Arlo Solar Panel causing Arlo Pro 4 cameras to go offline

[GregAld]

Let me preface this first by saying I love my Alro cameras. This issue is just driving me crazy.

I have three Arlo Pro4 cameras and three Arlo solar panels. Recently two of the three solar panels have been causing two of my cameras to go offline as soon as I connect them. I've had to reset both of cameras multiple times. They would only stay online for a few minutes, then go offline. When I removed the solar panels from the camera, I no longer had the issue. So the issue is clearly related to the solar panels.

The odd thing is that I have had both of these solar panels hooked up to these cameras for almost two years now with no issues. I was mystified. I’m an IT Support Lead for a living. So instead of just logging a ticket, I researched the issue on the Support site to try and resolve it myself. I tried the following troubleshooting steps:

Ensured that the firmware was up-to-date on both cameras.

Tried the suggestion of and charging my batteries to 100% and then reattach the panels.

Finally I switched both of the solar panels to different cameras and had the same results.

My assumption is that the solar panel are have become defective after less than two years of ownership.

Date Ordered: 11/3/21

Total $191.40 ($63.80 each)

Please let me know if Arlo stands behind its products and what you can do for me to replace these solar panels

Thank you very much

Greg A

[david_eyre]

I have been running a Pro 4 with a VMA5600 panel since end October 2021 generally problem free.  In the last two weeks I saw that the battery needed recharging.  After connecting the camera to a charger power went up to 100% and is being held.  On re-connecting the camera to the solar panel no charging is shown and the connection to the base station (VMB5000) is dropped within a few minutes and requires a full reset of the camera to reconnect.  Firmware version is 1.080.18.6_66_bda8d63 (which should have fixed the solar charging issue).  Without connecting the solar panel the camera seems to be stable.  On the panel itself I measured 1,8-2,0 volts between each outside connector and centre connector (under room lighting conditions). Is this another firmware problem? 

[ShayneS]

Do you have another camera you can test this solar panel with?

[david_eyre]

Unfortunately not.  I ran the camera for about 48 hours without connection to the solar panel and all worked fine.  Last night I reconnected the solar panel and the camera operated fine until shortly after sunrise then dropped offline but soon reconnected.  The weather is overcast and snowing at the moment so no charging is showing.  The only change since my previous problems is that the IOS app has updated to 4.2  

[david_eyre]

After reconnecting the solar panel the battery capacity quickly decreased. After charging overnight with an Arlo charger the camera was still not recognized y the base station even though the fully charged light was on.  After a full reset the camera reconnected and showed 100% charge.  This afternoon in bright sunlight I reconnected the solar panel, no sign of charging and then error message "cannot charge battery.  Connect an Arlo charger" (or similar wording).  The solar panel is a genuine Arlo panel VMA5600 S/N A6B11271A0D79.  After showing this error message for about 30 seconds the camera suddenly dropped connection. After, disconnecting the solar panel the blue LED was slowly flashing but no connection achieved. Trying to reconnect manually using the internal sync button failed. I had to remove the camera from the app, reset the camera, restart the app and was then able to reconnect the camera.   

[WCHatch]

Did you come up with a solution to this issue? I believe I am having the same issue

[ShayneS]

@WCHatch 

May I ask which troubleshooting steps you have performed so far? I don't want to suggest anything you have previously performed.

[RH55]

Was this issue resolved? I have the same issue.  Sometimes I will get a message the there was a request for a factory reset, although I did make a request.

[ShayneS]

@RH55 

Can you provide more detail regarding the issue you are experiencing? 

Thanks 

[RH55]

Hi.  I bought an Arlo Pro 4 camera and the Arlo solar charger that goes with it.   The equipment is at a remote location so I can't look up the charger model or S/N immediately.   I set up the equipment about a month ago and it worked fine for a week or two (not sure exactly).  I also have a second camera (Essential XL) at the site.   One day the Pro 4 disappeared from the list of devices showing on my phone.  I also got a message that a factory reset had been requested, which I had not done. The other camera continued to work fine.   I  was at the site later and charged the camera.   The app did not recognize it until I added the device again.  It  worked.   Then I plugged in the solar charger.  Within a minute or two the Pro 4 disappeared again from the list of devices shown in the Arlo app.   I repeated the process,  and again it worked until I connected the solar charger to it.  I am now using the camera without the solar charger, it seems to be working fine.   But I want to get the solar charger working with it again.  I looked online and it sounds like this, or something close to it, has been an issue before, but firmware updates were done to address it?   Thanks for any help.

[david_eyre]

No, never resolved.  It looks like I have an expensive, useless solar panel 😞

[Sonnyman]

I also had to disconnect my panel on my ultra 4. Tried re syncing, then tried deleting/re adding device. Nothing fixes the issue. Camera is working until solar panel is connected the. It loses connection within 5 minutes.

[_JR_]

Hello,

I am also facing this exact issue with one of our Arlo Pro 4 cameras.

The camera itself is placed the farthest from the base station but this was not a problem since we purchased them last December 2022. The Wi-Fi signal strength on the app is showing 2 out of 3 bars.

I have the exact same setup as David with the only difference being the camera firmware version (1.080.19.2_40_a462be1) which is the latest version at the time of posting this.

That single camera drops the connection once I plug in the Arlo solar panel (model VMA5600). I have tried restarting and resetting the camera and base station (VMB5600) with no luck.

For now, the camera is unplugged from the solar panel in order to maintain the connection.

The other thing I will try is to swap around the cameras and see if the issue persists. But I think this might be a hardware issue. Let me know if there is any new development and/or resolution to this.

Thanks,

-JR

[aklava]

Same issue.....plug in the solar panel to a pro 4 camera and it factory resets and goes offline.

C'mon Arlo.........give us a solution.

[RH55]

For no obvious reason,  the problem with my Arlo Pro 4 disconnecting as soon as I plugged in the solar charger disappeared.   The camera and charger work again.   I did not do anything to resolve the issue, so it is a mystery.  The solar charger was disconnected from the camera for a couple of weeks.  When I connected it again, everything worked.   It sounds like others still have the problem though, hopefully it gets identified and resolved.

[shonza]

Same issue, the solar panel stopped charging my battery the last couple of weeks and now my camera just disappeared from my dashboard and cannot reconnect it.  Anyone find a solution yet?

[RodneyGordon]

My Arlo 4 was connected to a solar panel for months and suddenly went offline. The other 2 cameras are connected the same way and still work and are online.

I tried eith a new camera on the same solar charger and it dropped offline in a few minutes. I re-synced the camera  and put it back in position without the solar charger and it works fine. It would seem that the charger corrupts the camera- but why are the other 2 working fine. The problematic one is in a very dunny, exposed location.

Should I take the charger back and get a replacement? My problem seems very similar to the previous stories. Arlo must have a solution - please!

Very frustrating!

[ShayneS]

@RodneyGordon 

I will provide your feedback to my team and update you as soon as possible. 

[TD149]

Did your team ever provide any feedback on this issue? I am having the same problem as others. I have swapped cameras (Pro & Pro 4)  between the panel that is having the issue. This does not have any effect, regardless of camera attached the connection is lost within 5 minutes. I have a second panel which is slightly more shaded and it has no problems. 

[presotto]

I have a similar problem though the timing is inconsistent.  My pro 4 will work for time ranging from hours to weeks with the solar panel pugged in.  Then it will stop talking to the base station.  Sometimes just disconnecting and reconnecting the solar panel is enough to get it working again.  Sometimes I have to remove the battery or reset the oroi 4 to make it work.

I've tried this both with the camera talking directly to my wifi and to my arlo base station with the same results.  I'm tempted to buy a new solar panel and camera to see if I have a pair that will work or maybe go back to my older arlo camera which has crappier video but at least is reliable.

[jguerdat]

Dropped connections tends to imply a signal strength and/or quality issue. Of course, that doesn't mean that the camera or solar panel isn't somehow the issue. Can you swap cameras around (assuming you have multiple cameras that use the magnetic power connection) to test?

[presotto]

I ordered another pro 4 to try there.  This one has been flakey since the day I bought it.  Couldn't get it to talk to the Arlo app till I reset it a dozen times and since has had this problem even though it is in the same spot as my old pro 2 that worked for years.  Tried it on WiFi also instead of hub (have a WiFi base near it) and the same problem.

[Sandstone1]

Same problem here. Chatting with support right now. Purchased mine 4 months ago.

[ShayneS]

@Sandstone1 

Do the cameras stay online after unplugging the solar panel as well? 

[Sandstone1]

After plugging in the panel the camera goes offline or resets and disappears from the acct. The time it takes is instantly to 5 minutes or so. The camera stays offline and has to be added back to the account for it to work again. It works fine as long as you don’t connect the panel. Bad panel.