Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

Hey Jennifer_Ring… I have to go up a ladder Sunday and swap battery again !!!, How about sending me a battery so I don’t have to go up a ladder every couple weeks since the solar panel and Ring are not doing there job.

I’ve had the camera and panel for years. It stopped working at the same time everyone else is reporting here.
It’s not the cold. It’s not the angle. It’s something pushed out by ring via software. I’d bet a paycheck on it. Despite my app being up to date, I’m still having issues.
I think ring is being negligent

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good luck with that i had to buy another battery. i just notice also that i try to shut off my alert shut off it was set at two hrs by that time so do e will steal my car every time i shut it down and check it it’s back to 2 hrs don’t know why what a mess

UPDATE

Any positive momentum towards getting our solar panel chargers back to how they were has been negated in the past week. The batteries in my four solar Stickup cams and Ring Doorbell 2 are not being charged by the panels and are now below 80%, 20% drop in one week.

I noticed that this issue has started to be discussed on other social media forums.

Ring, before you post about weather conditions. Keep in mind this fall/winter has been warmer than average over most of the US. Many of the folks that have owned the solar panels for more than a year report that they worked fine the past winters.

So Ring please don’t tells us about weather possibly being the culprit. Tell us what is REALLY going on! We are going on four months now.

Class action !

Please fix the solar panel issue or stop selling panels. I bought a new panel thinking the old one was going bad but still same issue . Bought a new camera thinking it was the camera going bad but still same issue. The solar panels are not working to keep the battery charged. Old cameras and panels that haven’t been replaced working fine. All new cameras and panel are horrible.

I contacted Ring via Facebook on Saturday and they are going to look into why my cam isn’t charging via the solar panel and why the solar panel power source option has dissapeared from the App. Ring said they will get back to me tomorrow (Tues). I seem to have a new issue now that the cam has stopped sending motion notifications. App says the cam is online and you can do Live Views and show via Alexa but its not recording any new motion and sending notifications.

I am having the same issue, too. First noticed it on Friday the 31st. Is there another GROUP on RING discussing this new issue, or will it be combined with all other cameras having solar panel issues? I cannot believe how these problems are growing…

Chester65: I seem to have a new issue now that the cam has stopped sending motion notifications. App says the cam is online and you can do Live Views and show via Alexa but its not recording any new motion and sending notifications.

Jennifer you said you review the issues with developers daily, anything you can share with us on where we are in terms of a solution ?

Ever since Ring was sold to Amazon. They started to push lower quality, cheaper products. The new Ring Wired cam, the Ring Indoor Cam, a much cheaper Outdoor Stick up cam. All priced from $59-$99. I have a couple of the indoor ones decent but nowhere the quality of the originals that ran $179-249 depending if you bought in a solar package.

Is it possible down that Amazon owns ring, they are putting the majority of their efforts into making sure these new products are sellable. And those of us that bought the original and more expensive cameras have been given the backseat to any type of support and development?

Out of all the neighbors who are commenting on this thread, who have talked to support?

I’m waiting for support to get back to me.

After many posts on this forum and complaining about my solar panel not working after 2 years of working great, I was responded to by Jennifer from Ring Community… At that time she recommended that I replace the solar panel with a new one, supplied by her, with instructions and shipping label for returning the old one so Ring tecs might determine if there’s a root problem with them which I did (might have made a mistake by cleaning it first) .
Well I am very very happy to say that after installing the new panel in a new location (directly south) and at a 45* angle both batteries fully charged from 66% and 85% with appx. 10 hours of sunlight here in Florida … I still can’t figure out why after working for 2 years with no problem that we are/were having problems all around the same time but all I can say is make sure panel is clean (?) and installed in direct south facing obstructed sun at 45* angle and see what happens !

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Support never responded to me either. They didn’t believe me that I don’t have a solar charger.

@Jennifer_Ring

I actually spoke to Ring Customer Service, the sent me 2 batteries and I had to purchase another one and still that didn’t work…So idk what to say again…every week my spouse has to go climb and change the batteries. This weekend he even unplugged the Solar panel and connected them again and no luck…

Jennifer_Ring: speaking strictly for 1st Gen Stick Up Cam and Ring Brand Solar Panel, I also had some issues with the solar panel not charging the battery towards the end of last year after it was not previously a problem since being mounted during the summer of 2019. I worked with your senior mangement (help line was not helpful) and posted a solution that worked for me on 1-27-20 at 10:31am. The battery had dipped to 67% from 100% in December and this week it reached 100% again after I implemented the changes described in the post. I hope that helps some Ring Neighbors.

I’m reporting back after having my camera and solar panel running for a few days:

  1. I did not use the Ring mount as it just allows you to angle the panel up/down or left/right (depending on how you affix the mount to your wall). Instead I used the Wasserstein gutter mount available from Amazon for $13 that allows you to angle the solar panel so that it’s perpendicular to the sun’s rays. That’s when the panel is most efficient.

  2. I installed a fully charged battery and the solar panel has been able to keep the battery fully charged. The camera is in a spot with lots of activity so it picks up quite a bit of motion (meaning it’s used quite a bit and thus consumes quite a bit of battery). Without the solar panel it would drop about 10% a day. With the panel it might drop to 98% overnight, but quickly gets back to 100% with a few hours of sunlight.

Out of interest does everyone have the solar panel option as the power source in the App under device health as I just have battery only. I’ve asked Ring but have not come back to me as yet. It says my firmware is up to date. Thanks

no my line says add a solar panel to help charge your batteries or something like that but i am getting charge to my batteries so as long as it’s charging i don’t care what the line says

Thanks for that, no wonder my solar panel isn’t doing anything as I doubt the camera is recognising it if its not an option an the App I’m using .