Please refer to my previous posts:
https://whysun.com/uncategorized/ring-doorbell/
https://whysun.com/home/ring-doorbell-update-chime-pro-wi-fi-extender-problems/
Since the previous post about Wi-Fi issues, I have been regularly checking the Health Report of the Ring Doorbell 2.
The Chime and the Chime Pro continue to have no problems.
On the other hand, the Wi-Fi issues with the Ring Doorbell 2 seem to have been fixed. I have not changed anything myself, so I can only assume that Ring has issued a remedial firmware update.
Over the past month, there has only been one dropout. However to reconnect, all I had to do was press the ringer button and it reconnected to the Chime Pro network. This is now satisfactory as I could ask my neighbour to ring the doorbell to reconnect it if I was away, and any person pressing the button would also re-connect it.
During the month of June, I have been keeping a screenshot of the Device Health Report every couple of days :
During this period, the RSSI level remained within the “Good” range.
As I said, I did not change anything. The battery level has gone from 72% to 48% and weather in South East Queensland is never an issue.
Therefore I will delay my purchase of the Ring Doorbell 4. In any case, I can’t find a “4” at local retailers. The Ring web site lists them but I am happy with my model and will wait until I see them for sale in the shops before deciding on an upgrade.
BATTERY
In the space of a month, battery level has gone from 72% to 45%.
This is consistent with the approximately 3 months life I have been getting from a fully charged battery. I have “Snapshot Capture” turned on with a snapshot taken every 14 minutes. For best battery life it can be fully turned off or for minimal battery impact set for a capture every hour.
You can set Snapshot capture for 5 minute intervals but this has a “substantial” impact on battery life. I haven’t tried this setting but I imagine it would be dramatic. In fact the app says that this setting is for wired or solar charged devices.
However, I don’t mind having it at the 14 minute setting as this gives a general overview of activities AND a spare battery solves the battery life issue. Having a fully charged spare means that you can swap over the battery in a few seconds instead of having the doorbell out of action for hours while you re-charge the battery.
You get a notifaction when the battery needs re-charging. At that time, I top up the spare which doesn’t take long and swap them. I then re-charge the spare to be ready for the next swap.
All is well with the world – apart the current lockdown in this area.