EDIT:
The solar panel quit working after a few weeks. The seller contacted me and sent me a replacement. The replacement has been working fine, so I have updated my rating. So I'm happy with this again.
I got this solar panel for my ring video doorbell 2. The power cable from the panel is a normal round cable until the last few inches, then it turns into a very thin flat cable with a micro USB connector at the end so you can plug it into the battery and then run the cable down past the battery.
My camera was already mounted firmly to the wall so instead of running the cable back through the mounting, I shaved a small amount of plastic off of the bottom of the battery cover and just had the power cable exit straight down. It doesn't look as nice as it would if I followed the included instructions but it took me very little time since I didn't have to dismount and re-mount the entire camera. The included panel mounting is ok. not super awesome and I found it somewhat awkward to get tightened enough so that the panel doesn't rotate when the wind hits it, but it did the job. If the panel rotates during bad weather, it will be simple enough to just rotate it back where it belongs.
As for performance, the panel charges up the internal battery better than I expected. Because of how my house is built, I can only get the panel full sunlight in the morning. It added about 10% of charge per hour for the 3-4 hours that it is in direct sunlight, and then trickled in another couple of percent for the remainder of the day. The battery started out at about 20% when I installed the solar panel in mid-morning (so it only had about 2-3 hours of direct sunlight that day) and when I checked it the next morning, it was at 60%. So within 2-3 days it will have a full charge and should keep that full charge even if the solar panel loses efficiency over time since the ring doorbell only uses 2-5% battery per day and on partial sunlight the way I installed it charges over 30% per day.
I recommend this kit. It is a nice solution to a design flaw (or missing feature) in the ring doorbell system. The price is great compared to Ring's ineffective doorbell mounting solar power accessory and it works much much better. The only downside is that you have to mount the panel and run the cable in a way that doesn't look awful, but with a little creativity the cable can be hidden and the panel can be mounted in a way that doesn't look bad. Ring should have come up with a better solar accessory themselves so until or unless they do, this one works great.
| Manufacturer | SATINIOR |
|---|---|
| Part Number | Kebonds |
| Item Weight | 1.21 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 11.22 x 8.27 x 2.36 inches |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | for Doorbell 2 |
| Material | polycrystalline silicon |
| Power Source | Solar Powered |
| Wattage | 3.5 watts |
| Maximum Power | 3.5 Watts |
| Mounting Type | Wall Mount |
| Special Features | Waterproof |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
