Ultra VMC5040 camera continuosly loses power/won't charge

[ChicagoArlo]

I just got help with one problem here and unfortunately am back with another.   One of my two Ultra cameras keeps losing power and going offline. 

The camera is on an exterior mount.  It is hardwired to power, as much as a magnetic connector can be 'hard,' and I can see the lightning blot icon when I connect it, but over time something apparently happens, it loses that connection and the battery drains.

When I first noticed this some weeks ago I got a replacement battery, which seemed to solve the problem, but now it has happened again.   

I can tell that the exterior cable is providing power (via Klein LED tester) but maybe it needs more voltage?   The plug I'm using is the Arlo supplied one.   I have a spare exterior cable and may try that though fishing the cable through would be a pain, but if the charging icon is on...surely it's actually getting power? 

Maybe the cold here is an issue, and I should use a higher powered wall wart?   The problem with that theory is that it's now at least 10 degrees warmer than when the camera was working perfectly fine.

Unfortunately we're about to leave on a long trip so I can't spend all day troubleshooting this.   

Aargh!

[jguerdat]

If the ambient temp falls below 32F/0C charging is disabled so the battery can discharge fully. There have been cases where applying power to a camera has kept the camera working (charging?) when external power was applied but I don't know whether that happens with an Ultra. What is the ambient temp when the battery is discharging?

[ChicagoArlo]

The temps have gotten down to 10 F or so.   So that's an explanation for the charging stopping...but why doesn't it start back up as the temperature moderates?   

Unless...the battery gets completely depleted, in which case it needs some kind of power cycle before it will charge again?  That's essentially what I've been doing, bringing the camera inside (once I'm home), pulling the battery, resetting it, plugging it in and seeing that it now charges up.  But that would mean the camera is near-useless in very cold weather.

BTW the other camera (one of the two is an Ultra 2, not sure which) behaves much better.  It went offline on the coldest night with an explicit message that it was too cold, but came back on as the temp got up to around 10 and has been fine since.   That I can understand.

[jguerdat]

Charging should automatically start when the camera/battery detects it. What do you mean by "pulling the battery, resetting it, plugging it in and seeing that it now charges up"? What resetting are you doing? What is the battery level when you first reinsert the battery? Do you have to charge it again to make the camera work?

[ChicagoArlo]

When this happens the battery is completely drained and this camera doesn’t seem able to resume charging it. It takes a while for it to get to 1% even charging indoors.   The other camera shut down completely due to cold but came right back up as the temp rose; it’s never given me this trouble. 
I’m away for a while now and have to just hope it’ll be okay.  I did change the arlo wall wart for that will provide more voltage if demanded.  

[jguerdat]

While the following FAQ is for older cameras, it's possible it may help. Note that the idea is to get enough charge into the battery to allow it to charge fully.

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

[ChicagoArlo]

We’ve been away for about ten days and the one funky camera has run for part of that time but also cut out for a day or two twice.   There’s no pattern or rhyme or reason to it.  When it’s online it looks to be powered and with a full battery.  Then the next time I check there’s that dreaded ‘camera appears to be offline’ message.  
I’m quite stumped on what to do and obviously can’t do anything at all when I’m not home.  Which is of course when I count on the damn cameras to be working.  

[ChicagoArlo]

We’ve been away for about ten days and the one funky camera has run for part of that time but also cut out for a day or two twice.   There’s no pattern or rhyme or reason to it.  When it’s online it looks to be powered and with a full battery.  Then the next time I check there’s that dreaded ‘camera appears to be offline’ message.  Then a day later I check and find that it suddenly started up again. 
I’m quite stumped on what to do and obviously can’t do anything at all when I’m not home.  Which is of course when I count on the damn cameras to be working.  

[jguerdat]

I would move the camera to indoors to test or at least swap cameras around to see if it's the location or camera causing this.