Have generic 120 volt to 5 VDC power adapter but showing 10% battery life

[Aap10]

Hello
I have 3 Arlo first generation cameras. I have 120 volt to 5 VDC power adaptors and fake batteries inside the camera with a ribbon coming out of the camera and they work great always showing around 98% charge all the time. One of my power supplies failed and I have a generic power supply 120 volt to 5 VDC that I’ve connected to it. It’s working but only showing 10% battery life. I know I have the polarity right and I’ve used one of the original power supply to double check the camera it does work normal with an original power supply. Does anyone know why they don’t work with a generic power adaptor is they a resister or diode that needs to be added?

[jguerdat]

Yer on your own for things like this. I'd think that the voltage and/or current output from the new supply may be marginal, causing this to happen. Since the OEM batteries provide a bit over 3v each, a proper max voltage would be more like 6v rather than 5v. Measure each supply's output when connected to the camera (so it's under load) to compare.

[Aap10 · Accepted solution]

The original power supply voltage is 6 volts but 5 VDC and 1 amp under load with an amp meter and batteries read fine. The new power is reading 5 VDC and is rated for 3 amps max under load so I'm not sure why its not working. I will have to investigate this more. Thanks for your reply.