Arlo Go Discouraged - Battery Life - Solar Panel - Sigh

[ambersletterbox]

We recently (and now, I’m concerned, overeagerly) purchased the Arlo Go to monitor our rural property (55 miles from our primary residence) as we begin to develop the property. We’ve Googled so many things prior-to and since our initial installation attempt – thank you all so much – we’ve gained so much insight from this forum. However, since I’m now quite discouraged and overwhelmed, I felt it best to create a new thread for our needs – although there will likely be some rehashing of old ideas and/or suggestions, I deeply appreciate any guidance/help in advance, just the same.

Upon our initial installation attempt, we purchased a simple little black house cover/case (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DZZNHW5) for the Arlo Go – to mount it up high in a tree on the property. We had a basic game cam mounted on the tree behind it to monitor the Arlo’s security, but after a single night out, we didn’t feel safe about leaving it out there (it is indeed installed from a ladder; to confiscate it would entail great effort, but, it’s a rural area and my neighbor’s not too stoked about my development… thus the primary purpose of the Arlo purchase). After one night, we took it down to work on a stronger anti-theft mechanism and left the game cam up. Due to some of the images captured on the game cam (of said neighbor) once it was discovered, and night vision triggers that appear to be from behind – we strongly believe had the game cam not been secured to the tree via its anti-theft box and Python cable lock it would have been confiscated.

We found many threads from this forum re: anti-theft device suggestions, looked into the wire cages, etc. and finally created a device of our own out of a breaker box. We mounted the camera inside of the breaker box and mounted the breaker box to the tree from inside the box and locked it with a padlock, we then secured the box to the tree with a Python cable lock through it.

Apparently, the box was messing with the signal, I could hardly keep a signal last week, and it kept losing connectivity altogether (but we do have the SD card as a backup and it did pick up some data I didn’t have in my library on the app). This past weekend, we altered the box some more, cut more openings in it while keeping it secure. So, that’s improved greatly, at this moment the camera is holding three bars pretty well. In that area, signal strength is already an issue (we use Verizon [AT&T is even worse]).

We’ve also been having battery issues – after trouble shooting I wasn’t sure if it was due to the connectivity issues, signal strength, all of the above? We took the camera down this past Friday night, charged the battery overnight, put the camera and the solar panel up Saturday evening (both are mounted in a pine tree) and the panel is in a position to receive four hours of direct sun. I followed the instructions re: holding my patience until it had time to show it (the panel) powering the camera – finally, at 9:30 a.m. today it showed the lightening bolt icon but the battery was already down to 66% just from Saturday afternoon. It’s been cloudy and windy here all day long (but there was a great patch of sunshine in there) and the wind keeps setting the camera off. I recently lowered the sensitivity (since only after purchasing I learned the motion detection only reaches about 20 feet, I had it set at 100% to reach the area I need to monitor), recording length, and quality. It is now at 35% and the lightening bolt has been gone for hours (also, it went from 66% to 65% with the lightening bolt in full force). Today I ordered a second battery so that when we return Friday night, we can again take it down, switch out SD cards and batteries, and hopefully be set for our work to begin on Saturday.

I love the idea and concept of this product so much, and now I’m quite financially vested into it as well (not to mention the Verizon contract) but I simply don’t know how to make it work for my needs apart from connecting it directly to power.

Does anyone have any suggestions for us? Thank you so much for your time.

[Streak2]

When I had high battery drain issues with my AT&T version I changed the Network Mode from Auto to LTE only under settings and that solved the problem.

As for the solar panel, it really should be doing a better job that that. Have you made sure that it's plugged securely into the camera?

[ambersletterbox]

Streak2 thank you so much for your insight. The app reads (under settings) that the network mode is LTE Only on mine, and the solar panel seemed very securely input. I also just realized something - I ordered the replacement battery today - is the only way to charge the battery inside the camera or charging station? If so I will also have to order the charging station as well to serve my purpose.

[Streak2]

OK. So try and set the mode now to Auto instead and see if that works. I no longer use the AT&T model and the current unit is set to Auto with great battery life.

Yes you will need an external charger to charge the battery.

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/products/arlo-pro/charging-station.aspx

[ambersletterbox]

Streak2 I've searched both in the app and on my pc but it appears that LTE Only is the only option available (under settings, under network) - it doesn't offer a changing option at all; I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding your directive. Thank you for letting me know about the charger - that would have added so much insult to injury had that also fallen through. Thank you so much!

[Streak2]

This option does vary by camera type so don't worry about it. Just leave it at as LTE only.

[ambersletterbox]

After weeks of trial and error (we have the camera in fourth location) on camera position (connectivity as well as solar panel charging) monitoring the weather, charging an extra battery via the charging station, etc. - I believe my issue is the battery that came with the camera is a bad battery. I previously had it in the camera... the camera went offline one day around 2 p.m. - came back on the next morning (didn't send a lost connectivity notification or anything), the battery was charging via the solar panel and was at 86% - thought it was a fluke. It went off again around the same time and never came back on. It was over a week before I could get to it (b/c said purpose of the camera is to monitor my rural property, 55 miles from my primary residence). I replaced the battery with the fully charged replacement battery on Saturday - it's been fully connected and charging, battery life at 100% until today (one week later - as it's sunless and raining the battery is at 97%). This is the most successful week I've had with this camera over the past few months since I purchased it. I've wanted this camera to work so badly b/c I think it has the potential to be an amazing product - especially for my situation - an alert pops up on my apple watch, I see what's happening immediately via an image. I can pop on over to my phone and hit the notification, it'll take me live or I can log into the library (if I'm worried about my battery life) and see what happened. I really do love this product but I do not love the challenges that come with it. I purchased the camera from Verizon and added a huge memory card in case it loses connectivity - that put my initial investment at app. $400. Added the solar panel (app. $80) then the replacement battery (app. $60) then, oh yeah... had to have something to charge the extra battery with (sigh) an additional $55. I am now well over $650 (adding the materials to create a makeshift anti-theft box and anti-theft cable lock) - not to mention time, trouble, sweat and curse words into this thing. I almost took it back countless times as I found game cams that also work off of a cellular plan but I'm holding out for hope that this camera will come through after all of this effort. If I discover it's more than a bum battery I'll be forced to return it (I have also considering running a power line to it as a last resort) at this point. This location has been maintaining three bars so that's a plus. I now need to know how to get this bum battery replaced? I read on a thread in all my week of researching this forum where Netgear replaced batteries for folks with similar situations. Any suggestions on how to do that? I tried to open the chat feature under Netgear's customer service but it wouldn't fully populate. Thank you!