topic Re: Pro 2 camera/VMA4600 solar panel problem in Arlo Pro 2

Pro 2 camera/VMA4600 solar panel problem

HTSMatt — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 02:05:01 GMT

I have three Pro 2 cameras. One camera is charged by a VMA4600 solar panel, with no charging problems for over three years. I recently found a new old stock VMA4600 solar panel (including the cable) cheap on eBay and bought it. I charged a camera to 100% (with a AC-to-USB adapter), then connected the camera to the new solar panel with the new cable. The "solar charging" icon appeared in the app while the sun shone directly on the panel, but shortly after the sun went down the battery was at 1%. So the panel was not only not working properly, it was actively discharging the camera. (I was getting weeks out of a single charge with the AC-to-USB adapter.)

What's the problem? I found some similar (closed) threads but there didn't seem to be any consensus about what was going on. Bad cable? Bad panel? Software? Firmware? How do I troubleshoot? Thanks for reading.

Re: Pro 2 camera/VMA4600 solar panel problem

Edinburgh_lad1 — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 05:49:52 GMT

I just bought a pro 2 panel too (new old stock) but it's not been despatched yet. And on eBay also. Interested in this topic too.

Re: Pro 2 camera/VMA4600 solar panel problem

jguerdat — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:26:37 GMT

There was a spate of such issues a while back. It may be that there NOS panels are of that batch.

The latest new panel supports all Arlo cameras with 3 different connectors to choose from:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/accessories/VMA7600-10000S.html

Re: Pro 2 camera/VMA4600 solar panel problem

Edinburgh_lad1 — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:55:39 GMT

Oh, that's very good. Although I see the Pro 2 isn't listed, even though one of the connectors is a micro USB. However, I remember that the connector for the Pro 2 needs to be of a specific shape and panels for other cameras (I can't remember if it's the Essential one or not) are not compatible, even though they're also powered by micro usb. @StephenB will know because I remember him telling me about it some time ago.

Does Arlo know the serial numbers of those faulty panels so we can check? I do hope so so that they can identify a faulty batch/batches.