The Ring Doorbell by Ring Inc. (an Amazon subsidiary) is one of the foremost brands when it comes to doorbell security cameras. This cottage industry in home security makes perfect sense in a way—why not combine your doorbell informing you when someone is at your front door with your video camera to see if that someone is a person you’re expecting or not? That camera also doubles as your security camera when you’re away, live-streaming the people at your front porch whether it’s the postman or a package thief!
The device can do so many things, so it can be quite dismaying when it’s unable to charge! By the way, there are multiple ways to power up your Ring Doorbell, ranging from hardwiring it to your doorbell transformer to plugging it in a nearby electrical socket as well as charging its battery. The problem lies with Ring Doorbells that won’t charge or work.
Ring doorbell not charging: How to Fix!
For most people, the nightmare scenario of having a Ring Doorbell that doesn’t charge is a minor problem as long as it can resolve itself sooner or later. The issue only becomes a serious one when your battery is unable to charge at all, necessitating you to hardwire the device to your doorbell transformer or power grid. This initially manifests as your battery draining easier than normal. However, a Ring Doorbell battery that isn’t able to charge at all after being plugged in for so long is truly a cause of concern.
Regardless, here are the different troubleshooting methods you can use in order to get your battery working once more. If all else fails, then you can always contact Ring.com and its Ring Community Support for help in repairing it and details on whether or not you should have it replaced altogether if it’s a defective battery or unit.
- Why Is It Not Charging? There are many reasons why your doorbell video cam isn’t charging, which might force you to connect it to the doorbell transformer as a hardwired device or plug it inside the nearest electrical socket. It could also be caused by low voltage power supply in case it is wired, loose, or no Wi-Fi connection, the device getting shut down regularly thus necessitating you to remove the battery and charge it yourself, or a faulty device altogether. This is especially bothersome if you have a non-wired doorbell.
See more: Ring Doorbell No Power: How to Fix! – Tips and Tricks
Some houses require you to simply mount the doorbell somewhere without any power source. Such circumstances necessitate you to charge your doorbell cam’s battery every 6 months to a year for 5-10 hours every charge. This is because these outdoor Ring Doorbells that aren’t hardwired are made to last for 6-12 months depending on usage, but they can drain their battery for up to 3 months or less every charge if they’re heavily used. A non-charging hardwired Ring Video Doorbell isn’t optimal since it can end up recording poor quality audio and video to boot.
- Hardwired But Not Charging: A hardwired Ring Doorbell might not charge due to the voltage coming from the transformer is insufficient, there’s no connection to the Wi-Fi, or it’s a faulty device. To know what’s causing your Ring Doorbell to not charge and begin troubleshooting it, you need to test it first. To do the test, open your Ring app and go to its “Settings” menu. From there, choose the “Device Health” option. If it says “Good”, then that indicates no voltage or power problem.
If the Device Health is “Good” yet you’re still encountering charging problems, call the customer support of Ring Inc. You can get a new device as a replacement if it’s determined that you’ve gotten a faulty Ring Doorbell. If it says that there’s the low voltage on your Ring Doorbell, then you should keep on reading this troubleshooting guide to fix it. Also, remember that the Ring requires 16 volts A/C to work so if the power that the transformer is getting is less than that then naturally the device won’t function optimally.
- Resolving Your Power Issue with a Doorbell Bypass: If your doorbell cam from Ring Inc. isn’t charging then you can resolve this power issue by bypassing your internal doorbell with a Pro Power Kit. The Ring Video Doorbell 2 in particular requires a Pro Power Kit V2 for this troubleshooting solution to work. In the U.S., you can specifically call 1-800-656-1918 for Ring Inc. Customer Service. Go to the Ring.com website or Google the other numbers for other countries availing of the device who also has non-charging battery issues. Before doing the bypass, you should make sure that your home power is turned off care of tripping the breaker itself.
Open the cover of the Ring Doorbell and loosen up both screws on the “Trans” and “Front” parts. Afterwards, remove the old power kit wires using your screwdriver. At this point, open the Pro Power Kit V2 by taking off its protective seals. You’ll see two holes. Insert the wires from your Ring Doorbell to the bypass holes offered. This will lock into the wires. Put back the Ring Doorbell cover and then turn on the power. Go to the Ring app, select your doorbell, and select “None” as your device type. This ensures that your doorbell cam is bypassed, which in turn should fix your charging or power issues.
- Installing The Ring Doorbell Transformer Kit: If bypassing the internal doorbell doesn’t work or if your doorbell isn’t connected to an existing doorbell then the problem might root from your doorbell transformer instead. To install a new transformer, you can make use of the Ring Doorbell Transformer Kit. This makes the installation much easier for even non-electricians or ordinary homeowners to do. However, you need to be cautious because you can get electrical shocks even with the smallest of mistakes. If you want to err on the side of caution, you can get an electrician to do this step for you.
It’s also imperative you buy a 16 volts AC or higher transformer with at least 30 volt-amps. Get something a little higher in light of electrical resistance from the length and gauge of the wires used. You also need to shut off the power from the breaker once more. Look for the transformer behind the doorbell chime or near the circuit box. You can take a picture of the transformer wires prior to disconnection as a reference. Disconnect the transformer wires linking it to your home’s power. Disconnect the two wires screwed into the transformer itself as well. Remove the old transformer and place the new one. Attach the wires you disconnected from the old one.
- Battery-Powered But Not Charging: You should call customer service or Ring Community Support in case the battery-powered Ring Doorbell that’s too far away from the nearest electrical socket has a battery that won’t charge. You obviously need a replacement battery in such a case, if not a new unit altogether. To recharge your battery, you need a micro-USB cable. There’s an orange micro-USB cable included in the box in case you don’t have a cable on hand. It can work with any micro-USB cable.
Just plug the cable on your laptop or on a special USB electrical plug and charge the battery in the included charging pod for 5-10 hours. It should last from 6-12 months or 180 days or less if heavily used. To gain access to the battery, you need to loosen the security screw on the doorbell base, lift the faceplate, remove the battery by pressing the release tab, put on the pod for charging, and reinstall everything in reverse order of removal. Before returning the faceplate to the unit with the security screw, wait 30 seconds for the doorbell cam to startup.
See more: How to Replace The Ring Doorbell Battery
- The Battery Drains a Bit Too Fast: You might mistake the battery draining too fast as evidence of the battery not charging properly. Although the battery of the Ring Video Doorbell can go months without recharging with normal use, certain circumstances might conspire to make it lose power faster than normal. You might have to go to your Ring App and do things like deactivate motion detection or saving its footage to the cloud to conserve energy. Only have it turn on when someone is pressing the doorbell, for example.
A number of factors in your home environment can lead to the battery of your unit draining too fast, ranging from local wildlife or your own pets triggering the motion detection of your device more than usual to weather patterns like strong winds or rustling bushes. Anything that needlessly turns on your camera when there aren’t any intruders or unwanted guests afoot can lead to battery drainage that makes it seem like your recently charged battery isn’t charging at all.
To Sum It Up
To sum it all up, there are some quick fixes available to make sure that your battery starts charging again. However, if it refuses to charge then it’s time to call Ring Community Support about it because you obviously ended up with a defective item that requires replacement. The battery should not have issues charging and if it does, it should be replaced or refunded immediately. You might be requested to return the battery only or the whole unit depending on the source of the malady. Once you use trial and error to weed out the true reason for the battery issues then you can go about making the right repair decision.
References:
- “Why is Ring doorbell not charging?[Fix hardwired but not charging]“, HowTL.com, July 13, 2020
- “Charging the Battery on Your Ring Video Doorbell 2“, Ring.com, Retrieved July 14, 2020
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