Essential Outdoor Camera reached 0% charge, now it will not recharge (DOA)

[canyonjam]

My Essential Outdoor Camera (VMC3050) reached 0% charge and remained there for 3 days before I took the camera down to charge it indoors. No matter what I do, it will not charge. I have tried multiple USBC cables (included cable as well as other known-good cables), I have plugged the power brick into wall outlets and in power strips, I have tried the quickly-plug-in-unplug-plug-in-unplug-plug-in trick to shock the battery into waking up and taking a charge...nothing. Occasionally when I plug in-out-in-out the camera I get the blue LED for a few seconds, then it dies out. I haven't gotten past that point even after trying the "shock" treatment about 5 times over the past few days. Nothing is doing anything to revive this camera.

Arlo's virtual assistant support was tried multiple times but every time I leave a number to call me at I get some variation of "sorry, error occurred, please try later" so now I'm here.

Is this camera dead? If so, what are my options for getting it replaced? It's under warranty and I didn't do anything other than take a few days to unmount the 0% battery camera to charge it, but the camera shouldn't die so easily (0% charge isn't a death sentence). Any help would be appreciated.

[canyonjam]

Addendum: I have had it connected to an Arlo solar panel which kept the camera sort of charged for a number of weeks but with changing sun angle and shorter days I guess the charging wasn't sufficient (or the solar panel isn't as good as I thought it would be).

[StephenB]

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@canyonjam wrote:

No matter what I do, it will not charge.

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How long did you leave it on the charger?

[jguerdat]

Note that the "trick" of plugging in and unplugging multiple times is not a quick process.

https://kb.arlo.com/000052305/My-Arlo-Pro-or-Arlo-Pro-2-battery-is-dead-what-do-I-do

[canyonjam]

Each time I left it charging for anywhere from half a day to just over a full day. 

[canyonjam]

That’s a slightly different process (the battery can’t be removed in this camera) but I guess it’s similar in that it can prod the battery into waking up? Maybe? I assume all the times I’ve plugged in the camera and left it for more than 10 minutes (half day plugged in is about as low as I’ve gone waiting-wise) it’s gotten a similar treatment to what’s described in the linked page. But so far, other than a few seconds of a blue LED lighting up on the front of the camera, I can’t see this thing getting any power. 

I really wish I knew the battery was built in before I bought this thing. That’s totally my oversight. 

[jguerdat]

You're right that the process describes removing the battery which isn't possible on the Essential cameras so ignore that part. The rest may or may not work depending on what's actually happening inside the camera and battery but it's worth a shot. Otherwise, if you have any sort of subscription, use the app to go to Settings, Support to see what official support may offer.

[StephenB]

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@canyonjam wrote:

Each time I left it charging for anywhere from half a day to just over a full day. 

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My own can take a while to fully charge (about a day).  Though it was not fully discharged.

[canyonjam]

I can't even get a partial charge after half- to full-day charging. It gets nothing at all other than a rare second or two of blue LED when I do the rapid plug-in-unplug routine.

[canyonjam]

I'm going to try the support route again (I am a subscriber. We have a total of 5 cameras including this one). Trying that last week didn't produce any results, just errors and a request to try again later. Maybe the issues have healed themselves and support will work again now. We'll see.

[canyonjam · Accepted solution]

UPDATE: Arlo is replacing my camera, so this story has a happy ending. Case has been closed.