What's the official Arlo compatibility for Wasserstein 's outdoor charging power adapter?

[mhnatt]

As many know by now, the Chinese company that manufactures third-party accessories for Arlo products under the name of "Wasserstein", attempts to fill the demand for things that seem to take a while for Netgear to release. Their quality may be questionable (maybe which is why they are able to get things out faster by cutting QA) but it seems they have decent reviews on Amazon.

I'm considering their Weatherproof Outdoor Quick Charge 3.0 Power Adapter for my Arlo Pros as they have a nice 16ft cable length and the cable is flat (easy to wind up and tuck away).

My hesitation however is that I read where Netgear/Arlo might be doing the "Apple thing" by using firmware/software updates that detect use of non-official Arlo accessories such as a third-party charger, and cease coorperation with it, despite the third-party device pushing the same specs (example, same volts, amps, ohms, etc.).  For example, people will rave about this outdoor charger and suddenly the camera will read that it is incompatible, and low and behold, Arlo has pushed out a firmware that knocks the charger off. In addition to this being furstrating for the customer since they have no way of preventing/turning off the firmware being pushed out to the cameras/base station, the customer as in my case, could be left stranded with an inoperable device if they are only able to maintain battery replacements/recharges every so often (some of my Arlos are in the Yellowstone wilderness area). Much less a wasted investment.

So my question is: Is Netgear actively preventing third-party charger use by companies such as Wasserstein who are selling them as "Arlo" solutions? If so, is there legal flap that we consumers have to avoid being caught in the middle? In otherwords, Arlo, may we use the Wasserstein chargers on your product without you purposely deactivating them or not?

[brh]

Like every other manufacturer Arlo only recommends their "Official" products. Even if they work well, if you have problems with them, your Arlo warranty will be negated. Some chargers give false readings or when Arlo detects them they give you a warning. Some simply don't work.

That said, they will probably work out fine. Just be aware, use at your own risk.

Brian

[mhnatt]

Thanks BRH and yes, I totally "get it" about the good practice of avoiding recommending non-Official products. What I wanted to find out though is if Arlo would purposely disable the functionality of a non-Official product via firmware. It's expensive to buy many of these things, and trust the stuff works out when you drive thousands of miles that "probably" will work just because of a policy that Arlo has. I'm not talking about innocent mechanical failure, but rather deliberant counteraction by Arlo/NG via firmware updates.

[brh]

Only Arlo knows the answer to that. Since the community members here are just regular users trying to help others and have no official ties to Arlo, we wo't be able to answer that/ Probabably not, but you never know.

Brian

[mhnatt]

Thanks Brain. I had a feeling that was the case, but often see comments by JamesC that appear to be on the inside track. I could go the support route but have a feeling there isn't as much accountability and eyes on the response.

[jguerdat]

JamesC is a Netgear employee while the rest of us are just users. He has access to info we don't but prolly isn't privy to all engineering info without having to ask the question himself.

As to whether Netgear can determine whose accessory is being used, it doesn't appear to be possible currently or they wouldn't work. I tend to doubt that it would be easily possible to add that feature even in new hardware - a level of complexity that just ain't worth the effort.

[JamesC]

mhnatt,

To my knowledge, this isn't something currently implemented within the cameras software to recognize. Whether or not this will happen in the future, I have no information. As mentioned above, using third-party chargers could potentially damage your cameras and is not recommended. That being said, take a look here for the charger requirements for Arlo Pro cameras: What power adapter can I use to charge my Arlo Pro or Arlo Go batteries?

JamesC

[DaveWoj]

This is only an opinion but I wouldn't concern myself with using third party accessories and voiding warranty.

It's a scare tactic.

Using the Netgear adapter doesn't guarantee anything either and I haven't seen them back selling it since the problems they had with it.

https://community.netgear.com/ejquo23388/board/crawl_message?board.id=en-arlo-pro&message.id=19036

I've used aftermarket cables and adapters/power supplies and had no problem. I don't use a Netgear mount but if I did and the camera fell off, I doubt Netgear would cover it, even if the mount was defective. I would have to prove it.

How is Netgear going to know what you are using unless you tell them.

[Paul_FCCL]

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jguerdat wrote:

 .....As to whether Netgear can determine whose accessory is being used, it doesn't appear to be possible currently or they wouldn't work. I tend to doubt that it would be easily possible to add that feature even in new hardware - a level of complexity that just ain't worth the effort.

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I agree with that, let alone the fact that Netgear doesn’t have its own outdoor rated power adapter. Many Arlo users want to install and power the cameras outside (as a much advertised product feature). No other options.....other than constant battery recharging.