Spotlight Cam Wired - Sound Issues

Hello,

I am starting to have issues with my Ring Spotlight Cam Wired device which has usually worked pretty well up until now. I first noticed the issue when listening to live video on the device and noticed a buzzing noise or popping/crackling noise coming through, as opposed to any audio. Going back and listening to previous recordings, I found oddly that it started on July 25th and that any and all recordings since then don’t record any audio, other than the popping/crackling noise. I reset the device today by manually holding down the button on the device for 30 seconds, and when playing live video afterwards, the audio worked fine, for about 30 seconds, and then the rest of the live view went back to the popping/crackling noise. And again going forward, there is no audio but the popping/crackling noise.

I also thought about wifi interference so I plugged in another router I had, but had the same results.

Wondering if anyone else has dealt with this issue and how they were able to get the issue resolved.

Thanks

@ntgreat wrote:

Hello, . . . issues with my Ring Spotlight Cam Wired device . . . noticed a buzzing noise or popping/crackling noise . . . started on July 25th . . . reset the device . . . for 30 seconds . . . thought about wifi interference . . . Thanks"

I’ve not had this problem before, so I’m taking a guess here. You already did a hard factory reset, which is where I would have started too. There is a possibility that this issue is the result of Wi-Fi interference from a nearby neighbor’s router. Your camera uses 2.4 GHz for Wi-Fi and generally routers are configured to Automatically shift/hop to different Channels when interference is encountered from other routers. If on July 25, your neighbor’s router hopped to your channel, or your router hopped to their channel, there could be interference. But generally, interference results in a weaker Wi-Fi transmission, causing “No Connection” to Live View, or Black Video. Sometimes, if your camera is plugged into house AC power, some GFCI outlets can setup buzzing electrical-power interference, and therefore move your plug to a non-GFCI protection outlet.

But in case your audio issue IS caused by Wi-Fi interference, you might want to look into modifying your 2.4 GHz Channel Selection too. In Auto mode, routers often pick a main, commonly-used channels in Auto Mode (Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 11). But accessing my router’s configuration through my PC browser and using a downloaded App on my Window’s PC (Wifi Analyzer and Scanner), I configure my router not to use its Auto Channel Selection Mode, and rather stay on the 2.4 GHz channel of my choice . There are 11 channels (1 thru 11) to choose from. In my case, I found that Ch 4, which is in between the typically used channels, gave me the strongest signal and lowest interference, according to the Analyzer App. This channel did reduce the Wi-Fi interference I was getting from my neighbor’s routers. I also did noticed an improvement on my Ring cameras connection speed too.

I don’t know if this will help in your situation, but it’s a possibility, maybe? Of course, the interference could be from another source, or your camera is just slowly failing.

And if your issues continue, you should call Ring Support by telephone:

https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036196372-Get-in-Touch

I hope this information is helpful. :slight_smile:

Did you ever get a fix for your spotlight cam? Mine just started with the exact same issue.
Thanks

No, I ended up having to talk with tech support for a little bit, to where they ultimately said that my unit was bad and I needed to replace it, on my own dime. They ended up replacing the unit for free after I gave a poor review on Amazon and talking with one of their community support folks, so that was nice. Oddly though, the unit started to work fine after they shipped the replacement, so not sure if some software fix came along or not.