Indoor Essential Gen2 Camera Goes Offline when using Night Vision

[stolk61]

Ok, I am trying to do something that is not supported but wondered if anyone has tried or succeeded in running the Arlo Essential Indoor Gen2 camera over a very long-distance cable?  Noting that the USB-C cable is only for providing power (ie no data to or from the camera) it seems plausible that the cable could run much longer distances.  I have extended the cable over 15m and the camera will run using the provided USB charger (5v 2a) and it works fine, except when switching to night vision.  So I assumed that night vision may need more oomph so I changed to a different power supply providing 5v at 4a.  But this did not change the outcome - the camera works just fine in all circumstances except when set to Night Vision, so I upped the power to 5v and 10a.  Sadly no change to the operation for night vision. So my question to Arlo and the Community, have I missed something for night vision? 

Just for info, the reason I am doing this is because I had an existing security system that already had wire runs that would be great to reuse and I power my cameras from aa single place.  The alternative is to get a electrician in to install power outlets of course, but it does not seem to be needed (except for darned night vision).

[StephenB]

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@stolk61 wrote:

The alternative is to get a electrician in to install power outlets of course, but it does not seem to be needed (except for darned night vision).

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Another option is to get a 15m extension cable for your mains power, instead of extending USB-C.

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@stolk61 wrote:

so I upped the power to 5v and 10a. 

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Generally the problem with long USB cables is the voltage drop due to the resistance in the cable.  Increasing the amperage ceiling wouldn't fix that.  

The outdoor Gen 2 cameras will accept 9v - no idea if that is safe for the indoor models.  If you have a USB-C charger that delivers other voltages (for instance a multiport charger that can charge a laptop) then you could try your longer cable with the camera using that charger.  Since USB-C -> USB-C will negotiate power, that is safe to try.

[stolk61]

Thanks @StephenB, I was advised that upping the amps would counter the resistance over the wire.  I have been advised also to up the cable size to reduce the resistance too.  I have not tried 9v, but I dont think that will change the resistance; but I will give it a go. 

[StephenB]

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@stolk61 wrote:

I have not tried 9v, but I dont think that will change the resistance

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The resistance is in the cable, so only a different cable could change that.

At the higher voltage, the current is decreased (instead of 5v @ 2 amp, you get 9v @ 1.1 amp).  The cable losses are proportional to the current (the amps), so decreasing the current (while raising the voltage to deliver the same amount of power) reduces the power loss in the cable.

FWIW, the setting you changed only affects the maximum current the charger can deliver - the actual current depends on what the camera uses (+ the cable loss).

[stolk61]

Thanks @StephenB - your comments are consistent with advice I had received too. I was hoping someone at Arlo may be able to add some information about the power usage difference between normal operation and night vision? 

[StephenB]

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@stolk61 wrote:

 I was hoping someone at Arlo may be able to add some information about the power usage difference between normal operation and night vision? 

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The only substantial difference is the power used for the IR spotlight LED.  I don't have any idea what that is - maybe one of the mods ( @BrookeN , @JamesC , @ShayneS ) can reach out to one of the hardware engineers and get back to you on that.

[stolk61 · Accepted solution]

Hello. 

I may have found a solution to my issue running the Indoor Essential Gen2 camera over 15+ metre cables.

I have tried various DC power adapters trying to leverage a existing cable runs that used to connect to an alarm systems PIR sensors. The goal to switch the PIRs to arlo cameras, but to do this I had to butcher the camera USB-C wire to use DC power plug. Anyway, that aside, I was seeing a 0.3v drop at the camera, so my guess is Night Vision does not cope with the lower voltage at the camera. I found DC adapters that have variable voltage (3v-12v @5amps). I have slowly increased the voltage at the adapter until night vision worked!! So I think I have solved my problem. Interesting that at the adapter I set 5.7v which drops to 5.35v at the camera. Both normal video and night vision works. 

[stolk61]

I thought I would round the solution out by adding that to preserve the cameras I have added a buck converter at the camera. Measuring the output from the arlo usb power adapter I got 5.03v. So I adjusted the buck converter to output exactly the same voltage. So my set up has a 9v 3amp dc power source over 20m cable through my roof, to the buck converter reducing the voltage to 5.03v going to the camera. Whoo hoo!

Pls feel free to msg me if you would like more details. Cheers