Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

Total sunlight and camera’s can’t get from 98% to 100%.

Here’s an anology for you Ring. You cook the perfect meal from a new recipe. Everyone loves it and wants you to cook it again…but you lost the recipe. What do you do!?

So Ring, did you loose the previous firmware? Did you write over it? About the same time I got the fancy new motion setting screen my 4 solar spotlight cams stopped charging.

ROLL ME BACK!

Thank you, neighbors, for continuing to share your experiences and observations. As mentioned prior, this feedback has been shared with the appropriate teams. At this time your solar panel should be operating as normal, keeping in mind the amount of sunlight needed, and the effects of cold weather or increased usage.

For optimal results with your solar panel, I recommend watching our YouTube video which contains instructions, as well as some great tips, on installing the Cam and Solar Panel. Feel free to reach out to our support team for further troubleshooting!

“ At this time your solar panel should be operating as normal, keeping in mind the amount of sunlight needed, and the effects of cold weather or increased usage.”

I agree, they SHOULD be. They’re not. Let’s not obfuscate the issue by even suggesting that “cold” or “increased usage” has anything to do with the problem detailed in account after account in this thread.

The flaw that you have introduced into these devices is clearly widespread and systemic.

I keep hearing that the appropriate teams are looking into this? How about an update on what they’ve discovered and moreover what they’re doing about it?

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“ At this time your solar panel should be operating as normal, keeping in mind the amount of sunlight needed, and the effects of cold weather or increased usage.”

RING: The wording in your post infers that something was corrected and we should all be back in business. Can you communicate what occurred on Ring’s end that would cause you to publish such a post?

I have experienced no improvement.

ring is buying time sending first level support people that does not have basic understanding and/or does not read the thread.

sending us automated information that it is publicly available and we all red before coming for help to this 20+ pages conversation.

a developer could figure it out and fix this in 5 minutes but ring choses not to pay attention or not give priority to this issue.

better business bureau is a place to start to document complains of this kind, bad customer service or support,

return your equipment for a refund if you can.

ring is wasting everyones time

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I agree with River2018, RETURN YOUR EQUIPMENT IF YOU CAN

I have given the timeline of end of February. Issue not corrected ALL of my equipment is coming down and ALL equipement is either getting returned to the stores I purchased from and/or I will cancel my charges. I have already spoke with my CC company about this.

I recommend that others start looking into this option if solar charging was important to them.

For those who bought their equipment after November. This issue has been going on for almost four months. Three times ring has provided the same FAQ type responses.

FOUR MONTHS!!! Not even an acknowledgement of a POSSIBLE problem from Ring. Just the same info that ALL of us could find on their website.

Many other companies make simialr products, Arlo and Nest just to name a few. I know for a fact that Arlo solar panels are charging their cams.

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If you bought your equipment from

Costco - you can return for a FULL refund, regardless of how long ago you purchased.

Sam’s Club - Generally lifetime but your mileage might very from club to club. Some allow 30 days, 90 days, one year, lifetime.

Home Depot/Lowe’s - 90 days from date of purchase

Best Buy - 14-45 days

Amazon - 30 days

Not trying to encourage folks returning their used Ring products but many of us bought these cams under the impression that there was a solar option that would help prevent having to change out batteries. The loss is not just a $49 solar panel but like in my case all my battery powered cams. All the time, money and energy to research, install and troubleshoot.

i received my solar spotlight cam and installed it, battery has decayed every day in the 5 days I have had it, and there has been ample sunshine. Also getting the message in status to “install solar panel…”

Hi - just chiming in as I just found this thread. Glad it’s not me!

I have a Video Doorbell, hardwired, and a couple Spotlight Cams, one on a solar panel with two batteries.

For quite some everything worked fine and in the solar Spotlight Cam both batteries were always pegged at 100%.

In October we had the siding replaced so the cams came down. In early December I reinstalled everything, and also got the new iOS app. Noticed the new features and the solar panel field. Here’s what I get now:

The Doorbell is NOT on a panel, but its panel status shows “Connected”.

For the cam that IS on a panel, the panel status shows the "Add a panel…"message, as if it isn’t connected. As far as charging, some sunny days both batteries run up to 100%, but other sunny days (like today) one battery runs down. Very flaky!

I think the prior poster referencing the app dev process was right on. My hunch is, the new features needed complementary app and firmware updates, and both went out buggy. Unfortunately sounds like Ring didn’t fund some ongoing maintenance dollars along with the outsourced development. If that’s the case, we may have to wait until they bid out the next full app update, IF they include this in the RFP.
It would be nice to get a meaningful update from Ring development.

Does anyone know of an open source or 3rd party tool that shows additional metadata, like firmware version or that secret “charging status”?

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I’m pretty sure the Costco refund policy would fall under their electronics refunds which is 90 days .

FYI. There was an iOS app update pushed 2 days ago. It’s version 5.22.2

I think the one that first should the solar panel status line was either 5.19.0 or 5.20.2.

The android app version ( has not had the solar panel status line) was last updated on Dec 20, 2019.

I have iOS app version 5.22.1. Mine has the status line for the panel. My setup is brand new and shows connected in daylight and goes back to the suggestion to connect the panel at night. My battery is consistently around 99%. (Knock on wood)

actually in my case, I left the camera without charge for couple of month ( because it wasnt charging and it is not easily accessible ) and it went absolutely dead… no new or recharged batteries can wake it up.

It was working fine before that , with zero issues and the panel itself works fine too , so its definitely a bad firmware problem for that specific camera.

since it was just a month after an out of warranty year I went for battle with Ring support and they are absolutely horrible.

I think they use community support with premade script with absolutely no escalation options… I basically had to talk to 10 different people, promising me different things… and in the end they told me to get new device and they will reimburse certain amount … which didnt happen until another 5 -6 conversations and then they emailed me saying it would be sent to old “on file” credit card which has been expired for about 5 years( I dont even know which card was it) … and when I complained told me to to take it with a bank… which bank?? Absolutely insane…

The only thing that worked for me was to present all the data and screenshots to paypal and ask for their mediation. ( full charge reversal )

So… good luck.

I personally think ,Ring or Amazon should step in and fix this once and for all for all the affected customers … Amazon can afford it and it would be better than generating all the bad press … Chinese camera makers are catching up

I am going to give it another week. If this is not solved I will be switchingout all the cameras for the arlo cams. This is frankly getting ridiculous.

Beth M, no the 90 days is generally for MAJOR electronics such as computers, TVs, iPads etc. Costco always states on receipt if the item is under a 90 day return period all my receipts for Ring products purchased from Costco do not state this. I had a Ring Doorbell 2 that I bought from Costco stop work after over one year. Went for an exchange and Costco REFUNDED my money. I then was free to either keep the refund or buy another one at either the price I paid or current selling price. Whichever was lower. I elected to buy another one.

Costco truly understands and values their customers. Costco takes care of their members when the manufacturers don’t. I am so happy that I bought the majority of my Ring products from Costco.

I love my Arlo cameras. I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Those on battery only last 4-6 months between charges. I have one on a solar (aftermarket) and that is great too. I have the ring doorbell for 2 months. I have had problems and I’m paying for the service and my Arlos have no fee.

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i have been dealing with this problem since i got this set up dec 27 but for the 1st time since i got it today it when from 65 to 66 % and it is cloudy he in NY so i am hopeful that it is fix the line still says hook up a panel but i don’t care what that says as long as the battery charges so let’s see if tomorrow when the sun is out it charges friday was my dead line but up one % is better then no %

GREAT NEWS

Yesterday evening I changed one of my Stickup Cams battery from a dead battery to a fresh 100% charged battery. The sun had already gone down, so this morning before sunrise, the battery had dropped to 96%, just checked right now and the BATTERY IS AT 100%, so I will have to assume the battery IS charging now. There has been quite a few events detected on that camera this morning, so I believe it is more than the battery gaining charge due to temp fluctuation.

Still have the “Add a Ring Solar…” in Solar Panel Status field, but I’m not concerned with that.

Hi neighbors. Thank you for this information-- it is greatly appreciated. The team is continuing to investigate this and trying to see if there is anything that happened in November (when most neighbors said this first started to happen) to trigger this. I will continue to keep you posted and appreciate your patience. Thank you!

This is great! Again charged up to 100% now. Was 97% this morning and it’s not even that sunny out today.

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