Ring Solar Charger for Video Doorbell (2nd Generation - 2020 Release)

I read the negative reviews before buying and decided that there were enough counterpoints to decide that the people having problems were having issues with what they have done, not with the charger.Like all solar panels, this is a trickle charger. It will generally only trickle power in slowly. However, having direct sun access is crucial because... well, its a solar panel. The sun tops the houses across the street from me early in the morning and climbs up above the edge of my roof above the door about four hours later. With that limited amount of direct sun, my Battery Doorbell Pro's battery will add about 20% charge per day thanks to this panel.Some Ring doorbells use 'optimized charging' where the cell is supposed to only charge up to a max of 80%. This 80% limit can be difficult to trigger for reasons beyond the scope of this review, but I found that on the BD Pro, if the cell is already fully charged prior to the solar charger's installation, the solar panel will do absolutely nothing until the battery gets down to about 70%. Only then will the solar charger start charging. When it does, it charges up to only 80% (stopping at 81%, actually). From there, with the sun I get, the solar charger will maintain between 70 and 80% battery charge indefinitely. I have the DBPro set to take snapshots every three minutes and do everything else that eats extra battery power. The direct sun access I get lets me do that. If your direct sun is less, you will have to adjust your settings to eat less power, or get used to the solar panel just extending battery life rather than making it never-ending.The exception to the above is the initial charge of the battery. When I installed my solar charger, I only had about a 38% charge on the battery. The solar charger added 20% per day until I was up to 100%... and then it seemingly did nothing for days until the battery slowly dipped down to 70%. Then it magically started up again into the cycle I describe above. Here again if you have limited sun access, you might not see this kind of clear result and it may look like the charger isn't doing anything.

I installed the Ring Solar Charger on my battery-powered Ring Video Doorbell, and it's been a helpful addition. The installation was straightforward, and the charger integrates seamlessly with the doorbell. With about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight daily, I've noticed a significant extension in battery life, reducing the frequency of manual recharging. However, during overcast days or in shaded areas, the charging efficiency decreases, and the battery may still require occasional manual charging. Overall, it's a convenient accessory that lessens the maintenance of the doorbell's battery, especially in sunny conditions.

I purchased this solar charger for my front door ring camera. First, the solar charger itself was not compatible and had no way of mounting the securely. The connections on the back and to the solar charger fit great, so I glued the rings mount to the charger, and did it that way. Now the charger is NOT charging the ring the camera. Over the course of it being plugged in, the batter has slowly depleted, not charging as it should, and it's in the sun constantly during the day. What my biggest problem is Ring/Amazon said this was a direct fit and compatible with the Ring I purchased, it is not compatible. Its getting more and more difficult to believe the big corporate operations and trust they are giving you the right information and telling you the truth, sales over anything else. I emphatically express and stress this; DO NOT BUY THIS DEVICE, it does not work, and I can prove it. I will not waste my time with talking to Ring/Amazon, as I have in the past been put off and hit a wall as far as getting any further when it's always the fault of the buyer in their statement: "YOU SHOULD OF CHECKED IT BEFORE YOU PURCHASED IT". Never mind that the system itself said it was compatible and confirmed the model of the camera I had. At this time, I'm looking for a new system to change over to, this has changed my mind about Ring/Amazon, is garbage.

UPDATE:I actually removed the charger and re-added it and now it seems to be working great! Not sure why it wasn't the first time but now it keeps my doorbell charged 100%.Bought this because I didn’t realize that the battery on the new ring doorbell wasn’t removable and so I couldn’t use my extra batteries. The sun shines directly on the doorbell and thus the solar charger at least half of the day but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The battery still steadily dies and never seems to really charge. Sometimes it shows that my doorbell is “hard wired (not sure why) and sometimes it shows not charging at all (see pic). Definitely not worth the money and in my opinion, Ring should never have stopped having a removable / replaceable battery for these.