Arlo pro 4 of 7 cameras not charging on solar panels

[GWA]

I have 7 of these set up with the arlo solar panels.  Four of them will not charge.

I have made sure the battries have been fully charged when installed.  I have checked and rechecked the cables to make sure they are plugged.  I have removed and added back to the base stations.  I have moved the solar panels around and adjusted to more sunlight.  They will not charge.  Does anyone have a solution for the problem?  The cameras HW V is H8 and the Firmware is 1.09.2.0.8_17203.

thanks,

AustinPark

[brh]

@GWA

What are the battery icons showing for the cameras that won't charge showing in My Devices view of the app?

Brian

[GWA]

They only show the % the batteries are charged.  They do not show charging.

[brh]

@GWA

I doubt if you got 4 defective solar panels. I still think it is the cable not fully connecting due to the rubber pieces they use to make a snug fit. They are removeable though.

I had a whale of a time connecting my two units - I had to remove a couple of the tiny rubber rings they use on the cable tips. When it is fully seated you will feel and hear a click. They are so tight that they tend to back out. I used a stanley knife to remove these rubber gaskets one by one until I felt and heard the click of the cable fully seating.

Brian

[GWA]

Thanks,  Will check this tomorrow and let you know if they takes care of my issue.

[TomMac]

Don't recommend trimming or cutting the "orings" on the usb plug.... they are required to prevent water entry

[brh]

@TomMac

There was no way the plug was going to fit without breaking the inside plug, so after about a half hour of trying I did cut off a couple of the rings. But, since I don't intend to be removing the camera from its mount very often, I did put some silicone around the plug to keep the moisture out. If I do have to bring it down I will have to scrape some of the silicone away.

Brian

[GWA]

Just trimmed one back. Did not fix the problem. Will have to get a replacement cable now.

[brh]

@GWA

Did you damage the cable? A little dab of silicone around the opening will seal it. Are you sure it is connected seated properly on the other end? Secondly is the battery run completely down? If so, you may have to plug the power adaptor into the camera to give it enough charge for the solar panel to start charging or put in another fully charged battery.

Brian

[brh]

@GWA

Did you feel a click on both ends of the cable when you inserted it in? Does it back out easily? It takes very little sunlight to charge the batteries. Take your phone with you when you are inserting the cables and go to Devices. Look at the battery indicator. If you see an icon that looks like 2 little lightning bolts it is charging. As soon as the cables make a proper connection you should see the lightning icon. Unless, as I mentioned in the previous post, if the battery is down close to 0% you may have to use the AC power adapter to bring it up to over 15% and then it should start charging. If you are close to a window inside you can point the solar panel through the window to the sunlight and it should start charging. Once you know it is able to charge then mount it in its permanent location.

Brian

[GWA]

I took newly charged batteries with me today to change them out.  The four that will not charge with the panels.  Replaced the batteries with the charged one and still the panel indicator did not show.

I did get one to tell me that the device connected could not charge the battery.

I have two other panels so I switch the cable with one of them and the indicator on the apps shows that it was charging.  So assume one cable was bad.  I will try others and I have two extra solar panels that I will switch out with two that are not working.  Not sure if it is cables or panels at this time.  Does anyone know if the panels need to set in the sun for sometime?  Does the panels have a battery in them that needs to charge to a level before connecting to a camera.

I do have two Arlo GO's that would not work with the solar panels to start.  Let them set in the sun for a day and then they started working.

[brh]

@GWA

I know that this has to be driving you crazy. Let me sort of answer your question about charging. I charged my batteries first, made sure that the sun was charging the batteries (from inside my house) then mounted them. I am retired and am home most of the time so I rarely arm the cameras except at night and when I am away from home. Even after several very cold and dismal days which were below the minimum temperature for the solar panel the cameras only dropped by about 4 to 5 percent. In warmer weather overnight the cameras will only drop by 1 percent. Usually within an hour of the sun coming up, the cameras are on full charge.

I don't know why you are having so many problems with these. Other than being very difficult to get the cables to seat fully, mine have worked great. In hind sight I probably should have sprayed some WD-40 on the cable ends to get them to slide in all the way.

The reason I finally decided to remove one of the little rubber rings at the tip of the connector was that I read somewhere that someone had broken the circuit board inside his camera by trying to push them too hard.

I don't see any replacement cables being offered in the accessory section. I suppose you will have to contact support if you determine that any are bad.

Yes, on the ones that don't show charging with fresh batteries, leave the panel connected overnight to see if the battery level drops enough to start charging. Just be sure to check them just after sunrise or they might fully charge before you check them.

BTW when they are fully charged the little led in the camera will turn blue. You can later that off in the app, but I leave mine on.

Brian

[steve_t]

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wrote:
Just trimmed one back. Did not fix the problem. Will have to get a replacement cable now.

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How'd you get on with this?

[JamesC]

Modifying the solar panel power cables as discussed above is not recommended and should never be done as this could cause damage to your camera. The rubber seal, as mentioned, is designed to prevent water from entering the camera. Any modification to this will likely result in water damage and will void your cameras warranty.

If you are experiencing an issue with your solar panel charging your camera, take a look at these troubleshooting tips: My Arlo Solar Panel is not charging my Arlo Go or Arlo Pro camera battery; what do I do?

If you are still experiencing an issue, please contact the Arlo Support Team for further investigation.

JamesC

[GWA]

Understand all that about the cable. That is the owners choice to try to make it work.  Evan though it might destroy the device.  Should be able to order a cable if needed.

Beside all this about the cable.  I have done everything that is suggest in the links except call support.

Not sure what they could tell me.  I have one question?  Could this issue be related to the singal strength that the camera is getting.  Reason I have notice on 3 of the ones that work.  The one that goes in and out.  Is the one that shows only 2 / maybe 3 bars sometimes.  The 4 that is not working.

They are only showing 1 bar.  Once in a while one will come up showing charging but for not long.

I am working on putting some netgear extenders to see if that might be the issue.  If I can get this to work.  I am going to relocate them to get at least 2 bars.  You thoughs on this?

[brh]

@GWA

Sorry you are still having problems. My cameras work great on one bar. But to test that theory bring all the cameras closer to the base staion. Maybe temporarily set them up on a table and one by one using a cable you know is working and a solar panel you know is working and try that.

Going bac to the cable - if you look at the cable connection inside the camera and the connection on the cable you will see that they are so small and must be in PERFECT alignment to fit together. What I suggest is - as you are fitting them together very slowly and gently wiggle them as you put ever more force on the connection. When they finally fit together there is definitely a click.

BTW a lightning connector like the iPhones have would have been much better in my opinion.

Brian

[brh]

@JamesC

I realize you have to post the official position, but when it took me over 30 minutes each to get the proper connection on two panels and two cameras, you have to do what you have to do. It is a stupid plug. Please note that when I finally got them to work properly I stated that I did put a small dab of silicone around the plug to protect it. In fact it is even more moisture proof than the rubber rings.

Just ranting here.

Brian

[brh]

@GWA

By the way, if all you did was to remove the tiny rubber rings on the camera end of the cable you probably did not damage the cable. After I did on one it still works fine after several months, but I did have to put a small dab of silicone covering the connection to keep the moisture out.

Brian

[steve_t]

I also have an Arlo Pro showing one bar of signal strength and it works fine

[GWA]

Update on the 4 solar panels.

Today after putting new charged battries in the 4 cameras.  Today they are all showing its time to change the batteries.

Other suggestion on a fix?

[steve_t]

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wrote:

Update on the 4 solar panels.

Today after putting new charged battries in the 4 cameras.  Today they are all showing its time to change the batteries.

Other suggestion on a fix?

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So not only are the 4 solar panels not charging your batteries but the batteries are draining in less than a day? Something is definitely very wrong here. Can we clarify? You put charged batteries into the cameras today and now they're all saying they need to be charged/changed?
When sun hits the solar panel, is there a lightning bolt icon over the battery level icon?

When you plug the camera into the AC wall charger than came with the kit, does that give a lightning bolt symbol and charge the battery?

[GWA]

The fully charged batteries were put in last Thursday.

Sunny Friday and Saturday and rain on Sunday.  Checked them this morning and they were all offline.

The other 3 that has been working in the same area.  They were charging this morning.  They have been working for months.  The last 4 are the ones that I am having trouble with.

Going out tomorrow to change batteries again.  This is the 5 time in 3 weeks.

Goind to check the connection once again.  Not sure why 3 works great and these 4 do not.

Install them all the same way.

No lightining bolt symbol showing.  They will charge with the AC wall charger that came with the kit.  Only one I have.

[steve_t]

Have you tried the panels / cables that do charge with one of the cameras that doesn't? First, we need to establish if the problem is the panel or the cable or the camera or the battery. You have enough combinations of working and non-working hardware to be able to establish what is going on. I suspect it's the cable connection perhaps both in the camera and the panel. As previously mentioned, ensure the cable is securely and firmly (but carefully) inserted into the camera and solar panel. I couldn't connect the cable to the camera when it was on the mount so I have to take the camera off the mount (screw mount = annoying) to be able to line up the connector and push it in fully.

Given the batteries are flat within a few days, I suspect that the cameras are not going offline due to the batteries running flat but that the batteries are going flat because the cameras are going offline by losing their connection to the base. A number of people, myself included, have found that the camera-base connection can be interfered with by wifi and zigbee networks as well as distance of the camera to the base. An additional thing to do is to move your base station a few more feet away from your wifi router.

[brh]

@GWA

It is possible that you either damaged the cables or the connector inside the cameras on your initial attempt to install them. But, I doubt it. These connectors are nearly impossible to connect properly after they have been mounted. That is why I recommended bringing the cameras inside one at a time where you can visually inspect the connectiors and more easily make the connection. You can test them inside by holding the solar panel up to a window with plenty of sunlight. Charge the batteries up to about 80% and when the connectors are properly seated, you will see the lightning icon. keeping the panel in the window continue to charge the batteries up to 100%. Then mount the camera without removing the connectors and do the same for the next camera. 

I would carefully inspect the connector inside the camera to make sure it hasn't broken loos from the circuit board.

Brian

[jguerdat]

Without the lighning bolt icon, you have no charging going on. That doesn't necessarily explain the batteries draining so quickly unless the panels themselves have a flaw that causing the drain, not the cameras. Without the panels connected, do the batteries last a much longer time?