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]

Try restarting the base and maybe remove the camera from Settings, My Devices and resync. Make sure all firmware is up to date,

[Timmy256]

Thanks @jguerdat, but that's exactly the same type of scripted response that we always get from Netgear and that I've described in my post above; trying to earn some time and brush us aside. I'm not saying that about you, but please consider that most of the folks here are, what you could say, "super users" that probably already restarted, unplugged, updated firmware, reseated batteries, swapped batteries/cameras/chargers/solar panels/usb cables a zillion times.

I'm a systems engineer and I'm saying I've identified an OAuth security issue with a clear breach scenario; which is a pretty serious business, so even though I appreciate your advice, please don't rub salt in our wounds suggesting things like restarting the base as fix-all reply to any detailed reported issue.

Thanks and please don't take this the wrong way! I really appreciate your comments in this and pretty much all the other threads I've read where you participate; along with TomMac and some other MVP users.

[Streak2]

Timmy, I have the panel attached to an Arlo Pro.

The panel points straight up and only starts getting sun around mid morning.

I just pushed the plug in firmly and made sure it was properly seated.

Battery % is almost always at 100% and the charging bolt comes even before the panel sees full sun.

Could there be a problem with the panel?

[Timmy256]

Hi @Streak2, that's how it worked for me until this morning too. Always charging, showing the charging bolt and the blue LED lit on the camera, but around midday it started behaving as I described.

Now it's nightime here; I'll wait until the sun comes out again and maybe the connection between the solar panel (no voltage) and the camera "resets"... look what I'm doing, I'm trying to be a believer. 

I'll chime in tomorrow to see how it goes.

Thanks once again and please let me know if you or somebody else could share a picture of how the USB plug fits on the camera; that would be extremely helpful for all of us.

[Dayzee]

I shared my solution several times and it worked for me.

The end that plugs into the camera has a small rubber part that just slides off, presumably to stop moisture, I removed that a few months ago and have not had a problem since.

i use silicone sealant to stop any moisture and and it has worked through a lot of bad weather since.

[Timmy256]

Yeah, I've read it several times and people harassing you because you did that mod!  I say, kudos to you; those DIY fixes are the best and probably we would still have the outdoor charger available because you can seal the port better than the +$100K-a-year Netgear engineers that designed the rubber protection.

That was a good idea; although since I don't know what my problem is right now (as it just happened this morning and didn't get the "Connect a proper power source" [paraphrasing] message), I'm not in need to do that now. Plus; in my case, the camera was charging all these days, the connection hasn't moved and, in fact, it had the blue LED on, as if it was 100%, but without the charging bolt on the App UI and then, a sudden drop to 88%

We are more than 12 hours apart my friend, and while in Australia your camera is happily charging, it's 03 AM right now in here, so I have to sleep it off and see what happens in the morning! 

[Timmy256]

Well, since the last time I wrote; from 3 AM to 4 AM, I kept on checking the battery in the App every 15 minutes. At one point, it went up from 88% to 98%! Either the solar panel is so awesome that it's gathering energy from the moon, or the reporting status of the battery is wrong and jumps around, as it usually does and I've experience in the past (stuck for days on a certain %, then a big drop, then a little more than was, then two weeks in 1% and working).

Now, after 2 hours of sunlight, the battery is showing 99%, but the charging indicator is still not there. I'm assuming it's charging and I've always noticed that the jump from 99% to 100% when charging (via any method) takes a while, so I will keep on checking it during the day and if it goes to 100%, the blue LED on the camera should turn on... but why the heck is the UI not showing the charging bolt now? Why can't it just work properly???

[Timmy256]

... and now is down to 95% without any usage and while in full sunlight. I don't think it's charging after all, but I don't even get the dreaded "This power source cannot change the camera" error.

Will go up today and reseat everything (camera USB cable, panel USB cable, camera battery), even though nothing has been moved and it stopped working from one minute to the next yesterday...

[Streak2]

Have you tested this using both the app as well as https://arlo.netgear.com/#/login ?

Just in case it's a UI thing rather than an equipment issue?

What if you plug the same camera into the AC charger do you then get the correct charging indicators?

In my previous tests, the charger output needs to get to above about 5.2v before the camera will recognise that it's even there. Is it possible that your solar panel may be just slightly under rated?

[Timmy256]

Hi @Streak2, thanks for your reply.

Yes; I've tried with both the App and the web UI and it's showing not charging. As a matter of fact, is discharging right now (94% at the moment), even while I have turned off the camera in the setting until I can troubleshoot this.

I'm pretty sure it's not charging now and that's not just an UI problem as I thought. About the voltage, I haven't tested it but we are melting here with ~40°Celcius and direct sunlight to the panel with no clouds.

I'll try later (when the sun goes down a little) to plug something to the output of the panel (like a battery pack; because I don't think that the full 9 Volts would fry my phone, but I don't want to risk it :atlol:), to see if it charges and get a direct feed/indicator to see if it's working. Maybe the connection to the camera got loose after these last few days of extreme heat? I don't think so, but I don't have pretty much anything else to try. Right now, it's like if the panel wasn't plugged at all; no error, no charging, no blue LED on camera; nothing.

[Streak2]

It's just gone 11.35 here. Sun just got up high enough to just illuminate the panel at an angle. Charging symbol which was off until then just turned on.

My tests showed pretty much that it's an all or nothing situation. When the panel is shaded, no charging at all, the slightest amount of sunlight gets charging going, anything more than that does not increase the voltage (pretty much as expected).

Take a close look at the plug and socket to make sure that there is no corrosion. 

[no30fan]

I purchased mine in September and it worked well for 2 months then the dreaded red exclamation point.  Went up on the roof reseated all the connectons and it worked for another week and thats it.  I returned to Best Buy yesterday,(have the 2yr replacement), and the minute I plugged it in... it indicated charging.....This has to be either a firmware problem or panel....I've been following this post for awhile hoping someone finds a solution...Thanks

[Timmy256]

I didn't get to do anything yesterday (about reseatting the cables/battery) and only kept checking the App. At some point after midnight, the same as the night before happened: the battery % went from 88 to 95 all of a sudden.

This morning, the charging bolt is still not there (again, with full sunlight and extremely hot) and the battery is showing 100%.

So... it keeps jumping around?  I don't even know what the "true" value of the battery is anymore; maybe tomorrow drops from 100% to 5%, who knows! And why wouldn't the charging bolt display, if it's actually charging? I can't see if the blue LED is on in the camera at the moment, because its 12 PM and the sun is fully against my eyes, but I'll check later if it's still at 100%.

Finally... I don't know what to do. I think that, at night, I'll remove the battery (so the camera truly resets), charge it externally to 100%, put it in and see tomorrow if the charging bolt appears. If it doesn't, I'll monitor for... a week? And see how the battery goes; if it keeps jumping around or what the heck does it do. If it stays to 100% (or close) after all those days, even without the charging volt showing, I'll consider that the panel is charging the camera and that it's reporting the battery/connection wrong and leave it like that. By the way, I'm not from the US, so it's impossible for me to replace the panel/camera/etc. to just try another one.

Please let me know if you have any extra advice that I should consider for my tests; thanks!

[jguerdat]

Dunno about the jumping around of the battery indicator. The camera reset would be good but while you're there, reseat the cable ends carefully and fully just to be sure.

[Timmy256]

Thanks @jguerdat, I'll do that.

Another update here, the blue LED was on while the App displayed 100% (but without the charging bolt). After being the whole day in direct sunlight and without recordings, now the battery displays 95% and the charging bolt AND the battery icon was fully white instead of black! I've never seen that icon! I know that it's not the one that you get when you run the camera without the battery inside (that looked like a power plug; plus when I clicked on the gear, I could see the battery charge).

I've came down to take a a screenshot to show here but got called  on the phone and now the sun went down, so no more charging bolt indicator over a white battery. Will see what happens tomorrow and I'll reseat everything tonight, but does anybody know what the white battery while charging icon means?

[steve_t]

Timmy256, the white icon with the lightning bolt shows the camera is currently charging. When it is fully charged, it changes to black with the lightning bolt

Here are the icons and their meanings

https://kb.arlo.com/1179176/How-do-I-interpret-my-Arlo-camera-s-battery-level-icons-and-notification...

[Rmonetti]

Other than disconnecting and reconnecting had Net Gear offered any other suggestions?  I've had my solar panel installed now for about 4 months now and it was working great.  I was going to order another after I see how well it does during the winter months.  I have received on some of the colder nights / mornings that the camera was too cold to charge the battery but as the day got warmer everything was fine.  This morning I noticed that I too received the same message that "The charging source connected to the camera cannot charge your battery."  WTF it was working fine for 4 months!  The reason I got the solar panel was so I didnt have to climb a 30 foot ladder every 3 or 4 months to charge the battery.

Is the cold weather the issue or snow / ice causing the supplied cable to short?

[jguerdat]

I have 2 panels. Neither has had a problem in temps down to ~15F.

[Timmy256]

Hi @Dayzee,

Would you le me know what exact product/composition did you use to seal the camera port after removing the black rubber? I think I might have to go your way, if it actually works with it remover. As it is now, I don't get any error or charging in my camera connected to the panel at all.

Is it the regular sillicone thing that you apply to seal joints between sinks and walls, in order for water to not drip behind the sink?

Thanks.

[Dayzee]

I used a product called Silastic which turns to rubber.
I applied it where the plug goes into the back of the camera and have had no problems since, it's probably a better seal than the original

[Timmy256]

Thanks.

I'm wondering exactly which one; as I've seen several named Silastic. Is it the one from the Dow brand? Do you have a link/picture of the one you actually used?

I'm afraid to get one that would turn out to be the same as the sink/wall sillicone sealant, as that is terrible difficult to remove. Is gets different from that after it dries?

Sorry for all this question and thanks again @Dayzee

[Dayzee]

It's Silastic 732 Multi Purpose 😎

[tsalagi]

After making sure all connections were pushed in completely I've not had any problems for a couple of months now. But I did find an article about the 5 best accessories and was suprised to see the Ring (as in Ring doorbell camera) Solar Panel as one of the best accessories for the Arlo.

Unable to directly post the link to the article, but of you go to yahoo news or google and search for "

5 accessories every Arlo camera user should check out"

Only $49 if it works.

[steve_t]

---

tsalagi wrote:

After making sure all connections were pushed in completely I've not had any problems for a couple of months now. But I did find an article about the 5 best accessories and was suprised to see the Ring (as in Ring doorbell camera) Solar Panel as one of the best accessories for the Arlo.

Unable to directly post the link to the article, but of you go to yahoo news or google and search for "

5 accessories every Arlo camera user should check out"

Only $49 if it works.

---

But a wasted $49 if it doesn't. First will be the lack of a waterproof connection to the Arlo camera. Not only do you risk a short if water gets in but you void your warranty. Secondly, does this panel produce the required 9V and amperage to charge the battery?

[tsalagi]

Yeah, I have no idea. It is simply an FYI, not an endorsement. Have to do your own reseach (or gamble) to see if it works.