Problems Utilizing the Recently Released Solar Panel with Existing Arlo Camera Mount

[Look4NGHlp]

Don’t get me wrong. The new Solar Panel is a huge win for Arlo customers, particularly those of us that are older. They do an excellent job charging batteries in the two Arlo Pro cameras I’ve pair them with so far. In fact, one of the cameras began its connectivity with a solar panel having a battery charge of only 54%. Now the charge varies daily between 98 and 100% depending on the weather. No more dragging out my ladder to recharge those batteries again until they fail and hopefully that won’t happen for several years. That’s incredibly good news as I’ve been drawing Social Security for awhile. There is, however, a problem with hooking up a solar panel if you’re using an older Arlo camera mount instead of the magnetic mount that comes with each camera. There’s a plastic wheel that’s on the ¼” bolt of the older camera mount that tights up against the housing of a camera to keep it from moving out of alignment. Once I plugged in the solar panel’s power cord and tried to screw the camera back on the ¼” bolt of my Arlo camera mount, the solar panel power cable stuck up to far and prevented reattachment. The logical solution, remove the wheel. Unfortunately after taking off the wheel I found that my cameras both move on windy days. As a result of preparing this narrative for submittal to the community I noticed that photos of the Arlo camera mount on their web site now show a smaller diameter plastic wheel compared to the wheels that were on the mounts I purchase a year ago (... I wish I could attach photos here or embed pictures to show old vs. new). Since I can't here are links instead:https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-ARLO-Netgear-Add-On-Security-Adjustable-Camera-MOUNT-VMA1000-Pro-Wh... [Old}, https://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-adjustable-mount-for-most-arlo-security-cameras-white/6132023.p... [New]. . I also have two more cameras on the north side of my house. There’s no practical way to plug in a solar panel to keep their batteries charged. Those two locations simply never get hit by direct sunlight. Additionally, those Arlo Pro cameras are mounted high enough that I must drag out my ladder 4 to 5 times a year and remove them from their mounts so that I can recharge their batteries when prompted that they are depleted below 15%. With a second winter coming on since I bought my system I recently tried to make the north side recharging job easier by inserting a short microUSB cable in the charging port of each camera so I don’t have the fun of re-mounting and re-aiming the cameras in a foot of ice and snow. My thinking was to come up with a solution so that all I’ll have to do come January’s recharge is to drag out the ladder and climb high enough to plug my USB charger into the USB end of the cables hanging down from the north facing cameras. While that’s a better solution than having to re-mount and re-aim, it too has a wheel problem. Once I insert the microUSB end in the camera and try to remount and re-aim on the Arlo camera mount, you guessed it, the little wheel can no longer remain on the ¼” threaded bolt of the mount because the cable connector sticks out too far. I’ve given the “wheel no longer fitting because of how far the solar panel and microUSB cables stick up” problem serious thought in the past few windy weeks. I’ve thought of two solutions. The most obvious (… and the one that in my opinion Arlo should have released as part of the solar panel miscellaneous hardware package) is a smaller diameter wheel that can coexist allowing a cable to be installed into the microUSB charging port while it remains on the ¼” mounting bolt to snug up against the camera. Since that solution wasn’t included in the solar panel mounting hardware, I’m moving on and will soon test possible solution number two. I plan to install a tripod quick mount. I bought a test unit via eBay from a company in China. The idea is that, at a minimum, I can slide off/on the Arlo camera from the mount on my cameras without having to unscrew anything and/or re-point the cameras ever again. If I’m lucky, I may be able to use washers from the local hardware to stand off the quick mount far enough to solve the wheel not fitting if a cable’s plugged in problem too. I’ll update this thread once I've received the quick mount and can test my idea. I'd love to attach or embed a photo of the quick mount but here's the link instead [https://www.ebay.com/itm/metal-30mm-Quick-Release-Plate-mount-kit-fr-Camera-Tripod-Monopod-Ball-Head...]. I’d appreciate everyone that’s experienced the same problem with older Arlo mount wheels vs. a cable plugged into the camera’s microUSB port echoing that Arlo needs a fix via re-engineering a smaller wheel (... which it appears they've already done). When you think about it, having to unscrewing a camera from its mount for a battery charge causes users to have to re-aim the camera and with the built in magnet that's not a trivial task hanging 25 feet up on a ladder in January. How expensive would a quick mount made out of plastic be? I'm guessing less than $1. No more re-point ever and removal and recharge would then be a trivial matter (... except for dragging out he ladder).

[TomMac]

This lock wheel issue is a known problem and as u saw they updated the part to a smaller wheel lock.

You may write them and they may send one out ( new lock wheel), but an easy solution for the older part is a simple nut in the 1/4-20 thread ( any hardware store).

It will work fine and stop the turning cam.

[96708]

I spent 1.4 hours with wait time and then teaching thier level 1 tech on the problem. Was told my case had to be escalated but its been 2 weeks and not a word. Gonna slam them with BBB report right up the gut to teach Netgear a lesson. Its total BS the lacks of respect and bad service I got.