Ring Replacement Battery

Ring Battery Replacement

Do you ever get frustrated that an item that should be cheap, isn't?

One example of this is the Ring brand of doorbells, indoor and outdoor security camera batteries. These are comprised of two 18650 batteries inside a custom casing with a charger and a few other sensors. Most likely temperature, over current and under current protection. Overall, they're very simple items.

The 18650 batteries should cost around $3-5 each for consumers, the charging circuit around $2-3 and the other sensors, LED's, and casing no more than $1-2. The entire battery can be built for around $10. That's at the consumer level. A larger company would cut this cost by a good margin.

So why are they being sold, in Australia, for $50? Profiteering. You get one battery with each device, and they take around 11-12 hours to fully charge. Not many people want to be without the protection the devices offer for that long, so a second battery is almost always a necessity.

A Solution

Frustrated by this, I decided to make my own replacement batteries. I'm no design expert, and 3D modelling makes my brain hurt. However, with a lot of perseverance, a set of calipers, hundreds of edits and redesigns, dozens of test prints, I have made a replacement ring battery.

You will need the following:

• TP4056 Charging Circuit - I picked these up from Amazon. These are the USB-C variants, which have both a battery and output terminal.
• A LiPo battery. I purchased some from eBay. The dimensions of 50 x 34 x 11mm works very well and is a snug fit length wise. If you're willing to wait, then AliExpress has these a lot cheaper and in a lot of different varieties.
• A large Paperclip. Your wife should have these. Make sure it is not coated.
• A bottom and top lid. There are two variants of the lid. The 'normal' one fits the Video Doorbell V2 snugly, with a nice friction fit, but would not fit the 'Stick up Cams'. The one labelled '7mm', has a larger curve to the top and is a snug friction fit on the Cams. I did not test this in the Doorbell and may be a nicer fit, but may require the 'clip' to hold it in place.
• Soldering Iron & solder
• Hookup Wire
• Needle nose Pliers

Printing

I printed everything in PLA+. Regular PLA should work, as should PETG. Each half takes around an hour to print.

1. Straighten out a section of the paperclip and push it into the small hole at the front of the battery bottom. You might need to use needle nose pliers to get this right to the bottom. It's a tight fit by design. Use some bright ambient light to see if it worked.
2. Bend the wire straight down towards the bottom of the print
3. Cut the wire. I butted the edge of the pliers against the curve and snipped. This gave me the same size piece everytime.
4. Solder the wires and use some heat shrink tube over the ends to stop shorts. The wires are about 12-15cm long. LiPo batteries do not like being shorted out.
5. Tuck it into the base. The positive terminal is on the right, and the negative terminal is on the left, as you're looking down.
6. Place the charging circuit in the lid. You can use whatever method you want to hold it in place. I tried both hot glue and Gorilla glue. Hot glue is quick, but can be messy. Gorilla glue takes about 2 hours to cure and will require clamping.
7. Sand some of the screw posts a fraction, if need be, and snap the lid shut. To be honest, I just guessed the screw hole sizes. I didn't have any specifically that would fit. Once i was able to make the battery work repeatedly, I used more Gorilla glue and glued them shut, clamping the top until the glue cured.
8. I have included a clip you can print and glue to the front, if you find it doesn't stay in correctly. You'll need to bend the clip up just before the bump and again further about 12mm past the first bend.

Final Thoughts

These aren't the cheapest they could be. The batteries ended up costing around $11 each, and the chargers were around $3.5 each. With hook up wire, solder, and everything else, round it up to about $15 per battery, for a 2,000mAh total charge.

Compared to the original 6,000mAh, for $50, they're about the same cost. However, these don't need to be used for months at a time. They only need to last long enough to charge the main batteries. Although they should last about 1/3 of the time the official Ring batteries last.

I have included STEP files if you want to modify anything. Remixes are encouraged, as I'm sure others could do better.

People often like to show support to creators, and I don't have an issue with that. I'm not rich, but I'm also not broke. If you want to show your support, donate to a charity that could really use your help and funds.

Have a great 2022.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Creality

Printer:

Ender 5

Rafts:

Doesn't Matter

Supports:

Doesn't Matter

Resolution:

0.2 - 0.3mm

Infill:

20%

Filament: Any PLA / PLA + / PETG

Any

Notes:

Support isn't required, however, depending on your printer, you may have to clean some of the overhangs a bit. Sandpaper or a small file will help here.

Category: Electronics