Arlo Solar Panel Charger For Arlo Essential Cameras

[JoanCootes]

Hello. On 1st November my son installed an Arlo Solar Panel Charger VMA 3600 and hooked it up to one of my Arlo VMC 2030 cameras. I checked the app on my phone to make sure the solar panel was charging the camera, and it was, everything was good, the battery icon on the app was green and the camera was charging. It took a few days to get up to 100%, and the battery icon showed green and "full charge".  I regularly check the camera to make sure everything is working ok, and on 10th November I noticed that the battery icon on the app is now white. The camera is currently showing a charge of 99% and has been that for a couple of days. It is now 13th November and the battery icon is still white and the charge on the camera is still showing 99%. What does this mean? Is the solar panel still charging the camera? If the charge drops down to a certain level, will the solar panel start charging the camera again? I'm worried, because this was quite expensive for me and I don't want to think that the solar panel may have failed. 

[BrookeN · Accepted solution]

This article will give you more information regarding the solar panel

https://www.arlo.com/en_be/support/faq/1152212/How-does-the-Arlo-Solar-Panel-work

This one will explain how to place it to get the most sunlight:

https://kb.arlo.com/en_US/1310968

This will give you troubleshooting steps regarding the solar panel:

https://kb.arlo.com/000045870/How-to-troubleshoot-Arlo-Solar-Panel-charging-issues

It sounds like to me it is still charging as expected. It may be getting a lot of movement so the charger cannot keep up with the camera use. However, it is still keeping it charged. 

If you have any other questions, please let me know. 

[JoanCootes]

Thank you very much for all this information. Now I have a better understanding of how the solar panel works. I think I panicked a bit because the previous solar panel was not Arlo and I think it simply stopped working after only a few months. The Arlo solar panel is working fine, I monitor it and the camera regularly, and everything is as it should be. 

[BrookeN]

If you do have any further questions, let me know and I would be more than happy to help. 

[JoanCootes]

Thank you very much! I think I'm ok now, I understand how the system works, thanks to you explaining it to me.