Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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S-Mar
Guide
Guide

Can the Arlo Pro be left with the charger attached 24 hours a day?

 

I have the system in our vacation home and sometimes gone for 9 months at a time.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

Yes... it will not overcharge

 

IIRR, the battery ( if camera is in use ) will not fully charge the battery to 100% just for this reason.

 

As a PS...you can also run the camera off the adapter without the battery installed.

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17 REPLIES 17
TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

Yes... it will not overcharge

 

IIRR, the battery ( if camera is in use ) will not fully charge the battery to 100% just for this reason.

 

As a PS...you can also run the camera off the adapter without the battery installed.

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Morse is faster than texting!
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jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

TomMac wrote:

IIRR, the battery ( if camera is in use ) will not fully charge the battery to 100% just for this reason. 


Supposedly the battery will only charge to 80%.  This not only protects from overcharging but also keeps the battery in its sweet spot (Li-ion likes to be in the 40-80% range).

delaveganz
Aspirant
Aspirant

Supposedly the battery will only charge to 80%.  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

So charging in the camera will never get to 100%? Wasn't there a battery indicator that can be enabled to indicate full charge?

S-Mar
Guide
Guide

Will the Arlo Pro work with the regular Arlo system.

 

 I am keen to buy one and hook up without the battery and run it 24 hours a day 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru
Yes, the Pro will work with the original system and vice versa. Even with it progged in, though, it will still only record on motion. You can't use it for viewing or recording 24/7.

As for charging, I'm not clear as to how the battery stops at 80%. Yes, you get a full charge by plugging it in. Maybe a prolonged powered scenario discharges the battery and then maintain s it there? @JamesC, any input?
reynoldswrap0
Star
Star

I believe that battery indicator is designed as something you can toggle in the case you have them connected to power when mounted in place.  If the light were to remain on, the camera would be much less discreet up on the wall.

delaveganz
Aspirant
Aspirant

reynoldswrap0 wrote:

I believe that battery indicator is designed as something you can toggle in the case you have them connected to power when mounted in place.  If the light were to remain on, the camera would be much less discreet up on the wall.


The option is labelled "Battery Fully Charged Indicator" - not "Battery Charging"...

reynoldswrap0
Star
Star

Precisely. The quick start guide reads "the camera LED lights [up] solid blue when the camera battery is fully charged."  If a mounted camera is connected to its USB cable, it would quickly reach it's "fully charged" state, in which case you wouldn't want the LED to light up solid blue. I have a hard time swallowing that toggle was put there just because some people wouldn't want to know when their battery powered camera is done charging ... 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

To add clarity to this discussion, the user interface will show 100% after fully charging the battery in an Arlo Pro camera using the supplied charging cable/adapter.  80% is the safety threshold to prevent overcharging or potentially damaging the battery when charging this way. So essentially the UI shows the maximum charge that the camera can safely bring the battery to as 100%.

 

Please let me know if you do not see 100% in the interface after fully charging your Arlo Pro battery.

 

JamesC

LongboardLu
Aspirant
Aspirant

 

My camera is stuck on 96%. Been charging all day. Still 96%.  Light is solid blue.


JamesC wrote:

To add clarity to this discussion, the user interface will show 100% after fully charging the battery in an Arlo Pro camera using the supplied charging cable/adapter.  80% is the safety threshold to prevent overcharging or potentially damaging the battery when charging this way. So essentially the UI shows the maximum charge that the camera can safely bring the battery to as 100%.

 

Please let me know if you do not see 100% in the interface after fully charging your Arlo Pro battery.

 

JamesC


 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Unplug and plug back in.  Does it change?  It could be charging "smarts" to limit how/when charging is allowed.  My Asus laptop uses this - it won't charge back up to 100% if the current charge level is above 95%.

MyArloPro
Aspirant
Aspirant

Hi,

 

This is the first time charging the camera after I purchased the 4 camera bundle about a month ago.  The Blue light came on after 1+ to 2 hours (can't remember exactly) but the UI showed only 85% charged.  I used the original charger/cable that came with the bundle.  I logged into the UI several times to check but still showed 85%.  This is not normal?  Thanks.

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru
I noticed the same thing a couple of days ago when I recharged. It may be that the display now is accurate according to actual battery charge. It used to say 100% when it was actually at ~80% which is the upper end of the sweet spot for li-ion batteries. Perhaps it now shows the actual charge level due to the latest app and/or firmware updates.
Timmy256
Apprentice
Apprentice

When I first got the cameras, I've tried charging them (there were at 100%). When I plugged the USB cable, the blue light would blink rapidly and then stop. I've left them for hours and the blue light never lit up and stayed blue as it should. The UI interface showed the cameras as 100% and with the lightning bolt, as they were recognized to being plugged in.

 

Is this behavior by design (because the cameras were at 100%, the blue light didn't light up), or is there something wrong with the charger/batteries/cameras?

 

Thanks.

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Plugging the camera in should blink the blue LED but the lighting when fully charged is determined by the setting in Settings, My Devices, your camera, Camera LED.

S-Mar
Guide
Guide

Since original question, i have purchased an Arlo Pro and it had been working well with the other 4 Cameras including the sound.

I am in the US and the system is at our other house in South Africa.  I have the Arlo cord going to the camera 24/7.

After 3 weeks of working perfectly, it suddenly stopped charging and the online video showed an expimation point on the battery in red.

The pic on the live feed was black and a statement that said someting about only charging with Arlo equipment.  (I only use Arlo equipment)

Even with the black live screen, it still recorded properly.    This started happened on the 3rd week of attaching the Arlo Pro.

 

  The person that takes care of the house unplugged the camera(battery still in it) for 5 minutes and the problem was remedied for 2 days but has happened at least 6 more times in 10 days.  An electrician friend went by after about 12 days of this and said that when it happens there is a ticking noise from the Arlo device that has the USB on one side and power cord on the other.  If he disconnects and reconnects the USB cord and the camera instantly starts charging and the ticking goes away.  Now it takes only 10 minutes and the camera stops charging and the ticking starts.  Therefore the camera has now gone dead because it now only will charge for 1 minutes at a time.

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

S-Mar,

 

It sounds like this could be a hardware issue. Please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

 

JamesC