Connections on 3 Plus with solar panels

I see only two screw connections on the back of my 3 Plus. Just want to confirm that these same two screws where I connect the solar charger are also the screws where I connect the wires that ring my chime - yes?? Neither the momentary current passing through when the button is pushed, nor the constant low current of the solar charger will interfere or damage the other system components??

Hi @Anon_Y_Mous. If you are hardwiring your Ring Video Doorbell 3 to an in home chime kit, you do not need to also connect your Solar Panel. The hardwiring from the chime kit circuit is also connected to a doorbell transformer, which will serve as a trickle charger to your Ring Video Doorbell 3. More information about hardwiring can be found here. If you have anymore questions, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. We’re taking additional steps to protect our team and help reduce the spread of COVID-19, so this has resulted in longer than normal wait times. If you are outside of the US, please read our response to COVID-19 here to see how to contact support.

Tom, I wish you and Marley (https://community.ring.com/t5/Video-Doorbells/3-Plus-with-Chime-where-to-put-the-resistor/m-p/60704#M19913) would get together and create a nice wiring diagram for the common possible situations. Sorry to be old school, but the pictures in the manual do not explain everything. And I am now more confused than before!

I have an elctro-mechanical (solenoid) chime. One wire goes from the transformer straight to the chime. The other wire goes to the current switch and then to the chime.

In this wiring scheme, there should be zero current flow between the two contacts unless the switch is pressed to ring the doorbell – yes?? So if I wire the solar panel to these two contacts on the back of the 3 Plus, I’m constantly sending current up to my chime – yes??

Hi @Anon_Y_Mous. There are three components in a standard Doorbell circuit. The Doorbell, the transformer, and the chime kit. If you have a pre-existing doorbell circuit, you should have to do nothing more that remove the old doorbell and install you Ring Video Doorbell 3+. This link here will show in detail all that is needed to complete this. If you feel uncertain or unsafe performing this task, I would recommend to consult a trusted and licensed electrician.

Tom: I have been working with electrical circuits since my military days in the 70s. I am quite comfortable working with just about anything with wires – **providing I know what I’m dealing with!!** I know enough to understand that there may be factors I don’t know about, and maybe I should ask some questions SO I DON’T BLOW UP MY NEW DEVICE!

As for “consult a trusted and licensed electrician”, do you honestly think I’m going to find an electrician who understands video cameras? Maybe you should update your canned boiler-plate response to “consult a trusted and licensed alarm installer”. Or – I dunno – provide the actual information I asked for instead of calling me incompetent, scared, and/or stupid?

Wiring this in doesn’t bother me at all. Not knowing the technical aspects of the circuit does give me a bit of an itch. Getting stiff-armed and demeaned by those who are suppsed to help me, who can’t just say “gee, I don’t know that one” – now *THAT* bothers me!

If I just follow your directions and stick power to this thing as you have described, and something kills my 3 Plus from following your directions, is that good enough for Ring to warrenty the device and not blame me for bad installation??

Hi @Anon_Y_Mous. Chiming in for Tom here! Thank you for your feedback here. The information that we have on installs is a bit limited and found in the Help Center Article that Tom referenced here. You can find a more visual step by step in the YouTube video attached. We unfortunately do not have too much detailed information on this situation and what we can provide over the forum, which is why we recommend the electrician in these situations. In addition, you can contact our support team at any time. If our first level of support cannot assist, our second level is happy to assist with more complex situations and I recommend calling them first if there is any hesitation with your setup!

As we are a neighbor to neighbor support forum and not a direct line to support, calling into our support team will ensure you get the personalized support. Please feel free to share how your setup goes or how the call goes, as your experience and ways of setup may help other neighbors that run into a similar situation! :slight_smile:

If you need to get to support, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. We’re taking additional steps to protect our team and help reduce the spread of COVID-19. This has resulted in longer than normal wait times. If you are outside of the US, please read our response to COVID-19 here to see how to contact support.

As I expected, it not only did not work - it almost burned up my chime! Just like I said, wiring everything to the two screws on the back of the camera put constant power to the chime. I walked into the house after I finished mounting the thing and immediately smell hot electrical. (I’ve stared down problems in the innards of things like radars, TVs, copiers, and semi-automated industrial sewing machines, so I’m familiar with circuits, problems, potential problems - and hot electrical.)

Took it all down - it will go back into the box and back to Ring. No technical diagrams, insipid instruction book drawings that don’t fit all situations, and the solar panel didn’t have room for the bell wires. Clearly I was supposed to throw away my mechanical chime and spend more money on a Ring electronic chime. (And this doesn’t even touch all the issues about sending private data to third parties!)

I’m done with Ring doorbells. I might try the cameras - but only after I do a *lot* more research. I really hope to find a better vendor - and I bet I do.