Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera is not connecting to the Arlo Outdoor Charging Cable.

[298999jth]

The camera and the cable are about 3 years old and were working just fine a few weeks ago.  We did have cold weather recently with a storm and our power was out for a day.  Power has been restored and the outdoor temperature is well above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  During the cold the camera had stopped charging from the cable.  I pulled the camera down and charged it in the house with the Arlo adapter and USB cable.

When I reinstalled the camera outside, it still will not connect with the outdoor cable.  I have checked the contacts on the camera body, mount housing and cable magnetic connection.  Those are all clean and clear of debris.  I checked the power outlet the cable is plugged into and the power supply normal.

How do I verify the power supply of the cable is good?  There are 3 contacts at the magnetic connector.  Assumably hot, neutral and ground.  What is the correct voltage at these contacts?  Can I verify the transformer is functioning correctly after the cold weather and power outage?

[jguerdat]

You made me look. 🙂 With the magnetic connector positioned to the electrical contacts are close to you (the cable is pointing away), the middle contact that is nearest you and the other one on the right should show 5V DC (I saw 5.3V). There is no "ground" contact since nothing about the camera or charger is grounded. I suspect the 3rd contact is used to verify a compatible charger somehow (failure of that results in a "Connect to a compatible charger" error message).

+----+

|          |

|          |

|    o    | - magnet

| .      . | - right contact for voltage

|     .    | - bottom contact for voltage

+----+

[StephenB]

---

@jguerdat wrote:

You made me look. 🙂 With the magnetic connector positioned to the electrical contacts are close to you (the cable is pointing away), the middle contact that is nearest you and the other one on the right should show 5V DC (I saw 5.3V).

---

Did you measure the outdoor charger???

[298999jth]

Thanks jguerdat, nice description and fabulous ASCII art.  I realize now that I was missing what should have been obvious to me that after the transformer it would be DC instead of AC power.  I do have to get out a ladder to access this camera location and test those connections with the volt meter on the proper scale.  

I will repost with results.

[StephenB]

---

@298999jth wrote:

Thanks jguerdat, nice description and fabulous ASCII art.  I realize now that I was missing what should have been obvious to me that after the transformer it would be DC instead of AC power.  I do have to get out a ladder to access this camera location and test those connections with the volt meter on the proper scale.  

I will repost with results.

---

FYI, the outdoor charger should be providing 9 volts, not ~5.  

[298999jth]

Hello StephenB and jguerdat.  I did finally get a ladder out on a decently dry day.  The charger voltage at the magnetic connection is 9.12 volts. Still not showing as connected on my app.  However the camera battery must be charging at some level because several weeks have passed and the battery is at 85%.  It is over our main driveway so it records activity at least twice per day and often more.
Thanks for your feedback.

[jguerdat]

Do you have another camera to try connecting the outdoor power supply to for testing? Did you actually try cleaning all the contacts with isopropyl alcohol, especially the magnetic connector (both sides)? And to be thorough, the camera is fully seated inside the case with no part of the camera face protruding?