Spotlight Cam Battery not charging with solar panel

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 .

34% for me - never charged from a 2 weeks ago… iphone app still says, connect a battery… ugh.

In my case, going down to 30 degrees is a rarity where I live. If I remember right Ring batteries have problems with extreme cold. The temperture dropped to 33 degrees one night. We don’t get snow, but the mountains were heavy with it. All of the cams have 2 batteries and solar panels. One of the batteries on the garage cam dropped to 75% and fell steadily day by day. The second battery held at 90% percent, charged up to 95% for a day or two then hung at 75%. When the first battery hit 27%, the remaining battery began to drain too. The solar panel has full sun, but the batteries weren’t charging. I ended up replacing both batteries with new ones. It hasn’t been that cold since and I haven’t had problems with charging. Back on the charger, both batteries took more than 3 days to fully charge and when I tried to use them in my doorbell,the doorbell was was instantly dead. I used a different battery and the doorbell worked again. The the indicators on the damaged batteries said they needed to be charged again. I got rid of them.

Something to keep in mind for the hundreds of us. About the same time the solar panel status field showed up the wheels came off. Why is that? Only Ring can answer that question and so far we’ve got nothing from them. I’m appox. $1,000 deep in equp. costs and not happy. My 4 solar powered cams are not being used an can barely stay charged.

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Jennifer any news from your daily status with developers?

and yes many of us talked to support and they told us the same tips that are available in the internet and doesn’t work

@ClintJ…just like you I invested over $1000 on devices, I have 2 doorbells and 3 spotlight cams with solar panels and extra batteries (Not to mention paying the yearly amount for monitoring) so this is why it is frustrating, we not talking about pennies spent!!!

ClintJ, I’m in the same boat as you. Bought a couple of Ring doorbells a few years ago, then got sucked into the Ring eco system. Everything was working fine (not great) but you learn to live with it if you set your expections right (don’t expect, cutting edge security). Then “the wheels came off” in Oct/Nov2019.

What I can’t live with is changing batteries out every two to three weeks. The four solar cams I have are useless. As well as the Ring doorbell I have on a rental I own. The only Ring stuff that is working like normal is the stuff that is hardwired.

Funny thing is the other solar stuff that I had for years, has not seen a negative impact from the “earth tilting on its axis”. Just the Ring stuff.

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Everything he said EXACTLY. LMAO

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Hey Jennifer_Ring.

I made a post on 2/1/2020 and not have heard back from you.

How about getting me a extra battery since Ring can not figure this out?

Also whats going on?

Why is it taking so long to figure this problem out?

I’m getting very frustrated with Ring

Have not seen any new post recently, did the solar panels issue get fixed?

Mine still does not charged and still have message under Solar Panel Status “Add a Ring solar panel to Extend Battery Life”

All of mine are still not charging.

I think folks just got tired of beating a dead horse. I know I did. When I get around to it I’ll look into other options. Most likely just going to either do without the Ring products by getting a real CCVC system setup or just do without cameras in those areas. Most of my equipment was purchased either where I can still return it or have my CC drop the charges.

Pretty much the same story, little guy gets rollerballed again, corp wins by holding out the longest. Most folks will just learn to live with it, others will return their equipment or just have another gizmo that doesn’t work “as seen on TV”. Ring/Amazon will keep going and scoop another demographic now that they have the much cheaper Ring products out.

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Any lawyers who might be looking through this, sign me up for the class action. Ring broke our product and is just leaving us in the lurch while so-and-so supposedly checks in with them periodically.

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@Richs no change on my end…actually both of the batteries for my driveway had to be changed today after being changed last week and actually we had a couple days that was over 50’s so go figure…but like everyone else I am tired and DEFINITELY WOULD NOT BE RECOMMENDING “RING” to ANYONE

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?

i can only speak for myself i down loade the new app and stared seeing some charging even when it was cloudy but it would always be around 70% then i notice that it was going off to much and checked the motion zone reajusted the zone to only see my property and did not link the door to the solar cam as it was before the solar cam is just focus on my car in the drive way and since i did that the charge is up to 90% the line say add a solar panel but i don’t care what it says as long as it’s charging now i have to keep checking that it does not shut off for 2 hrs which it was doing

Hi, any word on this issue of the solar panel/battery not charging?. I have a spotlight cam not even a year since i bought it, already took the battery off the cam recharged it about a month ago and it looks like i have to recharge it again. It’s currently about 25 percent. Is not the weather here in Florida. At least for me the sun hits directly to the panel.

I changed setting in other for the cam not to consume too much of the battery, disconneted the solar panel, check for any dust or damages, cleaned the panel and the cable and put it back up. So what now? What is the situation? I have not seen any improvement in the battery. Is Ring going to provide me with a new device, batteries or solar panel? Whats the solution? Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.