topic Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel in Arlo Ultra

Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

Tonyschawks — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 16:37:58 GMT

I am having lots of issues when I connect solar panels to my Arlo Ultra. It will completely drain the battery within 3 days and will provide false readings of charging to 100%. When I remove the solar panel connection the Ultra last a few weeks. When I compare the solar panel connection with my Arlo Pro 2, I have NEVER needed to recharge the Arlo Pro 2 cameras and it has been 2+ years. Other consumers have brought this issue to the community boards and have not seen an official response from Arlo. Is there a app fix in the making or is this a hardware issue?

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

StephenB — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:36:07 GMT

FWIW, I have one Ultra (recently upgraded to XL) connected to a solar panel, and that has stayed at 100% charge, despite the winter weather. I've also seen some odd (likely false) charge percentages from various cameras over the past couple months. That could be caused by the camera firmware, base, cloud, or the app.

I don't see how the app could cause battery drain - that sounds more like a hardware or firmware issue. What battery life are you seeing on the Ultra with the panel disconnected?

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

Tonyschawks — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 20:16:05 GMT

The Ultra without solar last 3 weeks. I mentioned the App because there is no way to update the firmware without it. Do you know if a firmware is in the works? I have the Ultra pointed in one direction and my Pro 2 in another at the same location. I have no issues with the Pro 2 draining the battery but the Ultra completely drains in a few days.

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

StephenB — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 20:25:42 GMT

@Tonyschawks wrote:
The Ultra without solar last 3 weeks. I mentioned the App because there is no way to update the firmware without it. Do you know if a firmware is in the works? I have the Ultra pointed in one direction and my Pro 2 in another at the same location. I have no issues with the Pro 2 draining the battery but the Ultra completely drains in a few days.

It would be helpful to know the battery life of the ultra with the problem when the panel is disconnected.

Also, it would be useful to know how about many minutes of video are being recorded every day. If you use activity zones, you need to delete them in order to estimate this.

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

Tonyschawks — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:51:04 GMT

The battery without solar last 3 weeks. I have the video fixed to record only 25 seconds which is about 20 times a day. I had issues of it recording 300 seconds when no activity is needed beyond the motion detection. My Arlo Pro 2 does not have this issue at all and it is literally back to back with this Ultra.

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

Tonyschawks — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 11:53:16 GMT

What is FWIW? When you state it is a firmware issue how does a customer resolve this? Per the App the firmware is up to date

Re: Arlo Ultra drains with Solar panel

StephenB — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 12:04:31 GMT

@Tonyschawks wrote:
The battery without solar last 3 weeks. I have the video fixed to record only 25 seconds which is about 20 times a day.

So about 500 seconds per day (about 8-9 minutes). No activity zones?

Is the Pro 2 also on a solar panel?

@Tonyschawks wrote:
What is FWIW?

For What It's Worth

@Tonyschawks wrote:
When you state it is a firmware issue how does a customer resolve this?

To be clear - I said it didn't sound like an app issue, if it was software it would more likely be firmware. Note I don't work for Arlo, I have no idea on whether they've identified a firmware problem that they are fixing.

Since my own solar panel doesn't create the drain you are seeing, it is more likely still that the problem is a defective panel. If you have a subscription, you could use the phone support option in the app.