Ring Stick Up Cam Battery & Solar Panel

brettfoot0112

…you should change it back to “Battery” mode. “Wired” mode will indeed drain your battery quicker…solar panel or no solar panel.

You can go into the Device Settings/General Settings and then tap on Power Mode. It will probabably indicate that the camera is in Wired mode. Tap “Switch to Battery Mode” at the bottom. (You may or may not have to unplug your solar panel before you change back)

Fwiw, I sent my solar panel back for a refund. It just wasn’t effectively keeping my battery charged.

Quick Update: From my battery being at 86-88% for the last few weeks, my battery is now displaying 90% after the 4 days of continuous torrential rain in the South of the UK. This makes no sense to me at all but at least the charge does not seem to drop below 86%.

1 Like

A short update.
I received new ring camera and will swap out today. I did notice this morning that my one camera facing east still showed on battery at 7:25 AM and my other two, one facing south and the one facing west show lightning bolt and connected to power. None of the 3 are in direct sunlight as a small hill blocks that, but a bright cloudless day.

1 Like

Okay, got new camera installed with battery from old camera, will see now. I am going to shut off motion and recordings today and see if it charges above the 86, 87%. A cloudless sunny day and would expect it should show 90% towards end of day.
Big thanks to all who have added comments. I find it somewhat strange that all parts of the world we all have a very similar issue. They start out at 100% and eventually drain down to 86 to 87% and stay within that range. I understand they are a trickle charge, but with one or two events a day, if that why they don’t recover 3 to 4% a day. Mine started out working well and about the time the 30 day refund ran out they went to crap.

2 Likes

Quick Update: Attached snapshot shows battery levels for both of my stick up cams over the past few days. I’m not sure what to make of the numbers – will continue to monitor. Friend who also experienced identical issues with both of his stick up cams, at the same time as both of mine, informed me that both of his batteries recovered to 100% and 99% last night. He has an iPhone; I have an Android – not sure if this matters, though.

1 Like

Possibly last update.

A quick summary what has been done.

Resset cams and recharged batteries.

Removed cams and recharged batteries and added back new cam.

Replaced solar panels

Replaced cam and used battery from cam I replaced. Was told not a battery issue.

In last two days have had only 3 events and all were live views. I had disabled recordings and monitoring during the days to allow charging.

So with the new camera, new solar panel and only 3 events in two days and 8 to 9 hours of direct sunlight the charging doesn’t get above 86 to 87% charge. I usually show 10 to 12 hours of direct, indirct charging.

So if Ring still believes this is hardware, it is junk.

I wish I had found this message board before buying, wouldn’t have bought. With only a 30 day refund is a tipoff they don’t have much confidence in their product.

I would recommend not buying. **If you have purchased and is within their weak 30 day refund , get a refund. **

Will now call their support and give them my findings.

2 Likes

@Fensktd Thanks for your perseverance and info on this topic. I agree. I sent my solar panel back and got a refund. I’m going to go ahead and keep the stickup cam and do the musical battery swap-out thing despite the inconvenience. But next camera purchase will be a different vendors unless Ring gets their issues resolved.

1 Like

Attached is a snapshot of my battery charge levels as of this dawn – my issue persists. As mentioned in my 10/8/20 post, same issue with both of my friend’s cams gradually resolved without User intervention. Wondering whether others have experienced the same.

For the Ring Community Moderators: Is it a safe assumption that the Ring tech folks are actively troubleshooting this apparent software glitch? Could it be that a firmware patch is slowly rolling out and just hasn’t reached my devices yet? Please don’t leave me/others hanging.

1 Like

After my last test with them, just about new everything I called and reported my findings. It took some time and convincing but did talk to a 2nd or 3rd tier support, and word is this issue has now been escalated to their software development team.
As with most support issues the squeaky wheel gets oiled first. My best advice is to call support and further raise the red flag. If you are within the 30 day return time might think about returning for a refund.
Thanks for the posts and responses back.

2 Likes

Update: My Cam#1 appears to have gotten an OTA firmware patch yesterday afternoon (charge log attached). As app started to show steady battery gain from 87% to 100% through the afternoon, the “lightning bolt” disappeared from the green battery icon; and Power Source changed from “Outlet” to “Battery”. I’ll continue monitoring to see whether the “lightning bolt” returns and Power Source status changes once the battery charge starts declining from 100%. However, app still shows my Cam#2 battery at 86-87%.

1 Like

What’s today’s update? I have the same issue with my stick up cam (3rd gen).

Attached is my charge log at 10/19/20 dusk. Future updates will be posted only if there are significant trend changes.

I want to follow this as well. Just bought the solar panel on Sunday and has done nothing but drain the battery twice now.

I would send replies to Tom_Ring community manager on this issue. See if he has any word on updates on a software patch or call support.
After I had purchased the panels did not have that issue with 100% drainage. Make sure in setup it is set to battery as power source.
I would have returned the panels if it would have been within 30 day refund for Ring purchases.

Update: This morning, app unexpectedly showed my Cam #2 battery charge gradually climb from 88% @ dawn to 100% by noon. I’ll continue monitoring a little while longer just to see if it holds up. As was the case with my Cam #1, Power Source for my Cam #2 now continuously shows “Battery” rather than “Power Outlet” as it used to during daylight (charging) hours. My updated charge log is attached.

Comment: In both instances, it was observed that while my Ring app showed battery charge gradually increasing to 100%, the battery icon showed as solid green the entire time – as if both batteries were already fully charged the entire time the numbers were ratcheting up. This is also when the “lightning bolt” symbol that was usually present on the battery icons during daylight hours disappeared and Power Source for each cam started continuously showing as “Battery”. This further points to a software (rather than hardware) glitch that was somehow corrected OTA/OTI.

Been traveling and checked my email and they sent me notice that they corrected an issue. Anyone following this chain check your cameras and see if charging has changed. Crossed fingers they got it.
Thanks again for all the input.

1 Like

Update: This morning, the “lightning bolt” reappeared on the green battery icons for both of my stick up cams; Power Source for both also reverted back to “Power Outlet”. Both batteries continue to show 100% charge. What prompted this check was the same misguided pop-up notice in the app that I received a while back suggesting a change to the Customizable Motion Zone setting that is intended for the “true” Plug-In Stick Up cams that resulted in overnight battery drain (I’m already using the new Customizable Motion Zone setting for battery cams).

Comment: It appears that there are still some elements in the app (ver. 3.32.1) that need to be corrected. The app needs to correctly differentiate between a “battery cam” that deceptively labels Power Source as “Power Outlet” if connected to a solar panel, and the true “plug-in” Stick Up cam that receives its power from an actual power outlet. This shortcoming is apparently resulting in problems for some Users who are experiencing rapid battery drain (Stick Up cam Battery + Solar Panel) due to misguided options presented in the app. The original Customizable Motion Zone feature that was offered with the true outlet-powered cams is clearly not the same as the newer Customizable Motion Zone feature offered for most “battery” devices.

Everything you have described is what I have been dealing with for the past 2 months. Two stick up cams with solar and they never went past 86-88%, essentially stuck at that percentage. They were showing the charging icon though. Reached out to ring and one camera was replaced just a week ago and now neither of them show the charging icon, one camera now all of a sudden shows 100% charge all the time and the camera that was replaced is not charging and after just installing the replacement yesterday is already down to 94%. Neither shows the charging icon in bright direct sunlight. The amount of different forums with people complaining about this exact issue is significant and no updates from Ring.

Thank you all for your useful comments-no greater frustration than spending a fair amount of money on a product then having to deal with the tech issues without quick support or much less resolution! I was about to buy a stick-up cam and solar panel until I read all your comments!

If it wasnt for the fact that Ring offers one of the better home security systems with active monitoring and at the time was one of the few with a reliable doorbell cam, i would have gone a different route. Our other home has all Wyze products and i couldn’t be happier and as soon as they come out with a home security system i will be switching this home away from Ring. Not only are Wyze products (cameras, doorbells, locks, etc) 1/3 the price of Ring they have continious recording on their cameras (which btw cost $20!!!, yes their cameras cost $20), which is something Ring is really lacking. The amount of time i have wasted with these stick up cams is insane, and their battery life is also wayyy overhyped, i charged one of the stick up cams without solar about 2 months ago and its already at 30% asking me to charge it again.