Arlo Ultra charging port

[Seendouble]

Is anybody else getting intermittent charging on their Arlo Ultra using the silly magnetic plug? Units were working fine but after about a year outside the copper/tin has started to migrate through the thin gold plating on the charge pads and now my charging flicks on and off intermittently causing charge times to exceed 10 hours on some days. I only ever used the supplied charger pack but have recently tried a 3.0 amp charger just to check that the pack was not faulty. Or is this an issue with the pins on the cable as these too seem to be a bit of a design flaw, honestly mech engineers just need to use USB C or a true wireless magnetic charger when designing electronics. Fire that guy lol

[StephenB]

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@Seendouble wrote:
 honestly mech engineers just need to use USB C or a true wireless magnetic charger when designing electronics.

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Wireless charging would be great, but solar panels wouldn't be possible - which would be a huge disadvantage for many.  So if they do wireless charging, they'd need a wired connection too.

I think the problem with microUSB or USB-C is that it's harder to provide effective weather proofing.  Though they did go back to microUSB on the Essential.  

Either way, one plus for me is that most of the newer cameras (Ultra, Pro 3, Pro 4, Go 2) all share the same accessories - batteries, mounts, solar panels, and chargers.  It'd be good if that continues. FWIW, I think it would have been better if the Essential were also compatible with the Ultra chargers and panels.

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@Seendouble wrote:
Is anybody else getting intermittent charging on their Arlo Ultra using the silly magnetic plug? 

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I've had a couple of cables fail, and I have seen some recent posts of other folks with cable issues.  I haven't had issues with the camera termination, though some here have needed to clean the connectors.

FWIW, USB cables and ports can also fail - I've run into that with several gadgets (including a couple of phones).  Not a big deal if it's just the cable - but losing a device because the charging port fails isn't good.

[Seendouble]

So after having a good look at the camera when it was out of its housing I found a small plastic cap on the side, we would normally use these to hide USB ports that we used for loading firmware updates etc on some of our electronics. Popped it off and what do ya know!!! a micro usb port that I can use for charging 🙂 I wish I knew this earlier as I would’ve ditched the magnetic cable a long time ago!!!

[StephenB]

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@Seendouble wrote:
So after having a good look at the camera when it was out of its housing I found a small plastic cap on the side, we would normally use these to hide USB ports that we used for loading firmware updates etc on some of our electronics. Popped it off and what do ya know!!! a micro usb port that I can use for charging 🙂 

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Does the app show the camera is charging when you use it?  

FWIW, another option is to get a battery charger for the camera (VMA5400C).

[Seendouble]

Yea shows it is charging and have now charged two battery’s using this method, worked well and both charged within 3-4 hours. I will use this method from now on, yes looked at the battery charger but this option is cheaper for now