Essential Spotlight camera solar power

[Adksi11892]

Since I had a new firmware a couple of days ago my Essential Spotlight Camera connected to the solar panel constantly says it is charging in the app, even in the middle of the night.  Currently on 1.090.27.0_8_620e159

[Rebtop]

Igor. OK, That is not why I bought solar panels.  

I am extremely happy with the units. If they could just correct this problem and get the fix to everyone. 

Bob

[fenton11]

I found that I need to unplug the solar panels from the camera for a minute then plug it back in to get an accurate battery status and get rid of the red charging icon. Also when I do this sometimes the battery level drops from 100% to 90% so that tells me the camera is not charging when it should be. And we shouldn’t have to reboot the cameras just to get an accurate battery reading. Can someone point me to a better system I should look into.

[Rebtop]

I have reached the same conclusion. I will look elsewhere for another camera. 
Before I go anywhere for more then 4 days, I take my Essential cameras down and manually charge them. One time I didn’t, the second day one camera was offline because the battery was drained. Not a pleasant experience. 

[Igor80]

One of the biggest issues the Essential cameras have is when there is a loss of network connectivity the cameras consistently try to reconnect back to the network and the battery gets used up very fast.  The network connectivity issue can occur for a number of reasons including a power outage.    When this occurs a fully charged camera can discharge in a matter of hours and will require to be taken down and recharged again because a solar panel can't fully charge a camera from 0%.  

If this occurs while someone is home you can go climbing for the camera to recharge it again, but if this occurs while no one is home especially for an extended period of time you will not have camera coverage.  

Arlo should really fix this as well, along with other issues that these cameras have. 

[EvaM]

Firmware: 1.090.27.5_38_dbbc23e

Camera is connected to a Solar panel but not charging (red lightening bolt icon).  Removed the camera and charged inside house, but the reason I purchased a solar panel was so I would not have to do this.  It was working properly for months and apparently stopped working / charging correctly about a month ago.  How do I fix this? 

[Rebtop]

My lightening bolt goes from red to green and back now. It is also connected to an ARLO charging solar panel. 
It is night time presently but guess what color the display is? It is green. I turn the camera off during the day for at least six hours to let the trickle charge do its thing. 

From experience, I also know that the 100% indicator is incorrect. 
If someone, one more time, tells me to reset it, I will defriend  that person, PERMANENTLY. 

Bob

[fenton11]

So Arlo released an update to the iOS app yesterday. There’s a new sun icon. I assume it means that the camera is connected to a solar panel.

[Igor80]

I see the same update on Android as well.  And keeping an eye on it for the last couple of days.  Yes it does appear Arlo added an icon for the Solar panel and it shows a green sun icon when the solar panel is charging the camera.  Still not sure if the battery info is shown correctly. Out of 3 camera's I see 2 show being charged 100% and they have yet to charge during the day. 

[fenton11]

My battery icons have been stuck on 100% the last few days as well. The only way to get an accurate charging status is to continue to unplug and plug in the solar panels.

[Rebtop]

I am very disappointed with Arlo. Promises, promises, promises. I gave a Ring camera system to my son for Xmas. I could not bring myself to give an Arlo system.

[EvaM]

I wrote to Arlo through the support function and after some discussion and negotiation they sent me a new solar panel.  I've returned the original to them.  So far the camera is charging correctly and the red icon is gone.

[Juliedawn]

Two solar panels quit working last night w firmware update and the batteries are draining superfast.  One is 600 miles  away.  I can’t just get there

[Adksi11892]

My solar powered essentials died a couple of nights ago, went from 60% when I went to bed to sending out a low battery email at 1:30am and it was dead in the morning.  New firmware too from the looks of it, charged it up to 95% on mains and put it back up again.

Wish they would sort out the firmware and then stop mucking with it,

[Juliedawn]

Agree, I am going to see if they will refund me, i need a reliable system since i am not there.  

[Rebtop]

I have a feeling they may be having financial issues. They have not solved this problem for over a year.