Ring Team: Any update on the keypad becoming unresponsive when left powered?

I really love my alarm, and those I’ve helped install for others. But if there’s one gripe that’s been ongoing and is getting fairly tiring, it’s the keypad freezing issue.

I would really love to be able to leave the keypads powered—as designed—but the random freezing issue makes this not feasible for the fear of false alarms should the keypad fail to respond to a disarm command, or worse, a panic command.

I haven’t seen any mention of it in the update change logs, so I was just curious if there’s a fix pending? It’s quite frustrating, especially since there’s no way to keep it lit up when not powered, thus no way to see the mode it’s in at a glance, until you walk over to the keypad to trigger the motion sensor.

A powered alarm device that needs to remain un-powered 99% of the time to avoid it becoming unresponsive is a fairly major issue, especially when it’s the keypad.

Again, I really love the system and it’s been nothing but great in all other ways (missing some features, but the feature set is slowly increasing, so I’m not going to complain there), and it performs great, except the keypads. Having to use smart outlets or lamp timers on the power supply for the keypad is not an ideal solution, detracting from the experience. So I do hope that this is close to being resolved, because it’s becoming harder and harder to defend the issue to friends and clients as the months go by.

On a related keypad note, will the keypads ever be able to play the chime alerts that the base can? Even if it’s only possible on keypads running on power, not just battery. Armed/disarmed/delay countdown is useful, but it would really be useful if they could be set by the user to play the chimes like the base does. Unless it is a hardware restriction, and not necessarily a power-saving strategy. Not everyone can hear the base throughout their house, so keypads making chimes would be nice. The new addition of Alexa routines (thank you!!!) helps this some if you’ve got Alexa devices that you can use to alert, but it would be fantastic if the hardware that comes with the alarm would do this, as most every other competing system does.

Again, I love the alarm and all the Ring products I’ve used. I’m just working to try to get the best experience for myself and others I’ve installed for, and everyone else who has experienced this issue, which has been a source of frustration for many. Thank you again, and this new community is coming along nicely.

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Thank you for your patience and for sharing the detailed steps you’ve taken to further resolve this.

I’ve sent this information to the team and they are looking into it. For now, please leave the device on battery power. We will certainly update the community with more information once available.

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Absolutely, thank you.

I’ve got mine connected to a smart plug for now, so I can just have it come on every couple months to charge, but it’s definitely frustrating that this issue is still ongoing after more than 9 months, and it’s hard to explain to clients when I’m installing for them why they shouldn’t leave it powered right now, and the longer this continues, the harder it is to justify. 3 months? OK, it’s difficult. 6 months? Eh, starting to doubt it’s possible. 12 months? Yeah, it’s time to start sending new hardware if you haven’t gotten it fixed yet by then.

So I do hope that this can be resolved soon, preferably before it hits a year.

Thank you again for your time. Cheers!

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Excellent idea with using the smart plugs. We appreciate your patience through this while our team is diligently working on a solution.

If you give our support line a call they may be able to further assist you with a more permanent solution. They are available 24/7 at (800) 656-1918.

Are there any updates to this frozen keypad issue? We have two keypads in our home and both have become frozen while we are on vacation. This makes it very difficult for guests to enter the home.

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@Fhoang wrote:
Are there any updates to this frozen keypad issue? We have two keypads in our home and both have become frozen while we are on vacation. This makes it very difficult for guests to enter the home.

Have you received/installed the keypad firmware update that started rolling out a few weeks ago?

So far I have not encountered the issue anymore myself or with the handful of others that I’ve updated for people, since the update was released. Mine have been constantly powered since the update without freezing as of yet, and usually they were pretty on the mark at about 3 weeks of continuous power when this would begin.

Though it hasn’t been a huge amount of time since it was released, so I hadn’t marked this as solved yet, as there hadn’t really been sufficient time to confirm one way or the other. This is the first report I’ve heard of it happening since the update though, so I’m really curious if you have updated the keypad firmware or not.

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I am updating my keypad today and time will tell…

I have the same problem with new system in vacation home. Not fixed yet…ugg.

Firmware is needed to prevent constant charge, which will kill the battery much sooner than designed.

Circuitry should only enable charging when it goes below a certain threshold and stop once it hits 100% (or even 80% to prevent overcharging).

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Got the same problem with one of my keypads. After an email and talking to tech support they told me they had battery issues. Once charged and left plugged in, the next day the keypad goes offline with a dead battery. I was told “we fixed it a while ago” and they would send me a replacement unit with improved battery circuitry .

Since I’m not there, a vacation home, I had replacement shipped to our electrician. The replacement keypad does the same thing! Ugg.

I have two keypad, both plugged in, one works the other doesn’t.

Ring, any solutions?.

Keypad is useless! Frustrated that I did not do more homework before purchase. Two keypad lasted only a couple of days before installing permanently. Tried charging batteries with provided chords and they did not charge. I tried an inverter that my electrician said would work and I waited for him to install chords behind walls. More wasted money as that didn’t work. I essentially have a system that does not work for me as I require keypads. Where I live I get charged a fine if my system goes off. I can’t count on everyone in my family remembers to use the app before entering/leaving, not I’d that convenient. I want a solution, like a redesign that actually works, out I want to return the whole system.

Sorry to hear about this experience @dwayneneal. Your Keypads should definitely be holding a charge for longer than a couple days, and should operate as intended when plugged in.

Please ensure these Keypads are located within range of the Base Station for optimal signal and operation. If you believe your Keypads are fully charged and abruptly going offline or draining battery, I recommend reaching out to our support team for in-depth troubleshooting. Feel free to let us know how it goes!

If I am traveling for an extended period of time leaving it plugged in can cause it to freeze. Leaving it unplugged can result in power loss. Ridiculous!!! Major problem!!!