Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

It seems the problem is fixed, but it is still mislabeling the solar charger. Sure, it’s a minor inconvenience if it’s working properly, but this is Ring, owned by Amazon, so I would expect more from a trillion dollar company than my college programming final with a few bugs.

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UPDATE

Late last week I notice after installing a freshly charged batter on one of my Stick Up cams, that the solar panel appeared to be charging.

I then on Friday installed freshly 100% charged batteries to my other three Stick Up cams and a Doorbell 2 connected to an aftermarket solar mount.

I was going to report back my findings on Monday, but most of Monday was cloudy.

Since Friday evening, all sunny days except for Monday. My cams and doorbell 2, report

88%-89% Stick Up Cams

92% Doorbell 2

I have at least 12 incidents per day on these devices.

Seems to be charging, not sure if it is back to where it was before the Oct/Nov debacle, will keep an eye. Hopefully the solar panels can keep these devices charged until sunny and hotter days come around.

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yeah i have notice tha my solar cam has been charging slowly it was at 63 and i three days it’s up to 76% and the other is still at 100 % that’s with cloudy days as long as it keeps that up i am happy and will keep it it seems that the problem is fix i dont care that the app has that line add a solar panel to charge your batteries. as long as it’s charging it’s all good

Yes, it appears that Ring updated their software from version 3.21.1 (Nov 2019) to version 3.22.1 (January 2020). The update seems to have fixed the problem of solar panels not charging the batteries on Spotlight Cameras.

I purchased four new Spotlight Cameras and one new solar panel to test the charging function. The solar panel did not charge the battery on the Spotlight Camera to which it was attached, until I downloaded and installed the 3.22.1 update. The battery on that camera was draining at a rate of about 2% per day. One hour after installing the update the battery went from 82% to 87% and continues to increase. Let’s hope the software update is a good fix.

The Ring CS folks should probably broadcast this fix to the community and recommend going to Play Store and download the update.

Now I think I’ll order the other three Ring solar panels needed for the other three Spotlight Cameras.

UPDATE:

This makes no sense… the camera seem to be charging as of the date of my prior post, and it seemed to charging even on cloudy days. But within the last few days nothing, and it’s been sunny, very sunny in fact. I am wondering if there was another firmware update that went and screwed it up again. It makes no sense that it charges up 3 or 4 percent on cloudy days, but bright and sunny no charge and even 1 or 2 percent drainage during the day. This sucks, it’s back to the way it was before now. :frowning:

There was another update today which I did and I haven’t seen any difference…I actually got a notification that one of my Spotlight Cams need recharging and that’s with having 2 batteries installed…I told hubby that this weekend I need him to unplug the solar panel for all 3 spotlight cams and plug it in again and we will see if it works if not I guess next weekend we will uninstall and reinstall…hope there’s some solution to all this craziness because at the end of the day these devices are costly and I have 5 devices 3 of which has double batteries and solar panels attached. Just frustrating…sorry for my rant!!!

Hi neighbors- want to clarify this would not be due to an App update. Team is still investigating.

Yep I am aware it would be due to a firmware update, nothing to do with an app update. People seem to confuse the two on what they accually effect.

Weird though, seems I spoke too soon. Got a 2% charge today and to note there was a lot of activity/motion detection. This system is just odd. lol

same here camera was ok even charging in cloudy days and now back to NO charging at all

We updated our iOS app as soon as the reports started coming in. Our battery continues to decline daily. We have had this up and running for several years and never had to manually charge the battery a single time until this whole debacle started. We had always stayed at or near 100% no matter the season. Whatever improvements others have seen in recent days, they have yet to come to our house.

Update

I guess I spoke too soon. This whole week has been nothing but sunny days without any clouds. Except for Monday. I have started to notice my devices are dropping in charge. They are now in their mid-80s, for a couple of days last week it seemed As though they were finally charging and my test device actually kept its charge to 100%.

This is definitely a firmware issue, but since no one knows and Ring will not tell us anything. I am assuming that with the app updates there is a possibility that the updates push firmware updates to the cameras.

I cant believe how slow RING are in fixes these issues, i am just glad i returned and refunded my spotlight cams and solar panels as soon as i did and replaced them with the wired versions!

RING initally told me that the panels and cameras were defective and replaced them and when the replacements also didnt charge with the solar panels they changed there tune and said that there was a firmware issue and assured me that the next lot of replacements will have the right firmware on them?? you know what i said no thanks give me my money back!

I am starting to think that these devices cant even update thier firmware themselves OTA, as why else would RING say that the 2nd lot of replacements will have the right firmware on them?

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ring we need developers and people with technical skills reading the thread not social media managers or marketing people please fix the issues, and more important stop wasting our time with responses that dont make any sense, do you thin we did not search the forums and tried everything already???

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@river2018 You hit the nail on the head…each of my devices say “Firmware up to date” yet still I am having so many issues…I work for IT and if we had this much issues from users For such a period of time…a lot of jobs would be replaced with ones that could ensure that whatever system/product works properly (no one says that all systems are perfect but this is ridiculous)

Ring needs to be more transparet on what firmware version our devices are on, not just “firmware up to date”

If I recall, EVERY Ring device that I have installed, has done a firmware update when setup. This update usually takes a few minutes and the device is not usable during the time. So the devices do have the ablity to update OTA, at least when first setup. Whether they continue to update once they are put into service is a question that we can’t answer due to not knowing what update they are on.

If I recall when I first bought into the Ring eco system, I want to say that the firmware version was listed on the device health. Now that Ring has dumbed down the app, we are missing important info.

Hi neighbors- please stop thinking this is a firmware issue as it has not been confirmed from the team it is. As mentioned, it could be due to weather (specifically colder temperatures), angle of device, multiple things, AND we have the team currently testing in a variaty of situations. I would kindly request your patience during this time.

I’d also like to remind the neighbors here that an APP update is different than a Firmware update. Some neighbors are confused saying version 5.13, 5.22, etc is Firmware, it is not. That is your App version.

Also, as the Community Manager of Ring, I assure you that popular topics are sent to the appropriate team members on a daily/weekly basis. Your comments are heard and I will continue to update you all with information as it becomes available, but please take into consideration the Community Guidelines. Harrassing the community team and these post will not help in these matters but know that we are here to help and ensure that we get answers for you. Your happiness and overall satisfaction with Ring is top priority for myself – we appreciate your patience while we work on this.

Jennifer (Community Manager) I am sorry if you think I am harassing the community but I believe for the monies that have been Invested into these devices we deserve to at least hear from an Expert about our concerns (no disrespect to you) it’s not just 1 or 2 people with issues and I think it’s only fair…I was actually glad to find this forum because when I contacted the Ring Customer Service was pretty clueless as to why The issue was occurring…which I never mentioned but if you see my posting and responding to other consumers that are experiencing similar issues as harassment then I do apologize

I have the same issue on a brand new spotlight cam and solar charger. Everything was setup and after a few hours of sunlight I don’t think its charging the battery.

You might want to check the version of your Ring software app. If it is version 3.21.1 then you should download and install the update to version 3.22.1. I was having the same problem with my new Spotlight Camera and solar panel. After downloading and installing the software app update, the battery in my new camera went from 82% to 87% in about an hour and is now at 90% and climbing. I am using a Samsung Galexy smartphone, which is Android of course. Maybe this also applies to Apple iOS users, but don’t know. Hope this helps.

My unit is charging correctly now.
I asked Ring to send me a replacement spot cam, replacement solar and new battery. One if them did the trick I think. Even with the gray winter day and a fairly chatty notification setting it hovers between 99-100%.