplugged and replugged it in and reset it a couple of times, they still wanted me to do it again. Really!!! They had me on the phone for over a hour and then said that since it was still under warranty they would send me a new one, but would have to charge my credit card for the new one and then once we return the old panel they would credit my credit card. REALLY!!! Then they wanted me to go up to the roof where the solar panel is located and give them the serial number of the panel. This was the final straw. I will be going with a real security company in the future who cares about their clients, instead of wasting my time dealing with Ring Tech Support, especially since we pay the yearly fee for the Ring Protection Program. This is what happens when a company gets to big and stops caring about their customers. We live in sunny California, so you can’t say we don’t get alot of sunny days.

One of six cameras that I have on solar panels, is not charging correctly. It is directly in the sun, and I have swapped panels around to see if that matters. It doesn’t, the same device always shows “Ring Solar Panel connected, but sunlight is too weak to charge this device”. Additionally, the battery level on this particular camera keeps dropping, proving it is not accepting power. All of the others work and are charging fine. It is not the panel, and it is not the sun, it is the camera. I think have done every possible reset, including deleting and re-installing the camera, but this has not changed anything. I have been working on this for several days and am convinced the camera has some sort of problem. I have inspected the charging port and it is clear of anything. Any ideas?

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I’ve had same issues with my 7 ring outdoor cameras after three years this mouth All my battery’s started not holding a full charge.
I then inspected all cameras, connecting points clean the solar panels. Still not holding full charge with 12 hours of direct sunlight.

So on one camera I decided to buy a new battery on Amazon $29.00 each when I revived new battery charged it up and at 5:00am I placed new battery in one ring camera I hour before sunrise the battery worked fine the fallowing day I look on my ring app the new battery was 20% . At that point I know wasn’t battery being new so I order a new Solar panel. After I received I installed it again the fallowing day I again looked on my ring app I saw battery was holding at 100% charge. So I replaced the remaining 6 solar panels now two mouths later I’ve had no more issues with battery draining so my recommendation replace your solar panels. I bought my solar panels on Amazon : Wasserstein solar panels there $39.00 each. But I’ve found better quality than ring solar panels so my suggestion to everyone but this is problem with battery drain issue. Hope this helps.

I had same problem did everything solar panel was clean, connections where good the problem is that it’s your Solar panel.

I replaced my panel with new solar panel and now I’m holding 100% charge everyday. I didn’t buy ring solar panel I went onto Amazon and bought

Wasserstein solar panel $39.00 each where ring solar panel is $49.00 I think ring solar panel is low quality.

Anyway hope helps but something think about if problem continue

Ok all, I’m not sure what’s going on but my camera is now holding at 100% EVERYDAY!!! I had 2 batteries in there and removed the 1st one to recharge while the 2nd was at 30%. Right now the 2nd battery has been reading 100% for the last week, LOL! I don’t know if it was an update to the firmware but the camera has been solid with the charge from the RING solar panel. I’m going to put the 2nd fully charged battery back in today and we’ll see what happens. Not sure what Firmware level I’m @ other than it saying “Up to Date”. Here’s my power settings just in case anyone is interested;

Snapshot Capture OFF
Motion Frequency Using recommended settings
Advanced Motion Detection Using recommended settings
Video Recording Length Using recommended settings

Can you use the same Ring mount for the Wasserstein Solar Panel.

My solar panel isn’t charging my battery at all. It’s been at the same 14% for 10 hours now. It’s directly in the sun, I switched out the solar panels, I switched out batteries and it’s still not working. Is this Rings way of forcing us to buy more stuff to get things to work? I’ve spent $400 on cameras and after only 1 month 1 of my cameras and solar panels is failing. All the others are working… for now.

Apparently there’s no solution, to the problem. The camera and the solar panel, they are 3 years old and worked perfectly. I have 3 cameras with the same configuration and 1 of them the panel does not charge the battery. The APP shows that the camera has a solar panel system and also indicates that it does not charge the battery. The camera runs smoothly. Everything that ring’s technical service suggests has been done.

When a Solar Panel is not charging or connecting, the best thing to consider first is battery usage. 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 your solar panel is not operating despite trying the above steps, please reach out to our support team to take a closer look at your account. Please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. If you are outside of the US, please visit here to see how to contact support.