topic Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600 in Arlo Home Security System

Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

Ritchie53 — Wed, 06 May 2026 10:20:04 GMT

I have a newish Essential Security Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080. I have been trying, with NO success, to pair it with the ARLO recommended Solar Panel VMA 7600. I have returned one Solar Panel, and this second one doesn't work either. I have tried every which way to get it to work, with no success, and ARLO Support is absolutely no help whatsoever (as usual).

Anyone else had this problem ? Anyone got any suggestions that I might not have tried ?

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

jguerdat — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:09:35 GMT

1) Can you charge the camera using the supplied indoor charger?

2) What battery level is currently noted? It appears that Arlo may be implementing changes to charging to help prolong battery life by not charging until a certain level of discharge has been reached. In that case, you should monitor battery level over time to see when the panel starts charging.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

Ritchie53 — Thu, 07 May 2026 20:33:41 GMT

Thank you for your reply. The camera came supplied with a USB Cable (USB A to USB C) with which I can charge the camera.

The battery is currently showing 88% charged. Monitoring battery level will not help - I have let the camera get to below 70% before, and the Solar Panel will still not charge the camera battery. In any event, ARLO advise that the camera should be FULLY charge when connecting the Solar Panel as it operates as a trickle charger only. I should add that I have an older Essentials Camera with an older Solar Panel which operates just fine. So either the Essential Camera (3rd Gen) is incompatible with the Solar Panel, or some sort of firmware fix needs to be done to make it work.

ARLO themselves have, of course, been no help whatsoever.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

BrookeN — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:27:42 GMT

Can you please dm me a callback number as well as a good time to call. That way I can have support look into this further. You send a dm by clicking on the envelope icon on the top right of the forum page.If you don't see it, then go into your profile settings and select preferences, then "Private Messenger." Then select "Turn on private messages" if it is turned off.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

JustOneMore — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:16:28 GMT

I'm having the same issue - just purchased camera for backyard (Essential 3rd Generation 2K - VMC3080-100NAS) along with Solar Panel (VMA7600-10000S). Have triple checked cables are plugged in but can't get a charging symbol to come up when looking at the device on app. Was fully charged when installed 2 days ago, currently at 82%. Have older model camera (VMC2032-100NAS) and solar panel (VMA3600-10000S) in front working just fine. Were you able to resolve his problem? If so, how?

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

Ritchie53 — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:46:40 GMT

Hi JustOneMore,

My problem has not been resolved. I have even tried "unlinking/removing" the camera and reinstalling - nothing has worked. ARLO Support is beyond useless - they just don't care - and they do not even have a complaints procedure. So - while the actual camera works fine, the Solar Charger is effectively a £40 paperweight. I don't think you can even get another make of Solar Charger that is compatible either. So I have given up, and will take the camera off of its' mount and recharge for the few hours it takes every so often. Sorry I can't be more help.......

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

BrookeN — Mon, 18 May 2026 18:10:29 GMT

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

JustOneMore — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:18:15 GMT

Thanks. I was checking my dashboard again yesterday, saw camera battery was down to 65% but also saw it is now charging. Don't know if that's something with newer panels/cameras that it doesn't charge until it reaches a certain percentage? Will see how it does and if it stops charging at a certain point.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

Ritchie53 — Thu, 21 May 2026 09:40:42 GMT

OMG !

Thanks for your further message. Just out of curiosity, I have just checked mine. Battery down to 77%, and - it's charging ! Let's see how it goes because my confidence in these charges is not high at the moment.......

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

StephenB — Thu, 21 May 2026 12:46:21 GMT

@JustOneMore wrote:

Thanks. I was checking my dashboard again yesterday, saw camera battery was down to 65% but also saw it is now charging. Don't know if that's something with newer panels/cameras that it doesn't charge until it reaches a certain percentage? Will see how it does and if it stops charging at a certain point.

The newest Essentials are designed to start charging when the battery level drops below 65% and then stop charging when the battery level rises to 80. That strategy is designed to maximize battery life (useful, since the battery is not user replaceable).

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

JustOneMore — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:09:24 GMT

If Arlo is seeing these posts, they should include that in the documentation (and notify their call center handlers) so users don't spend hours getting frustrated and trying to figure out what is wrong with it.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

BrookeN — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:22:06 GMT

We are seeing these post. And I reached out to our marketing team to look into adding this to the KB article's. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

BrookeN — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:22:37 GMT

This is how the solar panel works. The way solar charging currently works is that the first time a solar panel is connected, it charges to 100%. It then stops charging until the device drops to 65% at which point it starts charging again to 80% and stops. The device will then continue to charge between those 2 SOC values.

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

JustOneMore — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:12:23 GMT

Suggest they also add it to the Quick Start Guide. Thanks!

Re: Pairing Essential Camera (3rd Gen) VMC3080 with Solar Panel VMA7600

Ritchie53 — Thu, 21 May 2026 17:51:09 GMT

Thank you for this but ......WHY ON EARTH DON'T ARLO TELL YOU THIS ?

Apologies for the shouting but this is ridiculous and basic stuff. How many other people have bought these Solar Chargers, and then returned them as they appear to be faulty and not working.... Or just give up like I did.....

Unbelievable.