Arlo Pro Charging Station Cable Questions

[punkguins]

HI, before I buy the Arlo Pro, I wanted to understand the charging station cable. In the front wall of my home, I have a 1" vertical  pipe conduit with a guide wire in it that goes to the crawl space. I would like to mount one Arlo Pro there. My question is: Does the charging cable disconnect from the transforner?

I want to buy a 25'  long micro USB cable, run it thru the conduit into the crawl space and back into the equipment closet that has wall power. In the equipment closet is where I would attach the other end of the micro USB cable and plug that into the white transformer. The transformer would then plug into the wall power. 

I don't think I can usebatteries with this configuration. Correct? THe reason being, standard micro USB cables don't have 9V for the batteries. However, I did find this cable on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Adaptive-Charger-Charging-voltages-charging/dp/9713256506

Can I use this cable instead and get both wall power and a way to charge batteries? If the answer is yes, then I would run this cable thru the conduit, plug this in the transformer and then run an extension cord from that point under the home to the equipment closet....

[jguerdat]

The cable has nothing to do with the voltages - it's the wall wart itself.  A cheap cable CAN cause issues since they use smaller wire gauges so a quality cable is in order.  Use the original charger with a quality cable and you should be fine.

However, there's a physical issue with this, namely that the microUSB is positioned in a place that makes mounting and power an issue.  The best way to mount would be with a different mount than the half ball that comes with the camera.  The more typical wall mounts have a locking collar/nut that may be an issue with clearance to the cable.  Netgear has modified their mount to use a different locknut, I believe, or you could just remove the existing one and substitute your own nut that fits.  Any 1/4"-20 nut will work as long as the size is appropriate.  Of course, if you don't need it locked down, the nut isn't an issue.

You also don't need to use the battery - the USB cable will power the camera.  Charging the battery requires 9v from the chager or 5v just to run the camera.  Not using the battery means loss of power loses the camera while having the battery installed (and charged) allows the camera to continue working.

[punkguins]

Thanks for your quick and detailed response.

OK, so you answered my first question: the "wall wart"or transformer does disconnedt from the USB cable....I wasn't sure!

Next, I did want a way to run off wall power and charge the battery (in case power is cut). Would that link I sent in original email which is of a USB cable that has 9V do the trick? The only thing with that cable is it's length. I would need to run an extension cord beneath the home to the wall outlet.

[Streak2]

I would be very wary about running such a long USB cable specially at the current required to keep the camera running. I think the voltage drop will be so high that by the time you plugged the other end into the camera there may not be enough voltage to either run the camera or charge the battery. I would not make your purchase conditional on this working but rather a bonus if it does.

Having said this, I tested my dual voltage Samsung phone charge and it ran and charged the cameras fine using a standard length USB cable.

Also, I assume that you would have your router and base on a UPS to make sure that the whole system will continue to run in the event of a power failure.

[jguerdat]

It's the charger itself that has the 9v. While it may work, part of the issue is the technology used - the Pro cameras use Qualcomm fast charge technology. I have no idea what the LG device uses. Might be Qualcomm, maybe not. Another part of the issue is the length of the cable as pointed out above. Again , a quality cable has thicker wires so would have less voltage drop. Whether that's sufficient is ink own - you'd be on your own to test and possibly risk an issue that wouldn't be covered by any warranty. Movie g power closer so a shorter cable would work might be a better answer.

[Drake3287]

I did a similar mount above my garage door outside and plugged it into a garage (ceiling outlet for garage door) outlet via a small vent hole under the eve of the house. Like you the problem was the short micro USB power cable that comes with the camera, I needed a longer one.

On Amazon I found a 15' cord (and in white) which worked perfect for me. In all the researching I did 15 foot was the longest micro USB cable I found. Who knows, maybe 15 feet is the longest you can go safely without having an issue.

[punkguins]

Could you send me a link for what you purchased?

[Drake3287]

Hopefully this link works. If not try to cut and paste it.

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Select-Micro-Charge-Cable/dp/B018RAVYRC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1480...