Essential Spotlight Camera. Dead Battery.

[Gogran]

No instructions came in my box except go to Arlo Support. That was useless with my problem. Received notice battery was too low; while out of town and now its dead in the water. So  what do I do? I love this Arlo camera but the support is horrible and I'm so sorry I ended up with this brand which was a gift.

Do I take off the front porch wall and recharge; buy a new battery?  Would appreciate any info I can get.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@Gogran wrote:

Do I take off the front porch wall and recharge; buy a new battery?  Would appreciate any info I can get.

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The Essential Spotlight camera is fully sealed, so you cannot buy a new battery.  You'll have to take it down and recharge it.

Personally I check the charge level before I take a planned trip, and charge up any cameras that are getting low.

[RegularJoe]

Well, hey, new user here, too. This brand lacks in information, and I think this website/page/support thing is kinda hard to navigate.

  That said... I've been messing with my new Essential Spotlight cams hot and heavy.

  You do realize that the little black neoprene flap on the bottom of the camera covers the USB charging port, don't you? One end is the "sync" button and is not movable, and the other end will lift up and expose that port. The flap doesn't come off, so be gentle with it.

  The cam came with a little, short white USB charging cord.  That's what I use to charge mine. Use that to connect it to a charger with.

 I think (because it's not explained anywhere) that it's short because they want to get a lot of current flowing in to charge the battery, and the average 3 foot long charging cord used for phones will not let enough current/amperage flow through one of them to let the batt. charge quickly enough. That's just my supposition. USB cords, for phone, have ,surprisingly, very little actual copper wire in them... just a few fine strands, almost thin as your hair is. 5 volts at 2 amps for battery charging~ if it goes through just a short piece of small wire~ that doesn't cut down the efficiency much. But, that much going through a piece of hair 3 foot long, loses some power and doesn't charge the battery right.

  Hook it up to a charger with the shortest cord you can find, if you don't have the original. 

If nothing else is wrong, that ought to get you back on the right path to surveilling.

[StephenB]

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@RegularJoe wrote:

 I think (because it's not explained anywhere) that it's short because they want to get a lot of current flowing in to charge the battery, and the average 3 foot long charging cord used for phones will not let enough current/amperage flow through one of them to let the batt. charge quickly enough. That's just my supposition.

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You can certainly use a longer cable when charging the camera.

[RegularJoe]

Well, then, what is the reason for including a cord only 8 inches long with the kit?

Instructions say "use included cord" and it explains in some instruction somewhere that the cord has to be capable of carrying 2 amps of 5 volt current... which is a lot for little thin, wispy wire. If it didn't make any difference, the engineers wouldn't prescribe what cord to use.

[StephenB]

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@RegularJoe wrote:

Well, then, what is the reason for including a cord only 8 inches long with the kit?

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I imagine it is short because it is cheap.  I've gotten similar length cables in true wireless earbuds.  Personally I find that length annoying - though some might find short cables to be more tidy when using the charger on a tabletop.

The indoor USB cables for the other Arlo cameras are much longer - generally around 8 feet.  Charging requirements (volts/amperage) for those cameras are basically the same.  I have used the longer cables that came with the Pro 2 to charge my Essential camera with no problem.

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@RegularJoe wrote:

Instructions say "use included cord" and it explains in some instruction somewhere that the cord has to be capable of carrying 2 amps of 5 volt current... which is a lot for little thin, wispy wire. 

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The cable does need to carry that much current, of course. But most microUSB cables can - and longer cables have thicker wires for the power pair.

You seem to think that your mobile devices have batteries that don't take as much power to charge.  That isn't the case at all.   This is not an unusual amount of power - almost all USB chargers deliver 2 amps @ 5 volts.  Many can deliver more (using fast or quick charge).  Any microUSB cable that can charge a phone can charge the camera.

You aren't totally wrong - the wires are thin, and there is some loss of power due to resistance in the cable.  The outdoor charger for the Ultra/Pro 3/Pro 4 cameras uses 9 volts because the higher voltage reduces the power loss in the 25 foot cable.  But any reasonable length microUSB cable should work with a 5 volt/2 amp charger.  And if it can't, then the camera just won't charge .  The camera shouldn't be damaged.

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@RegularJoe wrote:

If it didn't make any difference, the engineers wouldn't prescribe what cord to use.

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FWIW, the manual just says a charging cable is included.  It doesn't say you have to use that cable.  I'm not seeing anything like that in the other on-line documents (install guide or datasheet).

[RegularJoe]

I bet that not all "long" cables are not created the same, just like all automotive "jumper cables" aren't. 

The battery for a cell phone probably doesn't require near the charging current that the battery in the essential requires.

I'm sure the Arlo brand are built to their specifications... and the cable you buy off the rack at the Dollar Tree is probably not.

  Anyhow, just pointing out my theory of why the short cable.

[StephenB]

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@RegularJoe wrote:

Anyhow, just pointing out my theory of why the short cable.

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Let's end this - the conversation clearly isn't going anywhere.

You can use the supplied 8 inch cable, I'll continue to use my 8 foot one.