topic Re: Battery Status and Solar Charger in Arlo Ultra

Push notification for specific battery level?

rdilauro — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 17:24:10 GMT

This really applies to all the ARLO cameras I am monitoring. I know I can get push notifications when there is motion detected at one of the cameras. Has anyone come up with a method that you can get push notifications of a specific battery level? Right now it is 5 degrees here and the status from the cameras indicates its too cold for the solar chargers to charge. So the batteries will slowly drain. Hopefully, the temps will come up, if not we will just manually charge the batteries.

But it sure would be nice if I got a notification on my iphone saying Camera #3 battery is at 50%

Re: Battery Status

StephenB — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 11:56:26 GMT

@rdilauro wrote:

But it sure would be nice if I got a notification on my iphone saying Camera #3 battery is at 50%

Normally you can see the charge level. Just click on the settings wheel for the camera.

Re: Battery Status

rdilauro — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:45:39 GMT

Yes. I know
But I was looking for a proactive push notification like ARLO can do for motion detection .
More of a pipe dream. Guess that comes from my days with IBM looking to automate things

Re: Battery Status

StephenB — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:56:59 GMT

@rdilauro wrote:
But I was looking for a proactive push notification like ARLO can do for motion detection .

This would be to notify you that the camera needs to be charged? (as opposed to current status)?

You should be getting a notification when the charge drops below 15%.

Re: Battery Status and Solar Charger

rdilauro — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 19:08:35 GMT

We live in Danbury CT and the winter months have many days below 32 degrees. I read that the ARLO solar chargers do not charge with temps below that freezing mark. We have 10 ARLOS. Outside with solar chargers and they are not charging. So the batteries will continue to drain. Considering our location then the chargers are not helping us. Which now explains why most of are cameras have 0% charge.

i can take the batteries out of each camera and charge them in a station. But is that the mode we need to operate in during the winter. I am sure locations in Maine have these temps for several months in a row. What is the suggested way to handle this. Turning off and disarming the cameras should that bel preserve the charge? Any insight would be appreciated.

Re: Battery Status and Solar Charger

StephenB — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 12:44:01 GMT

@rdilauro wrote:

We live in Danbury CT and the winter months have many days below 32 degrees. I read that the ARLO solar chargers do not charge with temps below that freezing mark.

FWIW, I am also in New England (near Boston). Though there are cold snaps, your average high temps in January are higher than 32. Of course that's not the only factor, you also need sufficient sun.

I only have one camera using a solar charger. It doesn't eliminate recharging, but it does reduce it. Ugrading the cameras that discharge most often to XL would help - but you still might need to recharge from time to time.

Turning off the cameras will also help - as would arming/disarming them on a schedule,

Re: Battery Status and Solar Charger

rdilauro — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 13:08:31 GMT

Last night I turned the two off and disarmed them.
Its 38 outside but cloudy. I turned them both on and armed them. I will monitor the battery now. If they continue to drain I will shut them off again. Then once we clear snow we will climb and bring them down.
Another question the solar icon on the main view. Its there as long is its connected to the camera. It doesn’t say charging. So right now I can only know when it’s not charging is going to settings for each camera. Is there another way? Know I see why the other camera batteries are 0% Person monitoring was only concerned about images when someone needed info. Now that I have them I know what to monitor.

Re: Battery Status and Solar Charger

StephenB — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 13:15:20 GMT

@rdilauro wrote:

Another question the solar icon on the main view. Its there as long is its connected to the camera. It doesn’t say charging ...

This is what you are supposed to see: https://kb.arlo.com/1179176/What-do-my-Arlo-camera-s-battery-level-icons-and-notifications-mean Solar panel stuff is at the bottom of the page.