Video Doorbell Pro Voltage Dropping?

Products Video Doorbells
#1

Hello, I installed my DB Pro a little over a week ago. I have no existing doorbell wiring, so I bought the below 26 ft transformer off Amazon. I needed the extra length as the Ring adapter is not long enough. It’s a 24 Volt power supply, and I measured it with a multimeter to see that it’s supplying the correct voltage, which it is.

I’m not having any issues whatsoever with my DB Pro, and experience no symptoms of insufficient power–it’s working absolutely perfectly. The ‘Doorbell Kit’ in the app is correctly set to ‘None.’

However, when first installed a little over a week ago, my voltage was well above 4,000 mV. The voltage continues to drop by 8 or so mV each day, and I’m currently down to 3,938 mV.

Is this normal? Will it reach a certain point, then recharge the internal battery? I’m worried I may eventually experience power issues once this drops low enough, and am trying to proactively address this before I have problems.

Thanks much!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DJ7RHS5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

#2

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Community @5150Joel ! I’m happy to say this power fluctuation is nothing to be concerned about. The transformer you have there should be more than sufficient to power the Video Doorbell Pro. Power can fluctuate due to many variables such as number of events, number of or duration of live streams, and chime kit differences.

You’ve mentioned not using a chime kit, and selecting the in app chime kit setting as “none” properly. As long as the voltage reading remains above 3700mV, it should operate as intended. Hope this helps!

#3

Thanks very much for your reply!

#4

Actually, no it doesn’t help, sorry to say. I’m experiencing the same exact thing. I’m using the 16 volt, 30 amp transformer Ring sent me. It was installed by a professional electrician at my considerable expense. I’ve also set the Pro Power Kit to bypass my doorbell and have installed a Chime Pro.

Even after all this time, effort and expense, the voltage drops consistently every day and then the Doorbell Pro goes offline every few days. I have to go out and reset it and then “miraculously” the voltage is back to over 4040 mV. And then, the process starts all over and the product fails again.

We have excellent internet service, so please don’t go there; I have an outage log and we’ve had one internet service outage since we’ve had the Doorbell Pro; that was several months ago. The RSSI on both the Chime Pro and Doorbell Pro are rated by Ring as “Good” when I do a health check. The electrician ensured that the voltage was good at the transformer, doorbell service box and Doorbell Pro.

The problem is as many others have reported in numerous forums with the entire Ring Doorbell Pro model. Quite frankly, it is a terrible product. At the very least, Ring needs to do a firmware update that resolves this power management problem. You’ve been told about this problem repeatedly and have done nothing about it.

On top of that, please note the voltage must be above 3900mV, not 3700mV as you stated.

#5

@dsj1958

Thanks for the info. May I ask, what exactly do you mean by ‘reset?’ Pull the cover, and hold the button in for 15-30 seconds and truly reset the doorbell? --asking for future reference in case I have to soon do this.

Last week, after I posted the orignal post, I ended up moving my router to a better location (unrelated, I know). Point is, my router was turned off for maybe 20 minutes. After powering my network back on, I noticed the mV on my DB Pro shot back up to over 4,000 mV without me touching the doorbell.

Right now I’m back down to 3931mV… so far everything is fine, but I’ll report back when/if it drops below 3900mV.

I too have read about the exact problem you described above on other forums.

#6

Yes, that is exactly what I did and it doesn’t matter if I just push and release the button or hold it. I’ve had to do it many times. And yes, the same thing happens with me; the voltage goes up to 4045mV or so and then restarts the drop. I’ve even bought a Netgear wifi extender in the hope that it would work better than the Chime Pro to keep the device connected, but to no avail.

Once you get somewhere around 3900mV, my experience is that your doorbell will go offline; sometimes it happens much sooner. If you contact Ring, they’ll tell you the problem is with your internet connection or your electrical connection. That’s a lot of nonsense from them. The sad truth is that the Doorbell Pro as a whole is a lemon.

I hope you have a better experience with it than I’ve had. Just as you said, a lot of people are reporting the same issue and Ring refuses to acknowledge it, let alone fix it. Unless something drastically changes, once my year of their monitoring is up, I’m probably going to cut my losses and go with a different product from someone like August or Nest.

#7

How is your voltage now? I upgraded my transformer 5 days ago and the mv was at 4054 but has steadily dropped since then to 4024 Ring Support says that I have nothing to worry about, however I am worring.

#8

The voltage is now down to 3999mV. It’s losing about 10 or 12 mV every day. I expect the device will be offline in the next 3-5 days if the pattern continues as it has since I bought it.

#9

My voltage is now down to 3925 since yesterday. It continues to drop each day, and despite being told to not worry as well, I am worried I’ll have problems.

Again, so far so good–the DB Pro continues to work fine…for now.

As I wrote in my above post: I found it odd that after my router being offline for 20 or so minutes last Friday the mV on the Pro shot back up to over 4,000 again once I brought my network back up–all without me doing anything at all to the doorbell.

If I do end up needing to reset it, I’m thinking I could just unplug mine for a minute and plug it back in since my entire doorbell setup consists of the DB Pro, and an AC adapter. No electronic or mechanical chime, kit–nothing.

#10

It is happening to me as well although not as fast. I have called support at least 4 times and they all say not to worry. How can I not worry. I am really not satisfied with their answers to this problem. While at the moment my Ring Pro works like a charm, I am beginning to regret buying it. One thing they had me do that might help you but might help you is to disconnect and reconnect the power kit. Thanks for answering. Good Luck!!

#11

@Marley_Ring

May I please ask you or someone review this info that I just realized? Despite you stating my power supply should be sufficient, could you revisit that assessment after reviewing the below information please? I’ve realized while my power supply should be sufficeint for V AC, it may NOT be sufficient regarding volt-amps/mA. My DB Pro continues to work fine, but the voltage continues to drop. I’m currently at 3916mV and I’m concerned it’s going to eventually die on me.

The power adapter I purchased that I mentioned above supplies 24V AC at 500mA. This equals out to 12 volt-amps.

https://www.amazon.com/Transformer-Thermostat-Competible-Versions-Honeywell/dp/B07DJ7RHS5/ref=sr_1_2?crid=X5NPMB3W6NJ4&keywords=ring+pro+power+supply&qid=1571084841&sprefix=ring+pro+po%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-2

The Ring Plug In Adapter supplies 24 V AC at 20 VA , which equals out to about 880mA.

Per the below page “Ring Pro requires a power source that supplies a minimum of 16 volts AC at ~20 volt-amps when connected directly to a transformer, plug-in adapter”

https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000115323-Troubleshooting-Insufficient-Power-Issues-with-Ring-Video-Doorbell-Pro

It looks like I’m 8 VA (or around 380mA) shy of the power that the Ring Plug in Adapter outputs., but I’m higher than the recommended 16 V AC as recommended above.

I’m unclear if my power supply is sufficient at this point based on this information. Could you please let me know if I need to purchase the Ring Plug in Adapter? 20ft isn’t long enough, but I’ll just need to figure out how to make it work.

Thank you again.

#12

Sorry to hear of these concerns @dsj1958 . Take a look at our help center article for steps you can take to troubleshoot low voltage symptoms with your Ring Pro. I recommend contacting our support team at 800-656-1918, to take a further look into this for you.

#13

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, I’ve done all that. Your support team does not acknowledge that there is a systemic voltage issue with the Doorbell Pro that your customers cannot fix. On my end, I have installed a new transformer (Ring’s own model to be exact) and have put the Pro Power Kit V2 into bypass mode. I have spent considerable expense and time having a professional electrician do all of this. just to ensure it was done right.

Even after all this, the voltage on my Doorbell Pro has steadily decreased from 4045mV to 3990mV in just the past few days since it last went offline. It goes offline at least once a week and then the voltage jumps back up after I reset it, even though I don’t touch the electrical circuitry. How is that even possible???

Again, this is a failure of the Ring Doorbell Pro model. Too many people have reported this to Ring and they’ve done absolutely nothing about it.

Stop blaming your customers and get to work fixing this issue, already. Thank you.

#14

Just wondering where you voltage is now. Yesterday I disconnected the in home doorbell chime and in a few hrs my voltage went up 2 points but fell over night 3 points. I guess the Infra red light is what brings it down but we will see. In any event if my voltage becomes steady I can deal with not having the home chime disconnected but only time will tell.

#15

Hey @Zandarr

I’m hanging in there at 3911 right now. I’m hoping Marley answers my above question if my AC adapter is actually sufficient considering although it’s delivering 24V AC it’s also only supplying 12 volt-amps and not 20.

I’ll post back what happens here either way, good or bad. The app still reports the voltage as Very Good. I’m not unplugging it/power cycling it–just waiting to see what happens once the power drops.

#16

For further insight on proper voltage in any specific environment, we recommend contacting our support team. The flow of voltage is dependent on many things, including but not limited to, length of wire run, gauge of wires, existing chime kits, transformer output rating, resistance, and even in app settings. Our team will be able to investigate your power supply more indepth as well as the environment and other things that will help to not only answer your questions, but ensure you do not run into any unforeseen power issues in the future. Let us know how it goes!

#17

Thank you @Marley_Ring

I’ve spoke with support. I posed the question “are my volt-amps sufficient even though they’re lower than what Ring recommends being my power supply output is 24V AC @ 12 volt-amps (500mA), where the Ring adapter is 24V AC @ 20 volt-amps (880mA).”

He really wasn’t entirely sure. Advised my power supply is sufficient to power the DB Pro, but may not be enough to sustain it. Advised I should wait and see, and if he mV drops to around 3850 I should probably purchase a different power supply as mine may not be enough.

My plan going forward is to wait and see if this thing hits a certain point where the mV shoots back up to 4000+ or dies on me. I really want to test this by not touching/resetting/rebooting the doorbell at all. If it dies, I’ll next likely purchase the Ring power adapter for the Pro, and again wait and see if it dies or not.

I’ll post my findings along the way.

1 Like
#18

Wanted to post a short update for everyone…

I’ll start by saying my DB Pro continues to work perfect and has never missed a beat. To recap, my mV has consistently dropped by 5-10 mV per day from 4,000+ when I initially setup the Pro.

By this morning, my mV was down to around 3890ish or so. I don’t remember the exact number, but it was very high 3800s because it was 3902 last night.

(I’m VERY happy to report) by late after noon today, around 4pm, and without me doing a single thing, the mV climbed back up to 3968 by itself.

Throughout this entire time as I monitored this for the past week+, the Android app always reported the voltage as ‘Good’ while the Windows 10 app on my PC always reported ‘Very Good.’ The Pro never once went offline (that I’m aware of, at least) and I’ve fortunately not had any problems with it whatsoever.

Still not entirely convinced my power supply is sufficient, I plan to continue to monitor this at least until the voltage drops one more time to ensure it re-stabilizes. I do have a 2nd power supply in mind I may try that will supply 24V AC @ 40 volt-amps rather than my current 12 volt-amps if it becomes an issue.

I’ll update again at some point for better or worse, and best of luck to those of you either having problems, or worrying you will have a problem.

2 Likes
#19

So it has been about 2 weeks since your last post. How are your mV numbers now?

#20

I’m happy to report the doorbell hasn’t missed a beat. The voltage seems to consistently drop to somewhere between the very high 3890’s or low 3900’s, then auto bump back up to somewhere in the 4,000mV range, sometimes up to almost 4100mV.

I will say, the voltage seems to be dropping much faster than it initially did within the first two weeks I had it. Nothing’s really changed, but I find myself checking it less and less. I’m still using the same power supply/AC adapter too. Voltage will drop, then go back up on it’s own, but the Pro continues to work without any problems regardless of where the mV is at.

How’s yours doing Zandarr?