Ring doorbell not charging

If you search the forum for my ID, djbilo, you will also see a description of a physical issue with the battery pin contacts in the Ring 2.

It isn’t just firmware in some cases. Those spring loaded pins collapse and can’t make contact to power the unit and charge the battery.

A washer doesn’t help in that case. Nor does new firmware.

I’m posting this as just another data point for others to consider. When my Ring Doorbell version 1 stopped showing hardwired (and stopped ringing our mechanical chimes) after about six months, I thought it was due to the firmware upgrade others mentioned. It now appears that when I installed the Ring Wedge Kit to improve its position on the doorpost, I switched the wires. It never occurred to me that it would make a difference because the transformer is AC and, therefore, polarity should not be an issue. Out of desperation for having to remove the doorbell periodically to recharge it, I switched the wires. Within a few minutes, the Ring app showed that the doorbell was hardwired and the mechanical chimes rang upon pressing the button. I can only speculate that having the chimes in series with one of the doorbell’s terminals is different from having it in series with the other one, but I have no idea why that would be the case. It still remains to be seen whether the doorbell will remain charged now that it admits to being hardwired.

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Ring doorbell been running on transformer for about 4 months with device charging and internal bell ringing. Now the RING doorbell is not charging but the internal transformer powered bell is still working so this shows me that the cable back to the transformer is intact hence the bell is working but is the fact the device is not charging a RING issue?

Hi @iankearns! Great work testing the power supply and the chime kit in configuration. You are correct in stating, if your chime kit works then power must be reaching your Ring device. Please ensure the wiring used is not too thin, spliced, frayed, corroded or old, as this can cause resistance in power. It’s worth also checking the length of run from power supply to door, as hundred of feet of wire might also present some resistance.

As @observing shared, switching which terminal each wire connects to on the back of your Video Doorbell might also be a step worth trying. Feel free to let us know how this goes! :slight_smile:

So I am still having issues with my Ring Video Doorbell 1st gen not charging. As I stated in my prvious post I have attempted to charg my doorbell via the USB port on the back of the unit. When I initially plug it it the blue light will blink on and off fro a couple of minutes and then the blue light goes off and apparently stops charging. if I un plug the USB cable and plugg it in again it will start flashing again charge a little and then stop. I have to keep doing this for it to charge. I leave it overnight and it again appears to stop charging once the blue light stops flashing. After doing this many times it eventual got to 23%. I then re-connected it to the mounting plate with a hard wired connection (which I have been using for the last 4 years) the doorbell had a white light glowing around the button which to me tells me its getting power. I checked the doorbell a couple of hrs later asaw that the battery level had dropped and by the next day the battery on the unit was critically low, down to 2%. Why all of a sudden is this happening??? is my battery bad in the doorbell?

Anyone from Ring Listening???

What a typically lame response on a problem that is quite obviously something brought on by something Ring did - … best route is to call support and go through that pain staking process of doing everything you have tried to do again and again and then maybe if lucky it works again and that crappy speaker they put in will crackle and whisper to all visitors. Put in washers…who’s idea was that…good lord… Can Ring just fess up and admit they pushed stuff out and now people are having problems?? Nooo…can’t admit fault.

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This worked for me. I’ve been looking for this solution for four years. Power was good at transformer and it the doorbell. This solution needs to be posted on the Ring troubleshooting site as well.

So after ring 2 doorbell working perfectly for about a year. This issue of getting notification of low battery arose suddenly last week. Reading all these responses. Everything is the same, my power is fine. The idea of putting in two washers is ridiculius what could that do. What size etc. Tightened wires slightly, no change, called ring support. Updated firmware. Told me to call back in a few days if it doesn’t work. Of course it hasn’t. Still 26%. Has been steady since I got warning. It’s been 26% for days. I will call support again. Agent not very knowledgeable and doing same old thing. Clearly with all these people suddenly having problem it is a ring hardware or software problem. Each call they try to reinvent the wheel. I guess if they knew what’s causing the problem they’d fix it. Maybe it is a bunch of faulty batteries not holding a charge. For whatever reason it’s working fine otherwise.

If you search these posts for my ID, djbilo, you will find the description of the remedy I found, namely that the 2 AC contact pins inside the unit have a spring and one or both collapse and fail to make contact. The solution is a blob of solder on the gold pads into which the screws go, to increase the thickness and make contact with both pins.

The key symptom is that the white LED ring goes dark and the indoor standard bell chime, if you have one hooked up still, stops working at the same time.

Just bought a new battery to use as a backup and switch out when necessary. After installation I note that the new battery is now losing charge. Not sure whether the “solder blob” fix is worth trying since it’s been said that the key symptom is that the white LED ring goes dark and the indoor standard bell chime, if you have one hooked up still, stops working at the same time. In my case the LED ring is still lit and the indoor standard bell chime still works. Device health still indicates “hardwired” (and always has). I am fast reaching the conclusion that, for whatever reason, we can no longer expect our batteries to trickle charge when they’re hardwired, and that there’s nothing we (or Ring) can do about it.

Ring 3 hardwired. Doorbell rings but I am noticing the battery going down. Is it supposed to stay at 100% while hardwired? Is there a specific range that the hardwired doorbell should target?

Ring 2 Doorbell / British Summer.

I have had this doorbell less than a week and have just paid a qualified electrician to hardwire my doorbell into the mains because I didn’t want the hassle of recharging my device. Imagine my suprise when I discovered that the battery is still discharging at a rate of about 5% a day despite having the white ring lit up and the health report tells me that my device is hardwired. At first I blamed the poor electrician but then I stumbled upon this thread and realised I am not alone in this. So I guess I could always send the device back and get my money back but then I’ll have wasted my money hiring an electrician in the first place. Does ring have any idea what is causing this issue? Is there a fix imminent? Does this affect every single Ring 2 that is on the latest firmware?

It seems this has been a problem since at least December 2019 so I guess I won’t hold my breath for a quick fix then!!!

I have a Ring Doorbell 2 (based in the UK) which is hard wired and connected to my internal bell. Installed approximately 4 months ago and all has been fine. Going into the app the other day it say’s that the Ring Doorbell is hardwired but it no longer seems to be charging, was saying 69%. Been checking it every day and the its gradually going down.

Is there anyway to tell when the last firmware was installed as I’m wondering if the two are linked.

Hi. Does anyone know how to contact Ring? They don’t exactly make it easy. Had a doorbell for 3 months and battery is rubbish. It needs charging every week. And I’ve take. The camera scope and sensitive down as far as it will go. Not happy with this product at all.

I tested the connections on back of the ring with a tester, and the result was not getting any type of electrical flow. So I opened the back panel where the pin connectors connect to the electronic panel and found that one of the pin connectors lost its spring action was not making contact. It was but by a hairline that it does not connect. My remedy… I used a little bit of thermal paste (yes the one used on CPUs) on the brass connectors. Put the panel back together, and viola, my ring is now reading as hardwired again and is utilizing the original home chime. This may be a temporary fix, but it is working. Regardless the problem was the pin connector to the electronic panel having no contact. Hope this helped!

I’m not sure if this is helpful for anyone having this issue but in the case of mine the heatshrink on the end of the ring terminals was causing an issue, I stripped it back as i believe it was insulting It and when checking there was no power on the baseplate hence it wasn’t charging it.
After rectifying it it now shows as hard wired !

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Have tried to hardwire a Ring Video Doorbell 3. It will neither charge (Device Health still states Battery instead of Hardwired), nor ring the internal chimes when pressed. The required voltage is 8 to 24v AC. Multi-meter gives 12v AC across the spades that connect to the back of the device. The chimes ring fine if the spades are joined. Have so far wasted four hours trying to solve the problem. The wires are not pinched. The spade connectors are fine. Now I find, reading online, that pressing the Ring doorbell button does not close the circuit to activate the chimes, as did the old, reliable, doorbell. Am I missing something, or is Ring simply selling a product that doesn’t work? Their online help is next to useless.

I’ve had this problem with my Ring since about January. Didn’t even realize it was dead until someone said something. I’m reading these posts that started EIGHT MONTHS ago, and I’m flabbergasted that Ring still hasn’t done anything about it. Saying it’s cold is BS because I live in San Diego, so that’s not it at all. I guess I’ll check out the whole terminal connection thing, but when I’ve had it mounted for at least a year or more and haven’t touched it, I find it hard to think that something physically broke inside it.

I’m trying to stay away from Google stuff, so I’d really like to get this fixed, but completely dissappointed in Ring for how they’re handling this. Ridiculous.

bumping, forgot to subscribe to this post!

having the same issue. hardwired doorbell 2 for over a year and started to get warning messages that battery is at 20%, thought it was a bug and let it run for a couple more weeks, saw that it went to 9%. decided to go remove the battery to inspect it and just plugged it back in then checked and batter was magically at 17% and i never even charged it!

something is definitely wrong with the firmware! RING FIX THIS!!!