Arlo Essential Solar Panel question

[jmader72]

I connected the solar panel to my Arlo Camera.  Based on the icons showing, it is clear that the solar panel is connected properly.

The first time the power dropped below 100%, it immediately charged the camera until it reached 100% again.  After that first time, it does not automatically charge.  I have 2 options.  I can unplug the panel from the camera and then plug it back in, or I can go to the app and restart the camera.  Either of these tasks causes the camera to go into a charging status and continue on until it reaches 100%.  

Again, once it drops below 100% later on, it will not automatically start to charge unless I do one of those tasks.

Is there a setting I am missing or is this a known issue?

[allsod]

 

[RegularJoe]

 

"ybnice  

Apprentice

‎2023-01-12 07:39 PM

@RegularJoe 
Your post needs to be relocated on the Forum to "Arlo Essential Spotlight Wireless Camera".  You also are using Wasserstein Solar Panel.
This post is about Arlo 4 Pro using the Arlo Solar Panel."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  I'm very well aware of what forum I posted to. I was following a link to this discussion that was posted on the Essential Wireless board.... which suggested we follow it over here from the Essential forum....

  It's all about solar panels working. Your Arlo panel isn't performing and you have no idea why.

  Don't you want to know if it's the camera software or the panel?

It seems to be a malfunction afflicting cameras across the board, not just my wireless or your pro 4 or whatever. 

  That's why I came over here and read every one of these posts... I learned that it's not just our Essentials, but it's everything Arlo... everyone is having trouble with cameras not taking a charge from their Arlo panels. 

  I just happened to have bought Wasserstein panels, to save $20 apiece. As you can tell from my story, I've only had them up a day, so can't definitively say one way or another how it compares to Arlo. 

 I say "panels are panels", so why waste money on name brand.  If my brand isn't going to fare any better than the Arlo, I'd just as soon save $20 while learning that lesson.  It wouldn't have mattered if you paid $200 apiece for yours, it still wouldn't work, now would it?

  Nobody's proven that the high dollar name brand is any different than the third party.

  


 

[JRay1]

@RegularJoe, did the Essential cameras also receive a firmware update in November?  That's been the suspected source of the charging issue for those of us with Pro 4 cameras.

[Bajathree]

@allsod ....yea I didn't have any high hopes that once the battery level drops below a certain level that it will just start charging and I guess you just confirmed that. In all honesty it seems like Arlo just keeps buying time with this problem saying try this...try that. Until they come up with a new firmware or rollback the last firmware I don't think anything is going to change.

[RegularJoe]

@JRay1 ... yes,  we did get an update to our Secure program. 

  I read about people having trouble with the panels being recognized by their cameras cause their update hadn't been fully applied... so I forced my cams to update... and THEN bought panels.

  Today, it was frigid outside til around noon,  and the panel wasn't charging the battery.. one time a message flash that said that something was too cold and the panels won't charge, I think is what it said.. afternoon time and the sun had been up for a while pretty soon it started charging.. but, I must admit that I hit the restart button three or four times trying to force the issue.. I don't know if me restarting it had anything to do with it start charging, but it did start charging.

[RegularJoe]

Well guys, I can report that both of my cameras equipped with solar panels are up and charging this morning.

  . it was 25° last night, and when I first logged in this morning neither one of them showed the charge icon nor the panel connected icon, at least on my phone... but I just now logged in again and looked and both cameras have the lightning bolt through the battery icon... they're both charging.. it's very bright outside and it looks to me like they are working like they're supposed to...... they started all by themselves.

  Wasserstein panels.

[RegularJoe]

• It's me again.
•   it got down to 25° here last night, and when I logged in this morning to look.. after daylight, neither camera was charging.
•   I logged in about 10 minutes ago and looked and both cameras are up and charging... with no prompting on my part... all by themselves, just like they're supposed to. Wasserstein panels on Arlo essential Wireless cameras.
•   One caveat though, neither cameras battery was charged to 100% either.. one of them made it up to 98% yesterday and the other one was only up to 83, I believe... so I can't definitively say that everything works right until they both get up to 100%

[larbai]

In July 2022, I purchased a new VMC2030 Essential Spotlight and a VMS3600 solar panel to replace an older Arlo camera/panel at my front door. I can see the panel is detected because I get a solar icon on the status panel.

http://www.thislivetest.com/status.jpg 

However, I never get any indications that the camera is receiving a charge, even on a bright day. My old Arlo camera/panel charged quite frequently in the same location. I had to take the camera down on January 2 to charge it manually since the battery was dead. Over the last few days, I've been logging the battery level every morning:

- January 10 = 85%

- January 11 = 84%

- January 12 = 81%

- January 13 = 77%

- January 14 = 74%

Basically it says it has a solar panel attached but the panel does nothing. Guessing the panel may be defective?

VMS3600 panel

- serial number A4PA257EA0447

VMC2030 Essential Spotlight camera

- serial number A47A187EB2CB7

- camera firmware is 1.090.30.2_24_499b975

[RegularJoe]

If you will snoop around a little bit on these discussion groups, you'll find out that it's not the panel, it's the version of the app you are using...

[larbai]

I have looked around through this forum and am not seeing what you're referencing. I'm using app version 4.0.3 which is the latest for iPhone.

I did find this knowledgebase article that shows what the various charging icons mean. Since my solar icon and battery icon are both black, it appears that indicates the battery is not charging. It does indicate that a solar panel is detected because otherwise there wouldn't be a solar icon at all -- my other cameras without solar panels also lack this icon.

https://kb.arlo.com/1179176/What-do-my-Arlo-camera-s-battery-level-icons-and-notifications-mean 

If you'd care to provide a link to one of these posts about the app being the problem, I'd appreciate it.

[Capsgator]

I think what most of us are seeing is the the panels charge when initially plugged in and the battery is less than 100%.  Once it hits 100% it stops and then doesn’t restart on its own when it drops below 100% without replugging the panels back in.  My personal experience was that it took a couple days to get to 100 and all the while it was charging as normal but as soon as it hit 100… just started draining without triggering to charge again.

[Tatey]

Thats great news finally someone had some success!! Sadley with an aftermarket panel. It'll be nice if the manufactureer "Arlo" would sort this issue 😡

[katonz]

Having same issue here. Same solar panel and camera (running the same firmware).

Mine was working fine for a week or so (green solar and battery charging icon) and stopped working 2 weeks ago (grey icon for both).

A few days back I unplug the solar panel and plug it back in and that fixed it for the day (charging back to 100%) but now it stop charging again and gone back to grey icons.

I wonder whether there was a recent update of camera firmware?

[Bajathree]

@Tatey I also believe @RegularJoe  isn't running Pro 4's. The problem most all of us are having is with the Pro 4's not charging with the solar panels. I believe it has been reported that even those using Pro 4's with third party solar panels are having the same issue. 

[Bajathree]

There is nothing that will work on our end to fix this issue...I have tried everything that Arlo has suggested and still Arlo is playing games with me saying try this try that...I am tired of Arlo not standing up to the plate and admitting the issue they have created. A firmware update created this issue and only fixing that firmware issue will solve things. Until that happens we are all just wasting our time....Arlo has horrible customer support and would not recommend them to anyone at this point...they are leaving their current customers in the wind and just don't seem to care.

[Clemdog]

I have 3 Pro 4 cameras attached to Arlo solar panels. 2 of them work absolutely fine and one won’t charge at all…

I’ve replaced the solar panel on the bad one but still not working.

[Tatey]

That makes sence thank for the heads up!! I'm running the Pro 4s with the same issue as everyone else.

[Jo060]

I'm running Essential spotlight with the same problem

[dtm774]

I have the same issue for two cameras (Arlo PRO4 (VMC4050P-100AUS) + Arlo Solar Panel V2 (VMA5600-20000S)).

Night/Day temps are 50-75F (10-25C). My batteries are not charging from solar, unless I disconnect the magnetic cable. It will then charge to 100% (ever if it takes 3-4 days (overcast)) and then stop charging, until I repeat the process.

Luckily, I have another camera (similar hardware / setup) that's working fine. 

The firmware on the "good" camera is 1.080.18.3_32_bf8e460.

The firmware on the "bad" camera is 1.080.18.4_52_ec35062.

I'm in the southern hemisphere. It's summer.

[allsod]

@dtm774  yep I’m in the southern hemisphere too and same issue. Unfortunately all my Pro 4 cameras are on the ‘bad’ firmware though!

The only good part is my busiest camera lasts the longest charging successfully from the panel  because it can take days to get to 100% because of all the activity. But once it catches up and hits 100%, up the ladder I need to go otherwise it is dead within a day or two. Very frustrating!! 

[Infractious]

I've been through hell and back ever since this firmware update. No one has even bothered to call me back when they said they would. My ticket I believe is still sitting open though. 

[ybnice]

When the day comes that my Arlo 4 Pro Cameras need replacing, I WILL NOT be buying Arlo due to the disgraceful Arlo Support .  It has been absolutely appalling the Support that has been given re this big issue/failure re Arlo Solar Panels re Firmware.  19 Telephone conversations I had with them, which is so bad:-  Going over same rubbish of doing this and that, never listening to me, the customer; it is obvious that no forward communication was given to their "Intermal Team" (the area which updates Firmware, so I was told it is called).
It is a shame that their Support is poor as their Cameras are good.  Perhaps Arlo need to look into seriously bringing back their Support to USA and not outsourcing it to overseas.

[RegularJoe]

  You'd think that something that Walmart carries would be a company that does better at customer care than it does... or WM would drop them.
  Maybe they don't drop them because they aren't on the hook when the camera owner eventually gives up and wants their money back. 
   I think that there are 2, maybe 3 classes of Arlo camera owners. 
  1} Kinda tech illiterate, but know just enough to think that they can go through the online flow charts to make the camera work, or in endless chat with "support", chasing their tails in vain hopes that someone is actually there who can help them get their camera to work/charge/connect/whatever.

  2} Totally clueless about the ways of the electronic world, and don't know what they don't know. Camera is an expensive paperweight that they can't connect to, and have no idea how to reach out for nonexistent help.

  Well, maybe there isn't a 3rd type, lol.

   

[Jo060]

Arlo is saying this has nothing to do with the new app. Has anyone tried doing a factory reset on a camera to see if changes anything? 

[RegularJoe]

  Where did you see that the company said it had nothing to do with the revised app? 

  I realize that there are about 3 different discussions going on right now about this exact thing, so I may have missed something.... but, I haven't seen anyone of authority come out and exclaim that "it's not anything we did".  There are a handful of issues right now that I suspect are updated app results.

  {1}. Inability of the solar panels to kick back in after the initial full charge of the batteries in the cameras.

  {2}.  Inability of the user to delete multiple videos out of the library/folder at one time, only able to delete single videos. Can't "select all" as before, when choosing which vids to delete.

  {3}. When viewing videos, unable to move on to the next video in the cue with the simple flick of the finger, as before. Now we are forced to view the video, "X" out of that one, then the screen reverts to the folder full of vids, and you must choose the next one manually.  Pain in the rear.

  Those are the 3 that are worst, to me.