Will Arlo Pro be damaged below the rated temperature range?

[Moostache]

I understand the operating temperature for the Arlo Pro is rated as low as -4°F/-20°C, and that it's probably not a matter of "-4°F is okay but -5°F will ruin the cameras." However, this morning temps were close to -10°F/-23°C and when I opened up my Arlo app, the cameras were offline with a "cameras need to warm up before you use them" message. This weekend, temperatures are supposed to drop to nearly -20°F/-29°C; do I need to take my cameras down and bring them inside when there is a cold snap like this, or will they be safe to stay outside due to this automatic "too cold" shutoff feature? The average wintertime weather isn't always this cold here, but when it is it's usually only for a few days at a time.

[TomMac]

Hard to say.... .( that's a question above my pay grade 😀 )

I've had the regular Arlo down to -10 f  for a day or so without problem ( other than battery)..., and the Arlo and Pro prob share a lot of same internals.

I would take a guess no, but not 100% sure... Maybe one of the Netgear mods like JamesC can get a direct answer for us.

I will be throwing the Pro in the freezer tomorrow to see how the battery pack holds up to -4 f

As to the " need" to take them in ...isn't it sort of a moot point if they go offline as you prob have to resync them anyway?

[TomMac]

Ok... tested PRO in cold climate

Short Story;

PRO cam failed to operate after 4 hours in -4f ( -20c ). Pulled out,  After 15 mins at 35F, camera came back to life , no resync needed.

Long story;

Start at 0945,

battery sitting at 63% and camera temp at 30F

( so cam is operating fine below freezing , not problem with battery )

placed in freezer watching my whole wheat bread

At 1103:

Battery now at 56%, 1 1/2 hours aprox, operating fine ( actually battery pack holding up well in -4f )

Tested one other time in between, no change from above, camera operating at 1245

At 1343

Battery now sitting at 55%, and  PRO camera failed to operate due to cold

Camera live view screen showing the following message .

Camera now placed outside in shade at 35f at 1344

At 1400

 After about 15mins in shade ( 35F ) the PRO camera come back alive, no issues, no resyncing necessary... it just started to respond to Live view command with above messg.

END TEST

Conclusion

Operation of camera seems to be within specs set by Netgear ( freezer temp is +/- 2 f , it may have been  between -2 to -6 F )

There was no damage apparent to the camera. Battery pack held up in voltage sag better than expected ( due to cold )

I believe that the camera could handle colder temps without damage ( unknown how much colder ) of at least -10F .

[Moostache]

Was your camera on live view the entire time you conducted this experiment?

[jguerdat]

Tom can expand on this but it wouldn't have been possible since the cameras only allow for 30 minutes of live view before automatically turning off.  Battery life would have been an issue, too.

[TomMac]

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Moostache wrote:

Was your camera on live view the entire time you conducted this experiment?

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No, as mentioned, it does time out at 30 mins....

What I was doing was checking about evey 45-60 mins to see when it would give the messg ( must be warmed up before use ).

So the cam may have actually stop responding to commands betwee the time last tested and the end one.

The main fact was that;

1) it took 15 mins in 35F ( shaded ) to come back alive after 4 hours in -4F

2) it did not need to be resynced

3) no damaged occured to the camera or battery pack to best of my knowledge

I am thinking that it was stopped due to battery protection circuit...I've sent the question to the Netgear engineers to find out , and I plan on running the test again without the battery ( power cord only )

[DaveWoj]

I'd like to add to this by saying I am AC powered, no battery.

This morning it was -4 (-12 wind chill).

The pro would not work. The Arlo would.

So apparently it does have something to do with the camera shutting down as some have stated.

It must be to protect the battery, but I'm not sure why the Original Arlo wouldn't have the same feature.

I guess I'm not particularly happy about this since It should not affect the camera if wired directly.

My opinion is that it should only affect the camera if powered by battery if that is what the protection is for. If the camera will run fine at 50 below then I should have access to video.

[DaveWoj]

Update.

Checked 5 minutes later and the Pro is back running.

Still not happy that it shut down when powered by AC, BUT, I guess since they NEVER designed the camera to run off power outside then I should have expected it.

And here I thought I was being smart by powering by AC and eliminating any issues related to battery and the cold.

Netgear fooled me again.

[manofice]

We had our coldest temps today here in NC at about 20F, obvously not as cold as you others but just wanted to report that my camera operated perfectly fine all night and this morning.

[TomMac]

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DaveWoj wrote:

Still not happy that it shut down when powered by AC, BUT, I guess since they NEVER designed the camera to run off power outside then I should have expected it.

And here I thought I was being smart by powering by AC and eliminating any issues related to battery and the cold.

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Just wanted to let you know that I put the PRO back in the freezer over night ,  it was in for 10 hrs at -4F. ( going in when already at 20F from out side )

Only difference was that it was plugged in without the battery pack installed.

So the camera worked fine, no bad messages about have to warm up.  It appears all the problems that may occur with the PRO is due to the battery pack and sensors related to same.

This is prob why I was able to do the same test on the Arlo with the li-ion cells and had no problem with operation. ( only voltage sag ).

End result ...if you want to put the PRO outside in weather colder than 0f, pull the battery pack and all should be fine.

[DaveWoj]

Hey Tom,

That -4 must be the magic number because that is what stopped my pro from working.

And that was AC only. I have never used a battery in either Arlo or Pro.

[TomMac]

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DaveWoj wrote:

Hey Tom,

That -4 must be the magic number because that is what stopped my pro from working.

And that was AC only. I have never used a battery in either Arlo or Pro.

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Hi Dave...

Well, it may be as the temp is also -20c which is listed in the specs as low operating temp.

As mentioned, I have a ? out to the engineers re this ,  if I find out nay more I post it.

What i find funny is the Pro and Arlo share alot of same inside... the Arlo I've had down to -10 for a day with li-ion 16340 cells and it worked fine.

Will have to wait for an answer.

[Pavelich]

Outdoors at -4F, Arlo Pro stopped working.  App message Indicated that battery needs to warm up.   However, the Arlo kept working at same temp with no message.  Would have thought it might have been the other way around.  Glad that one of them is working.

[TomMac]

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Pavelich wrote:

Outdoors at -4F, Arlo Pro stopped working.  App message Indicated that battery needs to warm up.   However, the Arlo kept working at same temp with no message.  Would have thought it might have been the other way around.  Glad that one of them is working.

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At this point, we aren't sure 100% if it is the camera or battery pack...

IMO, it's the pack due to a few tests I ran. I have sent this question up the chain to engineers for an answer.

Also wondering if sw could extend the lower range ( tho spec is -4f/-20c )

And Yes, The Arlo with li-ion cells ran ok under -10f .

[jguerdat]

There was just another thread where someone used two cameras, one with battery and one without, that reports the no-battery camera did the same thing so it appears to be a camera issue.  Perhaps it's to do with the possibility of using a battery but the end result is that a powered Pro with no battery will do the same thing.

[TomMac]

Hi Jeff... yes  saw that...

But in my freezer it continued to run over 10hrs with out battery at -4f ... makes me wonder.

[TomMac]

As a PS.... no damage noted to camera from cold.