+10 votes
by (340 points)
If my Ring 2 is hardwired should it still be draining the battery? Health Status shows hardwired but battery status shows declining percentage.  
If my Ring 2 is hardwired should it still be draining the battery?

9 Answers

+6 votes
by (640 points)
 
Best answer
Try closing the app then check again. It happened to me .  
by (340 points)
Rosa, I’ve done that. I’ve unplugged all devices and powered back up. I’ve removed battery and charged it (I was forced to because it depleted to 0%). And now, only 5 days later, I’m at 73%.  
by (680 points)
Cayla, the battery-backup-but-doorbell-powered rings run into power demand issues that the only-doorbell-powered rings do not. I have a Ring Pro and it works 24/7 (except during a power failure, of course) and works continuously even in temperatures that inevitably shut down the Ring V2 that I have. The battery-backup Rings have to power the doorbell and the battery, and I *think* they're designed so that they power the doorbell *from* the battery (ie. they don't directly power the Ring's features from the doorbell power. those features are powered from the battery and the battery is trickle-charged from the doorbell power). I'd guess that Ring added a feature last month, or did a firmware update, that began drawing just a little more power than before. just enough to bleed the doorbell's battery faster than it could be charged. *or* they did something that reduced the efficiency of the charging. I'd report it (I am) to Ring, and in the meantime disable the Liveview (which seems to draw the most power). Just like you. everything was fine until last month. and last month was when they rolled out some new firmware toys for some of their devices. I'm assuming they included some new coding to their old devices as well. and somewhere in that coding is something that is drawing more power, or reducing the charging efficiency.  
by (340 points)
Rosa, thank you. I will be calling them. This info has been quite helpful in helping me to confirm that my only solution is to call them.  
+5 votes
by (4.9k points)
Sounds like the circuit your doorbell is on has lost power. Check the circuit breaker and then transformer.  
by (340 points)
Chris, it’s confirmed to have power.  
+6 votes
by (680 points)
Mine does. I stopped the live-view, and those time lapse photos, and it’s fine now. I’ll activate liveview when i’m away. I’m guess those early batteries weren’t amazing.  
by (340 points)
Adrian, but the way I understand it, it shouldn’t be using the battery if hardwired. That’s what has me confused.  
by (680 points)
Cayla, i’ve found that early iteration of the Ring had a fine balance between enough power and not enough. All the new software features (live view in particular) draw more power than expected. Something changed recently, perhaps a firmware update(? ), and mine began to run down the battery. It has worked fine for years. until last month.  
by (340 points)
Adrian, that has been our experience too. It worked fine until last month.  
by (2.1k points)
@worldshaking895 the doorbell is still using battery for its charge. the hardwiring trickle charges the battery. If it was a non battery doorbell like the Ring Pro, then it gets 100% of its charge from the power source.  
by (340 points)
Maryellen, thank you.  
+6 votes
by (4.7k points)
There's a couple reasons this happens. Either your house's doorbell transformer is not putting out enough power, or you have too many motion events and the doorbell is using more power than it is putting into the battery. The hardwire is a trickle charger, it only puts a tiny bit of power into the battery at a time so when the camera activates it is using battery power.  
by (340 points)
Kersten, thank you very much for this helpful information.  
+1 vote
by (450 points)
Can you remove battery and just use power from hardwire? Also what voltage is your hardwire? is transformer the right voltage for you application as some have put a smaller transformer and it worked for doorbell, if two units are on it see if you can improve it because of its useage
by (340 points)
Lynard, it does not work without the battery even though hardwired.  
+5 votes
by (450 points)
When was battery manufactured, should be stamped on it, is battery their first, call their customer service ask questions.  
by (340 points)
Lynard, thank you. I will be calling them. Our unit is less than 6 months old.  
by (340 points)
Lynard, I just wanted to be sure there wasn’t something I was missing and would be bothering them with an unnecessary phone call.  
by (450 points)
It's better to ask than say: wouldda. shudda, cudda, I've kicked my self a lot in the last 70 years
+8 votes
by (2k points)
Cayla, I recently had the same issue and my battery dropped to 6% over the course of a few days despite being hardwired with a power unit that had worked flawlessly for over a year. It wasn't live view, a faulty battery, or the power supply at fault. My rssi was too high because a WiFi extender had disconnected. Once I reconnected it the rssi dropped back to 40 and power supply maintained the battery. I would check your device health rssi first.  
by (340 points)
Megan, RSSI is 40
by (2k points)
@worldshaking895 in that case the fault probably lies elsewhere. Have you tried turning off the power and removing the battery for a few seconds?  
by (340 points)
Megan, yes.  
+7 votes
by (4.8k points)
The Ring doorbell 2 has a removable battery, you can keep a second battery and switch them out as needed.  
+10 votes
by (360 points)
I had the same issue. Contacted Ring and they told me YES the battery can drain if you have max settings on. I just ordered a second battery and will switch it out when needed. Ring told me even with max settings on the battery should last 2-4 months without a charge.  
by (340 points)
@geophilous42397, thank you.  
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