Water inside Arlo camera, no longer shows a picture

[doncarajo]

Hi all, just a heads up. I have had some Arlo cameras set up around my house since late last year. It has been raining quite a bit here and today one of my cameras reported a charging error. The camera is connected to a solar panel. I took the camera out of its case after plugging and unplugging failed to work. Lo-and-behold, water inside the case! I thought these were supposed to withstand rain. There were signs of corrosion on the contacts inside the case (black crap) and some blue residue (copper?). I cleaned it up as well as I could and now the camera is refusing to show a picture at all, even after it seemed to be able to be reconnected to the hub (after deleting from the Hub as it was reporting some errors). I think the water must've ingressed through the back where the screw hole is. I am trying to get a replacement from the Qantas rewards store where I purchased the cameras from. Anybody else experience this?

[StephenB]

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@doncarajo wrote:

Lo-and-behold, water inside the case! I thought these were supposed to withstand rain. There were signs of corrosion on the contacts inside the case (black crap) and some blue residue (copper?). 

I think the water must've ingressed through the back where the screw hole is.

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This is with an Ultra camera (with the magnetic charging port)?

I don't think the mounting screw hole goes all the way into the case, so that seems unlikely.  It would have to be coming in around the seal in the front of the camera.

[jguerdat]

The screw wouldn't be the problem unless it was cracked from over-tightening. The camera should be well-seated - perhaps it was not quite pushed all the way in so the seal couldn't work properly or the seal itself was out of position or damaged.

[JamesC]

doncarajo,

When properly installed, Arlo wire-free cameras are weather resistant. For more information, take a look here: Are Arlo cameras weatherproof?

If you're not able to exchange the camera through the original purchase place, please contact support to further investigate the issue: Arlo Support

JamesC

[doncarajo]

Hi James,

Yes, the cameras are installed properly and I understood that they are waterproof so was surprised to find water inside the case. The camera was not loose in the case, as I had to push the button to eject the camera. The camera was only held on by the magnetic mount to the wall, pointing down, hence I suspect water ingress through the posterior screw hole. There are no cracks or other suspicious areas in the case that I can see.

Anyway, I will await a response from Qantas rewards and contact you guys directly is they cannot help. Thank you.

[doncarajo]

Hi jguerdat,

The camera was not loose as I had to eject it (even then it was a little hard to pop out). It was held by the magnetic mount, the screw mount was not used. It was pointing down.

[doncarajo]

Update: I have kept the camera disconnected for 48h and now it's working again. The sun's setting so I'm not sure if the charging will work but I will report if there are any issues (there is one that I think is unrelated to this but I'll make a new post about it). I have put Blu-Tac over the screw hole at the back to prevent water getting in again.

[doncarajo]

Solar power is indeed charging the battery. So the whole problem was an internal short circuit at the charging point, caused by water getting inside the case somehow. I wonder if I can just get a new replacement case?

[doncarajo]

Well, it’s raining again and the camera is offline again. Probably water in it again. Will just wait for the return instructions.