Ring doorbell not charging

I agree that this has to be a firmware issue. Prior to checking on line, when my doorbell 2 started to fail to charge, I decided to upgrade my transformer, check the wires, and cleaned the terminals. I lowered the sensitivity even though my settings were the same as they always were with the one exception…person ID. Since that has been active the wiring is not able to charge the battery. Ring needs to get this fixed ASAP.

UPDATE -

TURN OFF SMART ALERTS - People Only Mode

Doorbell returns to being able to keep a charge on the battery.

With it on the battery will only last about 2 days.

@Aberken wrote:

UPDATE -

TURN OFF SMART ALERTS - People Only Mode

Doorbell returns to being able to keep a charge on the battery.

With it on the battery will only last about 2 days.

My problem started after they updated the firmware to include Smart Alerts, but Smart Alerts was never enabled. It’s a firmware issue, not a setting issue (though enabling this setting will impact the battery).

Either way, Ring lost me…I’m not renewing my subscription and once Wyze releases there doorbell I’m switching and selling the Ring to recoup costs.

I saw on here someone put 2 washers on the terminals to make a better connection and also pressed harder when attaching it to the bracket. I did this and now my Ring says it’s hardwired.

Though some people have had hard Meier connection issues, most people have always been hardwired yet they still discharge. I added the washers in case it would give a stronger connection, but I’m still all over the place.

Again the only solution is to abandon the platform. There are other competitors in this market with more coming. The Ring cameras are pretty poor quality considering the price tag. Again a $25 Wyze camera quality is far superior to Ring’s $200 Doorbell.

They’ve lost me as a customer.

I was kind of hoping this issue was fixed as I was keen to purchase one. Have been monitoring this thread for over 2 weeks. Not enough info about the new Doorbell3 .

Now going to purchase Eufy.

@alpha wrote:

I was kind of hoping this issue was fixed as I was keen to purchase one. Have been monitoring this thread for over 2 weeks. Not enough info about the new Doorbell3 .

Now going to purchase Eufy.

Honestly the Ring 3 sounds like a joke. Looking at the specs it sounds like the Ring 2 with a 5GHz wifi nic. For this application 2.4GHz is enough, especially since 5GHz has terrible wall penetration, which is what these devices are on the other side of…a wall.

Looking it seems to have the same “1080p” 160 degree camera…which unless they upgraded the sensors/optics, will give the same garbage picture quality.

Yeah 5ghz is probably not ideal for the doorbell. In some cases though it may be better. 2.4 does penetrate walls better, but the available frequencies on that band are fewer than 5, and since it reaches farther there is typically a lot more congestion on the 2.4 band, especially in a large neighborhood or condo complex.

I do appreciate the 5ghz option.

I don’t appreciate what they did here and how, instead of admitting there is an issue, they deflected and refused to acknowledge their customer’s concerns. I bought heavily into the Ring ecosystem; I have the full alarm system, a doorbell, and two floodlight cameras. So it’s not as easy for me to just ditch them. I keep holding out hope that they will improve their customer service, but we will see.

As an aside, my doorbell is currently at 100% and has been for weeks now. Something changed. I didn’t change the wiring or add washers or any of that. It just started charging again on its own.

Well, I’ve determined that the stock market is doing much better than my Ring battery. My battery is definitely losing charge faster than the market is losing value. Charged my battery Midway through February after realizing that Ring unadmittedly screwed up the firmware. Over the next 2 weeks, it dropped to around 45%. Miraculously, it started charging again and reached approximately 78% over a couple week period. Now it’s 72%. I’d rather lose my life savings to the market, as opposed to losing my life to the pandemic zombies, but you know, a dead battery is my fault, not Rings. Ring don’t care. Also when can I expect the Smart Alerts feature that was released last year?

I tried adding the washers too and it started saying hardwired again but unfortunately, it only last a few days.

Has this issue improved for anyone after this last update?

The washer trick will only work if you did not make a good connection to begin with during initial install. If you’ve freshly stripped the wires and theyre snug around the screws, washers will make no difference.

This is purely a firmware issue with the ring doorbell. My parents doorbell continues to discharge dispite the warmer weather we have been having. Its been in the positives the last few days and the doorbell is at 30%. This is just awful, no fix as of yet and they wont even admit theres an issue. Worst company ever.

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Do NOT pay into the Ring subscription. The doorbell does not work and you’re stuck with a pile of junk and they do nothing to support their customers. The subscription is an absolute joke and a quick money grab.

Just had a ring hardwired a week or so ago and battery is down to almost 90%. I would say I had 15-20 motion events over the course of that span.

Seems like excessive charge lost considering its hardwired and the device is brand new…

Yo Neighbor,

My experience was that I had two issues that indicated lack of continuity from the doorbell to the house wiring: (1) RING doorbell battery was not charging, and (2) RING doorbell pushbutton would not sound my interior Chime unit by BRAUN. The washers fixed both. I still think there is a design defect in the baseplate that the doorbell attaches to via the spring fingers and also the house wiring attaches to via the two screws. I did not try to determine exactly how the washers solved my two problems because that would probably involve damaging the baseplate.

Ed

Is there youtube video anywhere of this washer fix/trick?

@Gum765 wrote:

Is there youtube video anywhere of this washer fix/trick?

I posted pictures somewhere in here. But it’s only helpful if you have a poor connection. I did it hoping that was my problem, but it didn’t help. I’m convinced (as many other are) that it’s a firmware issue that Ring is ignoring.

Again, I’m canceling my subscription once it’s up (every time I go to cancel it tells me I’ll lost access to my cloud videos immediately, which make me think once you cancel that’s it, you don’t get the rest of the year’s subscription, which is scummy in of itself) and switching to Wyze once they release their doorbell. Wyze has a strong connection to it’s community and actively interacts with them online. Great company and highly recommend them.

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Dang sounds like it is a firmware issue for sure.

Thanks for the info on the other brand.

Ring come on…no word on other problems with this besides the weather??

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All I did was to loosen each of the two screws fastening the two wires from the home wiring to the RING doorbell baseplate, and put a small washer between the wire loop and the brass terminal that the screw fastens to, and retighten. Do this for both of the screws.

That was it. I didn’t invent this, just took advice from a post by bobbetts

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It’s too coincidental
New features released - assume with new firmware. Now multiple reports of Hardwired charging not working - mine is at 9% hardwired and for the last 9 months had been 85-100% every time I checked.

I wish tech companies would just fess up and fix instead of putting their customers on the run around trying to fix something they are not ever going to fix.

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I am having the same issue. Hardwired, getting good voltage, good connection and now its showing that the battery is discharging. Last time I reset my Ring and the power jumped from 90% to 100% when I checked the health…so I am wondering if it’s just reading the battery wrong.

Regardlesss, I don’t want to do a hard reset on this every couple of weeks…Is there a fix for this?

3 Likes