Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

I have the original stick up cam and the past month it’s stopped charging from the Ring solar panel. Also I’ve noticed the solar panel charging option has disappeared from the App. Hope it’s sorted soon as the battery only lasts a few weeks from full charge.

Well if I send something to someone else and don’t hear back from them, what am I supposed to do? I guess keep sending them it… Can’t make someone answer you if they don’t want to right? Call the corporate office. That’s the top. This is a member to member community to help each other. Ring had people here to help. But customer service is the place to call. If they don’t help go higher up.

I don’t think anyone it trying to attack on a peprosnal level. We appreciate any news or information that we can get and appreciate your reports. But there is a logical conneciton, cause in fact, if oy will, that is hard to ignoore in this situation. I will use my situation as an example. My devices all charged fine with solar panels for a very long time - through warm and cold weather (I live in the deep south so not a lot of cold weather to be sure). Suddenlt, at the end of last year, with no equipment change, they all start losing the ability to hold a charge. It is not impossible, I suppose, but it is hard not to imagine that the common element is a firmware issue. Would love to be proven wrong, but without some real solution that fixes things without reference to firmware, that in my mind is not possible to do. Thanks.

I received this email today regarding my smoker grill that is WiFi connected.

The email explains what they plan to do, how long it will take, how it will affect customers and a work around.

Completely the opposite of how Ring has treated us.

I find it almost impossible to believe that Ring has absolutely no clue or suspicion that whatever they rolled out last year in Oct/Nov has something to do with all of our solar panel issues. This is the same company that wants us to take them seriously and trust our homes and safety to there alarm system. Come on, give me a break!

I would like to add my grill and grill app allows me to see what firmware update it currently is on.

Occam’s razor. How, starting in November/December, hundreds or more customers now affected, at the same time, despite living all over the country, suddenly impacted simultaneously by dirt, angle, temperature…or a firmware malfunction.

On a different note, the latest update made my router name go from black to red. Everything else seems to be the same, including saying my imaginary solar charger is connected, but red implies a problem. Why? I have gb internet connection with a very good signal RSSI -44. Anyone else seeing this?

@Jennifer_Ring wrote:

Hi neighbors- please stop thinking this is a firmware issue as it has not been confirmed from the team it is. As mentioned, it could be due to weather (specifically colder temperatures), angle of device, multiple things, AND we have the team currently testing in a variaty of situations. I would kindly request your patience during this time.

I’d also like to remind the neighbors here that an APP update is different than a Firmware update. Some neighbors are confused saying version 5.13, 5.22, etc is Firmware, it is not. That is your App version.

Also, as the Community Manager of Ring, I assure you that popular topics are sent to the appropriate team members on a daily/weekly basis. Your comments are heard and I will continue to update you all with information as it becomes available, but please take into consideration the Community Guidelines. Harrassing the community team and these post will not help in these matters but know that we are here to help and ensure that we get answers for you. Your happiness and overall satisfaction with Ring is top priority for myself – we appreciate your patience while we work on this.

I am sorry @Jennifer_Ring but i want to clarify something… as you have directed this to everyone i just want to point out that i did not think it was a firmware issue, i did not make it up… it was RING support team that put it in my head when they put me on hold and came back to me and said it was a firmware issue and its known with no timescale for a fix. Maybe RING itself needs to stop confusing nieghbours and just officially announce whats wrong and what they are going to do about it.

Not just this solar panel issue, but all the other issues - especially the motion zones/people/human only modes!

yes my wifi is now showing in red i change it the other day to a different one thinking i had a problem but no matter what setting the wifi notification is red

Hey Jennifer_Ring… I have to go up a ladder Sunday and swap battery again !!!, How about sending me a battery so I don’t have to go up a ladder every couple weeks since the solar panel and Ring are not doing there job.

I’ve had the camera and panel for years. It stopped working at the same time everyone else is reporting here.
It’s not the cold. It’s not the angle. It’s something pushed out by ring via software. I’d bet a paycheck on it. Despite my app being up to date, I’m still having issues.
I think ring is being negligent

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good luck with that i had to buy another battery. i just notice also that i try to shut off my alert shut off it was set at two hrs by that time so do e will steal my car every time i shut it down and check it it’s back to 2 hrs don’t know why what a mess

UPDATE

Any positive momentum towards getting our solar panel chargers back to how they were has been negated in the past week. The batteries in my four solar Stickup cams and Ring Doorbell 2 are not being charged by the panels and are now below 80%, 20% drop in one week.

I noticed that this issue has started to be discussed on other social media forums.

Ring, before you post about weather conditions. Keep in mind this fall/winter has been warmer than average over most of the US. Many of the folks that have owned the solar panels for more than a year report that they worked fine the past winters.

So Ring please don’t tells us about weather possibly being the culprit. Tell us what is REALLY going on! We are going on four months now.

Class action !

Please fix the solar panel issue or stop selling panels. I bought a new panel thinking the old one was going bad but still same issue . Bought a new camera thinking it was the camera going bad but still same issue. The solar panels are not working to keep the battery charged. Old cameras and panels that haven’t been replaced working fine. All new cameras and panel are horrible.

I contacted Ring via Facebook on Saturday and they are going to look into why my cam isn’t charging via the solar panel and why the solar panel power source option has dissapeared from the App. Ring said they will get back to me tomorrow (Tues). I seem to have a new issue now that the cam has stopped sending motion notifications. App says the cam is online and you can do Live Views and show via Alexa but its not recording any new motion and sending notifications.

I am having the same issue, too. First noticed it on Friday the 31st. Is there another GROUP on RING discussing this new issue, or will it be combined with all other cameras having solar panel issues? I cannot believe how these problems are growing…

Chester65: I seem to have a new issue now that the cam has stopped sending motion notifications. App says the cam is online and you can do Live Views and show via Alexa but its not recording any new motion and sending notifications.

Jennifer you said you review the issues with developers daily, anything you can share with us on where we are in terms of a solution ?

Ever since Ring was sold to Amazon. They started to push lower quality, cheaper products. The new Ring Wired cam, the Ring Indoor Cam, a much cheaper Outdoor Stick up cam. All priced from $59-$99. I have a couple of the indoor ones decent but nowhere the quality of the originals that ran $179-249 depending if you bought in a solar package.

Is it possible down that Amazon owns ring, they are putting the majority of their efforts into making sure these new products are sellable. And those of us that bought the original and more expensive cameras have been given the backseat to any type of support and development?

Out of all the neighbors who are commenting on this thread, who have talked to support?

I’m waiting for support to get back to me.

After many posts on this forum and complaining about my solar panel not working after 2 years of working great, I was responded to by Jennifer from Ring Community… At that time she recommended that I replace the solar panel with a new one, supplied by her, with instructions and shipping label for returning the old one so Ring tecs might determine if there’s a root problem with them which I did (might have made a mistake by cleaning it first) .
Well I am very very happy to say that after installing the new panel in a new location (directly south) and at a 45* angle both batteries fully charged from 66% and 85% with appx. 10 hours of sunlight here in Florida … I still can’t figure out why after working for 2 years with no problem that we are/were having problems all around the same time but all I can say is make sure panel is clean (?) and installed in direct south facing obstructed sun at 45* angle and see what happens !

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