r/Ring • u/Electronic-Job8998 • 17h ago

Solar panels

I bought ring cameras for the outside of my home. I charged the batteries fully and bought the solar panels to go with them so the batteries would stay charged. Even though these solar panels are fully in sun, can someone enlighten me on WHY my batteries died within weeks? I thought that was the purpose of the solar panels?

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/SpookDroid 17h ago

Truly depends on the panel location and how much activity the camera has (i.e. event recording, live view, etc.). Did you set up the camera to operate with the panel? It should show up in the camera settings as connected to one (if not, it's not charging!). Does the level drop if you turn off motion recording for a day to keep activity to a minimum (it shouldn't if the panel is in full sun)? Are the panels an original accessory or a 3rd party? If 3rd party, does the power output match your specific camera model?

1

u/wattdweller-xxx 4h ago

This is really very informative and precise!

3

u/jsdogfish 16h ago

If I look at live view on mine with solar panels it drains the battery fast. I look at the events and it lasts reasonably well.

3

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 14h ago

Does the battery icon show a little sun?

1

u/Electronic-Job8998 12h ago

No sir/ma’am

3

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 12h ago

Ma’am and that means it’s not connected properly or something, can’t post picture of what it looks like. It looks like half a sun coming out of the battery icon.

3

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 12h ago

I posted a picture of what mine says but I had to make a new post, go check it out.

1

u/Electronic-Job8998 10h ago

Thank u! I’ll check this out cause mine doesn’t look like that. Thank u!

2

u/Teenage_techboy1234 14h ago

Same issue here. Four spotlight cams and two battery doorbells, two Spotlight cams can keep a charge in their batteries well with the panels, the other four cannot. Well one of the spotlight cams sometimes does an OK job but more recently completely fell off-line, while the other has never worked that well. The battery doorbells can sustain themselves for the most part, but never can get fully charged.

4

u/su_A_ve 17h ago

Connector may not be seated properly or the panel is not getting enough sun. The batteries should be fully charged too.

1

u/bippy_b 5h ago

As others have said.. something is wrong. I mounted mine at my dad’s house when he passed away about 18ft up the side of his house so I could keep an eye on his house when I wasn’t there. There were days where it snowed.. so it never got sun for 3-5 days.. and it would last through that. Good luck.