Arlo go batteries won't charge below 35 degrees

[pkb]

Bought the Arlo go and the solar panel and the batteries will not charge below 35° and the camera goes offline a lot when the temperature goes below 30 want to know if anybody figured out how to pull the battery out and just plug the cable in to a DC power source. I know the power source is 9 volts and about 1.1 amps want to know if anybody has done this and if it's come back and says that it is not an approved charger and if anybody figured out a way around that. the green and white wire are negative and positive want to know what the blue and brown wire are trying to accomplish in that 4-wire power connector for the AC power adapter. Any help would be appreciated. - Paul

[pkb]

Current temperature

[pkb]

arlo error screen shot

[StephenB]

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@pkb wrote:
want to know if anybody figured out how to pull the battery out and just plug the cable in to a DC power source.

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Of course pulling the battery is the easy part.

What is the DC power source?  If it's a lithium battery you will likely run into the same temperature issue (as all consumer lithium batteries will shut down if they get too cold).

Some folks here have used a 12 volt deep cycle battery with a power inverter, and then used a normal power adapter.

[pkb]

Yes I was thinking of that but I consider that a last resort cuz why convert DC to AC back into DC. Is there anyway to just hook it up directly DC there are four wires the white and green wire are the positive and negative for the DC power what are the blue and brown wires used for? if I can just hook it up directly without the lithium battery that will solve my problem I believe.

[michaelkenward]

Among various discussions on temperature:

Operating Temperature

Temperature range

Solved: The batteries are the weak link lies. Too cold and... - Arlo Communities

[StephenB]

I believe the wiring is standard USB using quick charge.  The camera should operate on 5 volts (9 is what is used for quick charge).

The color coding apparently isn't completely standard (not that unusual in USB cables), and I don't know what will happen if the charger doesn't do the handshake to negotiate the voltage.  One option if you have 12 volts DC is to grab a quickcharge car USB charger, and connect that to the DC.

[pkb]

Have you tested using a regular USB charger? I tried that with an Arlo pro and it told me it was an incompatible charger.

[StephenB]

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@pkb wrote:
Have you tested using a regular USB charger? I tried that with an Arlo pro and it told me it was an incompatible charger.

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I use the Arlo chargers.  But I have see several posts here from folks who've seen that message.  Many used third-party chargers, but some did not.  I don't know what exactly the camera is using to detect an out-of-spec charger, though it apparently was adjusted a bit a few months back (since there was a spike in the number of posts then).  

So if you are thinking that there is some risk that a third-party car charger could trigger this message, then I'd agree.  This is also a risk if you jury rig something yourself (plus some risk that you might damage the camera if you wire it incorrectly).

Anyway, another approach you could take is to get a standard (outdoor rated) USB charging cable that will fit the Go, and then hope it has standard colors in the cable wiring.  Or work from the connector pinout, and not the color coding.

Pin 1-> +5 VCC (typically red)

Pin 2-> Data- (typically white)

Pin 3-> Data+ (typically green)

Pin 5-> Ground (typically black).

Pin 4 (typically blue) is the mode-id.  It should be floating for a charger (and the wire would be missing in a cable only intended for charging).

[pkb]

Fyi on the Arlo go wall charger white is +5vdc, green is -5vdc,. Blue and brown are??? I'm sure there is some sort of returned voltage over blue or brown or both that prevents the incompatible charger message. This is the answer that I'm looking for,. What did these two wires do and what voltage are they looking for in order to avoid the incompatible charger message.

[StephenB]

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@pkb wrote:
 I'm sure there is some sort of returned voltage over blue or brown or both that prevents the incompatible charger message. 

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They are USB chargers, and they would therefore use some variant of USB power negotiation.  I already supplied the information on microUSB pinout.  There is a USB standard for negotiating power use (USB-PD), but I don't believe the Qualcomm quick charge technology in the Go uses that standard.  In any event, others have found that 5 volt chargers that don't support quick charge will run Arlo cameras (even if they can't charge the batteries).   

I believe the charging circuitry in the camera detects the incompatible charger, and that wouldn't depend on returned voltage in the cable going back to the charger (which would be a really strange way to protect the camera circuitry).  More likely the camera is just measuring the voltage and current.

I don't work for Arlo, so I don't have any other details to give you - and if I did work for them, I could only tell you that Arlo doesn't recommend using non-Arlo chargers.  I don't think you'll get more information here - and whether you do or not, you are basically on your own if you create your own supply circuitry.

[jguerdat]

May or may not be useful information but:

https://lifehacker.com/why-your-usb-cable-might-not-charge-your-android-smartp-1840462438

[pkb]

So I ended up with a cigarette lighter 1amp charger and regular phone charging cord with the battery out. So far all is good. Lowest temp since has been 28F with no issues.

[StephenB]

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@pkb wrote:
So I ended up with a cigarette lighter 1amp charger and regular phone charging cord with the battery out. So far all is good. Lowest temp since has been 28F with no issues.

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Good to know.  Let us know if you run into any issues when it gets colder.