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"Low Temperature, Your device needs to warm up before you can use it." error with one using solar

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Paperguy5
Follower
Follower

3 cams, all outside. One using solar shows following on my phone: " Low Temperature, Your device needs to warm up before you can use it." Removed cam and charged fully for a few hours then reinstalled. This morning same message. Other 2 cams are fine. One on solar one on plug.

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TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

It shouldn’t give that warning unless less than about zero ( -4F is spec) ...

try it without solar for a day or so, if happens again, try a reset of cam by pulling battery.

lf still an issue, then possible warranty thru ArloSupport

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Alienboy
Aspirant
Aspirant

I have 2 outdoor Ultra 2 cameras at my cottage and this week has been very cold and I have received the same warning message 3 times.  I have one camera in a tree and one under an eave.  The one in the tree shuts off with the temperature message at -20c fairly consistently.  The more sheltered one under the eave shuts off at -23c to -25c.  They both turn back on around -18c and work flawlessly until the next cold spell. 

 

Frankly it doesn't seem to drain the battery  much at all operating in such cold temperatures.  Neither are solar charged nor AC powered.  However, they aren't activated that frequently - mostly by deer.  I have been considering solar chargers as it can be several weeks without me visiting the cottage to manually charge them but so far the depleted charge is less than 10% per week.  

 

I hesitated purchasing them because of the temperature range spec (other cameras on the market had a smaller operating temperature range) or putting them outside at all because of the cold spells we tend to get in Jan / Feb.  But when I tried placing them inside to view through a window, they wouldn't motion activate as the windows are double glazed and therefore can't sense activity via heat sensing - even though they would record manually.  I'm okay with the minor inconvenience of them self shutting down for 6-8 hours with the cold and auto restarting with the morning warmth for the 3-5 nights a year as long as it doesn't damage them and so far they bounce back perfectly.  

 

As a comparison, a few years ago I left some power tool batteries in the boathouse during the winter.  I could never recover them from being zero depleted from the cold - and those batteries cost over $200 each!

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

As for the solar panels, don't forget that the cameras won't charge below freezing to protect the batteries. If it's consistently below freezing, solar panels will do nothing.

Alienboy
Aspirant
Aspirant

You are absolutely correct about the batteries.  It was about 7c and I went to charge the batteries with the 25' magnetic cable and received a message that it needs to be warmer.  With the magentic connector, I can just barely reach the base of the cameras to attach it (with a broom!).  So I had to get the ladder out and remove the cameras from all 3 locations and take them inside to charge.  Not a huge inconvenience considering it looks like I should be able to get at least 2 months out of the cameras.  

 

As an aside, I had no idea we had so many deer on our property at 2am almost every night!

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