Arlo Solar Panel not working

[616fun]

I picked this up from Amazon and installed it Thursday. I pulled the camera down and charged it to 100% before plugging it in. Everything looked great, the camera showed at 100% and charging.  The next morning I had a red exclaimation point and "The charging source connected to the camera cannot charge your battery. Please use an Arlo Pro power adapter" showing in my interface. Upon contacting help, they asked me to remove the panel and allow the camera to discharge to 50% before plugging it in again. I let them know that this wasn't at all helpful as it will take a few months to get to that point, and I cannot return the item after this long. I specifically asked if there was firmware that addressed the variable wattage input a solar panel will provide and they said that they would look into it and be in contact.  I'm underwhelmed with the help.  I pulled my other camera and the same message is provided (that camera was charged to 74%).  

Has anyone else tried the Arlo solar panel and had luckl?

[jguerdat]

I've damaged 2 cameras from the outdoor power supply leaking and goobering the camera connectors (it also finally damaged the power supply somehow, too). Onlhh an open case with support will fix hardware problems. 

[Mingus509]

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to let you know, I've had the same issue many of you have experienced since purchasing the Arlo Solar Panel.  Out of the blue, the one that gave me the error message, started to charge again!  The only rationale I have is that it was super windy on that day, and somehow the wind shifted something into place (i.e. power cable insert into camera).  Appears many of the solutions are talking about this more lately.  The seating of the power cable to the camera.  I'll monitor this longer and provide an update, but so far, one week in, the camera has fully charged back up to 100% from 80% on solar.  I live in Eastern WA, so we have an abundance of sunlight still.  

My point - double check those connections as a first solution.

[DWG521]

I have the smaller wheel nuts on order.  Does anyone have experience using them and has that helped when plugging in the solar panel cable?  

[Saint728]

Mine already have the small wheel locks on them and it doesn't help installing the power cord to the camera. They still don't work and I keep getting the red ! on two of my cameras even after they are working for a day. The next day after they are working, they stop and I get either the red ! or the message telling me to use an Arlo power cord. I just don't bother using the solar panel on two of my cameras. One has worked since day one and the other two were on and off for the past month. Nothing fixes them no matter how many times I get them to work, they always come up with the message sooner or later. Not very happy with Arlo solar panels at all.

[GearNetRouter]

What do you mean by leaking? A short? 

[GearNetRouter]

When I read the Best Buy reviews on the solar charger the comments are overall positive but there are some very negative comments about the panel failing to charge the cam. Basic comments are the same here. Is it really a snugness of the connection issue or the panel has some faults? Let me know before I purchase. I'm not about to drill holes anywhere on my house without knowing this s is actually reliable.

[banking]

I bough 2 Arlo Solar Panels, and they are still working, the problem I faced was trying to connect them to the cameras, because it was difficult, it is recommended that you ask NetGear for smaller locking nutts for the mounts, because the big locking nutts make it difficult for you when connection the Arlo Solar Panel male connection to the Camera femaile connection.

[GearNetRouter]

I have outdoor mounts, all with the smaller locking nuts. How long has your panel been in use? If yours is working then what are the other people complaining about? Some seem to have it fit properly yet the panel become unreliable?

[DWG521]

So it sounds like from the replies that the smaller wheel nuts did not fix the problem.  I was hoping it would take pressure off of the cable to camera connection.  So is the issue bad solar panels?  If that is the case than it would have to be poor engineering or poor quality control during he manufacturing process.  If either of that is the case than Netgear should do the right thing by their customers and recall the solar panels with either a permanent fix or refund.  There are just too many complaints for this to be isolated

[jguerdat]

The smaller nuts don't fix the issue of the connector being rather difficult to seat properly.  Something that some folks here have had success with has been to remove the cable at both ends and reseat, taking extra care to ensure each connector is properly and fully seated.

[banking]

I do not know what to say is, you may want to take the down the camera and solar panel and try plugging them in while on the ground or something. I have 2 Arlo Solar Panels and they are still working after 3 weeks, soon as the sun appears they both beginning chargin the cameras from 7:30am - 3:45pm approximately, they are always at 100% before sunset and only uses about 5%-6% of power each day. I no longer.

Also, the small locking nutts should make it much easier to plug the Arlo Solar Panels into the Camera.

I think Netgear should make a You Tube video on how to connect the Arlo Solar Panel to the Camera.

[Saint728]

Connecting the solar power panel to the camera isn't the problem. The problem is the solar panel works for a day, then it stops working and either shows the red ! or says to use an Arlo power cord. As I said before, one of my cameras and solar panel works fine, it's the other two that are giving me problems. It shouldn't work for a day or two then all of a sudden stop working. Sometimes it works for only an hour then it gives me the red ! or message to use an Arlo power cord.  

[tsalagi]

I firmly reseated the USB camera end BEFORE mounting the camera on the outdoor stand. Also put a fully charged battery in first. So far so good for a week now. Keeping my fingers crossed. Before doing this I had the same problems as everyone has described. Not sure exactly what the real problem is but hope this solution holds.

[surfer1000]

Is there not an official response from Netgear on this issue?

[Pwnjuice]

I been having this issue for serval months I have 6 cameras 4 outside and 2 inside. I have noticed that at fully charged that camera will take a charge to a point. Then they stopped and you get that error. I got on 5 out of six cameras. The one camera I did not get it was when I use the Arlo plug in charger. I then tested more. Could I charge these camera with a battery pack.. Same issue. Then I looked in to voltage and amps I had the same resaults with not Arlo charges and Arlo chargers. I was dumb founded. I have contacted support may of times and they said they would send it to the enginess.

I was over this and wanted to send this solor panels back. I spent $400 on panels and 0 are charging. I have tested them and they charged my cell phone/tablet and give the corrrect voltage so WTF.

So instead of waiting for the eng's I decided to go out and swap all the cables and MANLY FORCE THEM IN. I got on my ladder and did that to all the cameras. I pushed the locking clips in and then I used pliers to push then in more I did that would all the solor cams. I did indeed have the batterys 100% charged and it worked!

Even tho the solor panels where charging my other devices. I think there is some hidden sinsor in the cameras that need to be trigger thats my best guess. swap cables like me or unpulg and brut force it in

I now have 6 working camera that get a charge even on cloud days. Its been 4 weeks since I did that.

[jasonx101]

My solar panel and camera are also producing this error after only a few weeks of use.

The product is not fit for purpose as it is supposed to charge no matter what.

Is should have been designed to not cause a problem in low or no light.

They need to do a firmware update that will either allow it to carry on charging if there are no problems. so that we don't have to do anything phycially like take the lead out and reboot the camera.

Poor service from Arlo.

[GearNetRouter]

Are you saying the panel stops charging when there is no light to it? If so, I discussed this on another thread but it was dismissed by another user.

[jasonx101]

I don't know if the camera is charging or not all I know is I should not be getting a message telling me that an Arlo designed solar panel is not charging my arlo camera, especially when I've paid almost £100 for it compared to cheaper devices Arlo is purposely stopping us from using.

There should be no problems with using an Arlo solar panel as it should have been designed to cut off when there is little or no sunlight to charge the battery and should not cause the battery to drain when it is not getting enough sunlight to charge the battery.

This is obviously a design flaw as lots of people are getting this message..

[no30fan]

OK.  I purchased and installed my panel a week ago...The first 3 days it worked great then...yup the dreaded "will not charge" red note and this last another 3 days....Then I read about downloading the Simply Solar app to my phone and I went up on the roof and adjusted according to the Simply Solar app. and bam!!!  Everything is working again....I did not unplug wires from camera or panel just adjusted....So we'll see if the is a fix....Obviously winter is coming and the suns pattern will shift but the app tells you how many days the setting will be good for.....Hope this helps someone....

No30fan

[no30fan]

I had the same problem with the large thumb nut...But I went to Home Depot and picked up a bag of 1/4-20 stainless steel nuts and that solved the problem

[94SupraTT]

I'm in the same boat. My panel worked for 2 days, I had 3 days of overcast so I assumed that was why I was getting the red !. It is sunny outside today and I'm still getting the warning "The charging source connect....cannot charge"

[GearNetRouter]

Modern solar panels like the one you would put on your roof are desinged so that if one section of the panel gets no light it does stop the rest of it from functioning. I had asked on this board if the NG panel had that engineered into its design. Another user suggested it was not cost effective for them to do so. This may be the reason for intermmitent failures -- a defect in design.

[Dayzee]

I removed the rubber grommet from the end of the charging cable which allowed it to seat correctly in the camera since then I have no more problems and it is working perfectly

[migman_2001]

I have been following this discussion since it first appeared in July and have post here once or twice.

I still haven't figured out if there were some defective panels released or just user error. or both. Maybe even a defect in some cameras. Probably a combination of both.

I would suspect that Netgear has sold multiple thousands by now and while this thread is long, there are less than two dozen people or so in this tread that have complained of having a problem. Some have resolved the problem. Most don't even post here, but I suspect both a combo of maybe defective panels and/or improper installation.

Mine have work perfect since day one almost 3 months ago.

I still follow this tread with open mind.

[jguerdat]

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Dayzee wrote:
I removed the rubber grommet from the end of the charging cable which allowed it to seat correctly in the camera since then I have no more problems and it is working perfectly

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The potential problem with this is the seal is no longer in place to prevent water infiltration.