Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

JustJoe,
Did Ring Help help you?

Has it helped?

I pay $100 a year and they don’t work.

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I was able to get mine charging again by removing the device and re-adding it. The app still suggests that I add a solar panel to extend battery life, but the batteries are recharding. I removed the device from the network, recharged the batteries, reinserted them, then added the camera back to the network. It’s continued to charge for a couple days now.

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Reposting for those not reading all the pages

**For iOS users seeing “add a ring solar panel to extend battery life” read below.

I called CS… the person I talked to asked someone else about the “add a ring solar panel to extend battery life” statement . Developers told him that it’s on the IOs app only (not on Android) and that it’s there for everyone regardless of if they have a solar panel attached or not. It’s basically an ad. It’s not an indicator of if the solar panel is connected or not. They now know it’s causing confusion for customers that have solar panels attached.

Thank you Beth.

Even if we ignore the ad, the solar panels seem to no longer charge our cams. Not too sure what we can do to have our panels start charging again. Not sure why Ring would break this for us all. Sort of a slap in the face for those of us that bought panels, especially those that bought Ring cams because of the availablity of the panels.

The confusion I can live with. The cams needing to have their battieries charged I can’t. One cam is a big enough hassle to keep charged, but when you have several that need battery changes and charges at different times. It becomes a real hassle. Really disappointed that Ring broke my panels and cams with a poorly written app/firmware update.

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I tried the removing and re-adding as mentioned a couple of threads up. And the cam said it was updating firmware although in device health it showed as up to date. Regardless, still decreasing charge rate here in sunny AZ.

Ring – any comments?

What a disappointment that Ring is not weighing in here.

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***Try this ***

The Spotlight Cams DO charge with the solar panels BUT they don’t indicate they are charging until MANY hours later.

  1. Plug in panel
  2. Take note of battery power
  3. Allow 4-5 hours
  4. Recheck battery power level

Ring needs to fix this but they DO charge.

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Wait there is a new Super Solar panel put now? That probably is why. Jus like when new Iphns/Galaxy come out ur current one mysteriously doesnt work

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Negative. They “did” charge before the latest upgrade for many of us. That is what this entire thread is about, so many of us are not getting a full solar assisted charge or getting a very small one even with 100% all day Sunshine. I appreciate your suggestion. We all hope they are working on this behind the scenes to correct it.

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Agreed MinionJeep. My cams after putting fully charged batteries in yesterday lost 4% each and gained 1% all day today, full sunlight.

Before update, charging wasn’t even a question. They would be pegged at 100% every day. Now it looks like the panels are only slowing the need to manually recharge the batteries by only 25%. Completely not what I had in mind when purchased four months ago.

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Klscook, although it is hard not to agree with your point. The super panel was around when I first bought my regular panels. I felt paying double the price for the super was unnecessary since where I live we get 300+ days of full sunshine.

Hopefully Ring has not decided to throttle the charge rate of the regular panels to make the super panels appear to be more effective.

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Ring needs to address this directly and quickly. We have been loyal Ring device customers for years. The devices are not cheap. From the posts here this is not a brand new issue and has been around at least long enough to merit an honest response. When I had the issue with a brand new cam and panel I bought directly from Ring last week, the advice from Ring was to wipe the panel and wait a few days. WIPE THE PANEL? A brand new clean solar panel? Needless to say that was a pointless exercise. This needs to be fixed. It started out as an annoyance. It has moved into a problem. The next step will be more problematic.

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We take your feedback very seriously, neighbors, and appreciate you all taking the time to share your experience. As there are only a few troubleshooting steps that can be done with the solar panel, it’s important to also consider device and environmental variables.

If your concern comes from seeing “add a solar panel” in the Ring app device health on IOS, this is not an indicator of your Solar Panel failing to charge. This is merely advertising the Solar Panel as a helpful tip to neighbors with battery-powered devices.

For those who are noticing battery draining with a Solar Panel connected, do keep in mind, as seasons change and cold weather is more consistent, the charge life of a battery can differ. 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.

Of course, if these steps do not resolve your concerns, it would be best to reach out to our support team, at 800-656-1918, for more in-depth troubleshooting.

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I too believe my solar panel is not charging my first gen Stick Up cam. I hooked up the solar panel last summer and took down and recharged the stick up cam in mid December to 100% because it had drained to below 50%. Now it again shows 83% after only 3 weeks. The REAL problem, is that we, as customers, do not have a way to know whether the Stick Up cam is recognizing the solar panel connection or not. I chatted with support today and the rep said they have an “indicator” on their side on the back-end that shows solar panel connected, but the customer app will not show anywhere whether the solar panel is charging the battery or if the stick up cam is recognizing it’s connection on the back. That’s the main problem and should be corrected asap. It would avoid spectulation and believing that the solar panels are not working because we have no way to tell if they’re working when we see the battery drain.

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This is the Stick Up Cam message vs the Spotlight Cam message (attached). Stick Up Cam has the correct message and Spotlight Cam does not.

Ring. FIX THIS! Stop passing us off. Fix this and stop with your silly answers. Just fix it. Thx.

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From Marley:

"If your concern comes from seeing “add a solar panel” in the Ring app device health on IOS, this is not an indicator of your Solar Panel failing to charge. This is merely advertising the Solar Panel as a helpful tip to neighbors with battery-powered devices. "

Sorry, Marley but this is the dumbest explanation ever, so you either have not seen it or you don’t understand English.

The screen says:

Solar Panel Status

Add a Ring solar panel to Extend Battery Life

The key word is “STATUS”, but the whole phrase “SOLAR PANEL STATUS” should clue most English speakers that what follows is the status of the solar panel. If iOS is really just showing effectively an ad for solar planels why include the “Solar Panel Status” embolded in the same Power block as the Left and Right battery indicators?

Ring, do better. Ring board commenters, do better.

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I understand that you are trying to help and that is appreciated. But the problem is that Ring (not you personally) is not really addressing the problem. As I have detailed above as an example, I have two older stickup cams that worked fine with their solar panels for a long time. Suddenly, they stop charging. Then with the 2 new Spotlight cams and solar panels I bouoght this week in a package from Ring, the same thing happens. No charging in bright sunlight for days. I live in the deep south so the coldest we are getting in the daytime recently is in the upper 50s. I have cleaned the panels, I have used both solar panels and cams with each other in succession with no change. What can ring support possibly do? If it had happened with one solar panel and one cam I could understand their replacing them. But I have tried two sets, and interchanged them with each other. To me, that is indisputable proof that the problem is in the recent software/firmware changes. The company really does need to address theis and not just list solutions that do not work with a final admonition to have them replaced when that won;t work either. Has anyone here had any of these solutions solve the problem?

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Those “solutions” are pretty much common sense and instictive things to check before I would even consider looking up my issue on the web. The way I see it any person cablable of setting up the Ring cams and solar panels would check that before running off to a Ring forum.

Same behavoir as before, doesn’t matter if I have my panels hooked to a Spotlight cam or Stickup cam. Same ad for the solar panel in health check, same super slow “charging”.

I don’t accept the change of seasons excuse. Around my property we have had 15 solar powered flood lights for years. These are cheap solar flood lights that are purchased from Costco for 39.95 (29.95 when on sale). They use six rechargable nicad batteries, have worked for years rain or shine. They have a panel that is very much like the Ring panel (I almost thought to buy a few of them and frankenstien the panels to use on the Ring cams. Decided against it due to the Ring plug being weather proof) Only time we have had to replace a couple was when they were broken by falling branches or critters.

Was considering ordering a Super panel from Amazon, but noticed that Amazon is not specifiying free returns on it. I would hate to be stuck with a panel I do not need, epecially if it doesn’t work. Plus where we live 300+ days per year of full sunshine, I really don’t think a Super panel is needed, epecially when the regular panels have worked perfect for a few months and others by what I read for years, until this update.

Bottom line Ring has messed with the firmware or app, whatever they did whether on purpose or accident, has either stop or slowed charging by solar panel significatly.

Attached is what my health check shows for one of our Stickup Cams, second generation (the round ones).

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