Cameras not charging

[OMB54]

Ever since the latest firmware update and Arlo’s End of Life (EOL) notification of several of their Pro and Essential devices, I have been unable to charge my Pro 2 and Pro 3 cameras. The only way I can get them to function is to remove the battery and charge it outside the camera in a separate Arlo charger. I have 7 cameras and it is happening to 6 of them. Included in the seven are two Pro Floodlights with solar panels-only 1 will charge…this maybe a separate issue, IDK.

The fact that all five of my other cameras suddenly stopped having the ability to charge cannot be a fluke. It is purposeful planned obsolescence and a flagrant attempt by Arlo to force us to purchase their new products.

I have owned Arlo camera for years so I know how to troubleshoot them. Nothing works, except removing and charging batteries separately. I also contacted Arlo Support on the phone, waited on hold forever, then got a customer support guy in India or Pakistan who had some difficulties with English and offered me worthless technical help.

My advice to everyone is to NOT buy Arlo cameras. I have several indoor KASA cameras which work much faster and have better quality recordings (and cheaper!) than Arlo. I will be switching all my Arlo cameras out ASAP.  I am really pissed that Arlo is treating its long time customers this way. I think their actions border on fraud. #Pro2 #Pro3 #Essential #floodlight #Fraud #Accessory #Battery

[jguerdat]

The EOL has absolutely nothing to do with charging. That's a charger/camera/battery issue - use the Arlo-supplied charger that supports both 5v and 9v outputs. Also, EOL has nothing to do with cameras newer than the Pro 2 so the Essential cameras are supported for some time to come.

[OMB54]

There is no problem with the batteries. They charge just fine IF I remove them from the cameras. If I leave them in the camera and plug to certified ARLO charger with the ARLO cords, they will NOT charge. I have 5 ARLO Pro’s…all of which suddenly stopped charging at the exact same time.

I also have 2, much newer,  Arlo Floodlights with accompanying Arlo solar panels. They will no longer charge via solar, but must be taken out of the sleeve and charged with a charger connected via charge cord. They also stopped charging via solar panel at the same time as the other cameras.

THIS CANNOT BE A COINCIDENCE! 

Further, I have tried resetting the cameras, rebooting the Base (hub), rebooting my modem, checked for updates and firmware updates…deleted and reinstalled cameras…And nothing works!

[jguerdat]

When you charge the batteries externally, how long does it take to get the green LED (assuming the batteries are at least somewhat discharged)? A fairly depleted battery will take 2.5 hours or so.

WHat charger are you using? Look at the label and verify that it supplies both 5v as well as 9v. 9 volts is needed to charge in the camera while only 5v will simply run the camera. However, the fact that the solar panel isn't charging the batteries makes me think that either the microUSB port is damaged or the ribbon cable inside the camera that connects the port to the innards of the camera is damaged. Others have reported the ribbon cable issue before but be aware there's no fix for it unless you're extremely proficient at repairs of this sort.

One way to determine if it's the port or ribbon cable is to apply AC power to the port without a battery installed and watch the camera LED to briefly blink blue, showing that power is applied. No blink means one of those items is damaged somehow.

[OMB54]

I am using the Arlo brand charger and charge cord that came with my cameras. 

None of the cameras (6) are charging or appear to be holding a charge. 

A strange thing is happening—when I bring a camera indoors and I place a fully charged battery in a camera it says “100%” charged. Then, when it’s placed outdoors, after a few minutes it says “camera needs charging” and shuts off. If I bring the camera back indoors, pull out the battery and then reinsert it in the camera, it once again say “100%” fully charged! This happens without the battery being recharged!

[jguerdat]

Try removing one camera from your account and then add it back in. Monitor it to see if that helps.

[joeschmidlap]

I have two solar panels SKU: VMA4600-10000S I have added to two of my cameras. One will not charge. I have swapped the cables and this appears to resolve the issue. Most recent panel was purchased October 11, 2022. 

I believe this is under warranty. I've tried contacting support, but apparently I "don't qualify for live support".

Does anyone have any idea how I can get in touch with a human who can help me?  I'm very frustrated at this point. 

[Gizmodo817]

Same thing is going on with mine. I have 4 Arlo Pro cameras and all 4 will no longer charge with the original charger. I find it a coincidence it happened right after the EOL kicked in. I would understand if one or two maybe didn’t work due to age but all 4 is suspicious. We have had these Arlo cameras for almost 7 years. 

[StephenB]

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@Gizmodo817 wrote:

I have 4 Arlo Pro cameras and all 4 will no longer charge with the original charger.

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Did you try more than one charger, or just the one???

[Gizmodo817]

I have tried with other USB cords and they do not work as well. I’m pretty sure my cameras are bricked from the EOL. I just saw a long Reddit forum about this whole issue I’m having. It’s just strange that all 4 cameras stopped working after the EOL date. 

[StephenB]

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@Gizmodo817 wrote:

I have tried with other USB cords and they do not work as well. 

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But just one charger???  Note it needs to be an Arlo charger

[rlisk]

Your description exactly matches what I am experiencing. Even when the icon shows the battery, while in the camera, is charging, when unplugged after eight-plus hours of charging, the camera doesn’t work.  I’ve been rotating the three cameras and batteries and having no success with any of them. And yes, this is suddenly, just out of the blue. 

[rlisk]

Sure seems unlikely to be a coincidence!

[Gizmodo817]

A lot of people are having this problem. 

here’s is the Reddit forum. Seems like it will “magically” start working if you paid for the subscription. I think it’s just another way for them to force us to pay for their subscription service. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/arlo/comments/100r9ul/end_of_life_policy_goodbye_arlo/

[Davo007]

Recently, I encountered a problem where all my older Arlo Pro cameras stopped charging their batteries, while the newer Arlo Pro 2 camera continued to charge without any issues. 

To work around this, I have been swapping the batteries between the older Arlo Pro cameras and the functioning Arlo Pro 2 camera to keep them charged.

After some research, it seems that this could be an End-of-Life (EOL) feature introduced to the Arlo Pro cameras.

[rlisk]

Yes, this is basically Arlo **bleep**ing over purchasers of their product.  It is not a coincidence that all three of my batteries, and those of hundreds of other Arlo camera owners, suddenly, out of the blue, stop being able to charge within days of each other and within weeks of receiving emails from this malicious company explaining this new term, End-of-Life.  Do yourself a favor and just accept that you have been screwed and stop trying to jury-rig a solution and stop buying any Arlo product thinking that won't happen again.  They obviously have the capability and they will do it again.

[Davo007]

I share your frustration with Arlo's handling of this situation.
It's disheartening to see loyal customers feeling deceived by what appears to be a deliberate attempt to render older devices obsolete. If Arlo doesn't take action to address this issue, they risk tarnishing their reputation further.

Firmware updates to remove these EOL features would be a step in the right direction to regain trust and loyalty from their user base. Without such measures, they may find themselves facing more backlash and a decline in customer satisfaction.

[rlisk]

I obviously make an effort to voice my anger and hope it causes potential buyers to stop and rethink their decision.  I certainly don’t expect Arlo to do anything to regain customer’s loyalty. Even if they did do something positive, my respect for them is long gone. 

[Davo007]

I understand your frustration, and it's clear that Arlo's actions have deeply disappointed many of its customers. While it's difficult to predict how Arlo will respond to this situation, it's understandable that you may not hold much hope for positive change given your experiences. It's essential for companies to listen to their customers and take responsibility for their actions. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter.

[jguerdat]

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@Davo007 wrote:

Recently, I encountered a problem where all my older Arlo Pro cameras stopped charging their batteries, while the newer Arlo Pro 2 camera continued to charge without any issues. 

To work around this, I have been swapping the batteries between the older Arlo Pro cameras and the functioning Arlo Pro 2 camera to keep them charged.

After some research, it seems that this could be an End-of-Life (EOL) feature introduced to the Arlo Pro cameras.

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It's definitely not an EOL issue - it's likely hardware. On occasion, others have mentioned that the small ribbon cable between the micro USB port on the battery cover has broken, leading to not being able to use AC power to either run the camera or charge it. Since there's no replacing it (short of buying a used camera for parts) you best solution would be to use the external charging station for charging or continue to use the working camera as you've been doing.

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/accessories/VMA4400C-100NAS.html

[rlisk]

You go right ahead and believe what you wanna believe and I’ll believe as I want to. To have three cameras fail in the same week, only a few weeks since receiving the end of life letter, even though there had been no issues for the preceding five years,seems impossible not to believe my Version. Combined that with the numerous other purchasers of the product, having virtually identical, stances creates, in my impression, a probability, too high to easily put off as all of us having similar mechanical problems all in the same time frame. I know I would never buy another product from Arlo, and I will make every effort possible to persuade others to buy from another company. I know I am sitting with a $400 investment that suddenly has no value. Just for fun, I would almost be persuaded to pay the ransom and register for the subscription service just to see if my cameras suddenly came back to life. Even if they did, I would not continue the subscription because those are not the terms on which I bought the product. The end of life letter kind of made it clear the companies motivation. I think it’s horrible. 

[Davo007]

Thank you for your prompt response and suggestions regarding the issue with my Arlo Pro cameras.

While I appreciate the insight provided about the potential hardware issue with the ribbon cable, I'd like to discuss a few points further:

1. The simultaneous failure of all three older Arlo Pro cameras seems improbable if the problem were solely hardware-related. It prompts me to explore other potential causes beyond individual component failures.

2. Upon plugging any of the Arlo Pro cameras into the charging USB cable, the LED briefly flashes orange, indicating acknowledgment of the cable insertion. However, the cameras fail to charge. This observation contradicts the theory proposed regarding the ribbon cable as the sole culprit.

3. Interestingly, when I plug the Arlo Pro 2 camera into the same USB cable, the LED flashes green, not orange, suggesting that the issue may not lie with the cable or the charger itself.

4. In an effort to isolate the problem, I acquired a new charging cable, suspecting that the issue might be with the cable itself. However, even with the new cable, the cameras still do not charge. This further supports the notion that the problem may be more complex than initially suggested.

Considering these observations, I remain open to exploring alternative explanations for the issue I'm experiencing with my Arlo Pro cameras.

Thank you once again for your assistance in addressing this matter.

[jguerdat]

Plugging in AC power to the cameras should produce a BLUE LED flash, not amber or green. I've never seen the amber flash although I suppose it could be indicating power being attached but a dead battery. That would certainly cause an issue with charging. Have you tried the dead battery procedure? Note that the plugging in/unplugging needs to be done multiple times to get enough charge into the battery to allow it to finally charge normally (assuming the battery still works).

https://kb.arlo.com/000052305/My-Arlo-Pro-or-Arlo-Pro-2-battery-is-dead-what-do-I-do

If this doesn't work, I suspect the camera is faulty.

[rlisk]

I tried everything available to me.  I do appreciate the concern though, and fortunately it just allows me another opportunity to rant about how disgusted I am with Arlo and my hopes that others will read this and never buy their products.  As I have noted several times, the coincidence I experienced, and many others product owners, based upon the many reviews I read, of receiving Arlo's end-of-life letter only a few days before 100% of my cameras were unable to charge is highly improbable.  Like I have said, if I paid the ransom for the monthly subscription and they came back to life, that would be incredible proof, but I will not waste my time and money.  Good luck with your products.  If you caved and paid the monthly fees, that is a decision you made.  If yours are still charging without the subscriptions, consider yourself lucky.  

For all others considering Arlo products, my suggestion is to consider other alternatives.  At least read the reviews and choose wisely.

[Davo007]

Thank you for your response and the clarification about the LED colors indicating AC power. My apologies for the confusion in my previous message regarding the LED color of the Arlo Pro 2 camera; indeed, the LED did flash blue.

Regarding the LED color for the older Arlo Pro cameras, I can confirm that all three cameras indeed flash amber when plugged into AC power, which aligns with your explanation.

I appreciate your suggestion regarding the possibility of a dead battery. However, as mentioned in my initial post, I've already tested all three batteries by swapping them into the functioning Arlo Pro 2 camera individually, and they charge fully without any issues.

It's worth noting that the last time I charged all three Arlo Pro cameras was six months ago, and there were no issues at that time. The simultaneous occurrence of the problem across all three cameras is what raises suspicion about the likelihood of it being solely a hardware fault, as mentioned in my previous message.

Furthermore, when I see posts from other users' experiences, such as the comment about paying for a monthly subscription to revive the cameras, it adds to my concern that the problem could potentially be related to firmware updates or other factors beyond individual hardware failures.

Considering these factors, I remain eager to explore potential solutions or further investigate the root cause of the issue affecting my Arlo Pro cameras.

Thank you once again for your assistance in addressing this matter.