Solar Charging Help

[NorthPole]

Just Bought the A2Pro & seems to work great..1 cam close to the base & rarely gets tripped, so battery lasts a long time - Weeks . Other cam down the driveway get's tripped a lot & is father away & battery goes dead after a few days to a week... Soo in order to prevent taking down & recharging all the time -I bought the expensive solar charger,  & It says it's charging ( im in So Cal ) so plenty of sun . But battery is  still dropping...  Why would they bring out a $80 panel battery & not be enough to charge it...  Why don;'t they make a bigger panel that can actually power the camera & let it stream..  Anyone hook up a bigger third party panel with enough juice & storage that can atually power the camera in streaming mode day & night..

[jguerdat]

The solar panel is a trickle charger. If the amount of time recording and live viewing is great enough the battery could slowly discharge. WHat's the average total amount of time per day the camera is used for recording and live viewing?

A possibility is that the panel cable ends aren't fully seated. They can be a real PITA to seat properly so take your time and use some modest effort ton ensure full seating. Of course, it could be faulty hardware in which case you could swap at the store or open a case with support here.

[jaw5279]

That the battery level is always dropping doesn't sound right to me.  I agree with the previous poster to check the plug seating.  I have three solar panels connected to Arlo Pro 2 cameras and they all keep up with the charge level.  They begin charging at 99% and cut off at 100%.  This happens multiple times throughout the day.  I have seen them recover a battery from 95% but it takes several hours.  I have one camera that triggers approximately 15 times a day.  Also, you might want to try the panel on your other camera.  If it displays the same issue, I would return the panel for a replacement.  

[NorthPole]

Well we'll see in the next few days . , as I've said.. the Cam is as far away as wifi will allow, and it points at the street - so it's quite busy . . ( that was the point of buying it to suppliment my Nest cams close to the house with power)...    I have taken it down to recharge & re-plugged it in. and it says it's charging. but I think my point is the solar charger should be able to keep up with a busy distant camera. And considering i'm in SoCal with plenty of sun ( best case senario for charging ) it should more than keep up with the power demands..  I worry for users where it's not as sunny, the solar panel may not do much... And my other question is if any hacking users have found a 3rd party panel power solution that can actually allow the arlo to Stream continuously...  I can't imagine it's power demands are so big it would need anything much much bigger than the "Trickle charger" . 

[jguerdat]

The max distance could be the cause. That would cause the camera to struggle to maintain the WiFi connection, potentially draining the battery faster than the panel can charge. Try swapping cameras around to see if the new camera has the same problem.

[NorthPole]

OK Temporarily Rescinding my complaint.... The Solar charger seems to be gaining charge in the sun today.. I'll keep an eye on it.. Hopefully the idea is as it's a pain to remove & charge, I'll never have to charge it if the solar panel can keep up..

Thanks for your thoughts everyone..