Arlo Certified Accessory, VMA5600 Solar Panel Charger
Arlo Certified Accessory, VMA5600 Solar Panel Charger, Weather Resistant, 8ft Magnetic Power Cable, Adjustable Mount, Designed for Arlo Ultra, Pro3, Pro4 & Floodlight Wireless Wi-Fi Security Cameras
From the brand
Arlo Security
| Dimensions: | 11.1 x 19.8 x 7.6 cm; 470 Grams |
| Model: | VMA5600-20000S |
| Manufacture: | Arlo |
| Dimensions: | 11.1 x 19.8 x 7.6 cm; 470 Grams |
| Origin: | Vietnam |
Bought for the Arlo pro 3 to use as constant power. The camera is fixed on the front of the garage on the external wall and the power cable reaches the rear of the garage easily without any strain on the cable. The cable itself come with a sealed plug and a rubber protector for the magnetic camera charge point. This makes it quite difficult to run power from an internal socket as a substantial hole would need to be drilled to get the charger through.
It is quite expensive for what could essentially be a longer USB cable.
So far the cable has been working perfectly but only time will tell on its durability.
Based on some other reviews I was a little sceptical regarding this charger, some were saying that in low light or non sunny positions it wasn’t charging well.
Bought for a high placed Arlo pro 4 where I didn’t relish the idea of battery replacement. I had to position on a west facing wall and so far the result is extremely good. We’ve had a mixture of Irish weather since fitting over a week ago and the battery came up from 90% to 100% within a couple of hours of connection and has stayed there since.
A week is no test of long term longevity, but so far I’m very pleased.
Not cheap bought on its own, but I found mine on Amazon in a bundled deal with the pro 4, which I had already decided on. Also meant no requirement for the XL battery upgrade. Even in lieu of a bargain, I still think it would be worth it, if your camera is difficult to access or your camera battery is starting to need changed more often over time?
It’s a very good product that does what it says. Because one of our cameras monitors a busy area (front of our house) the battery doesn’t last more than 2 weeks, we had to drill a bigger hole and get a charging cable through that is connected permanently to it. We plug it whenever it’s needed basically.
Due to the magnetic part of the cable that is slightly bigger than the cable and that’s not detachable we had to drill that bigger hole. A lot easier than to take off the camera or use a ladder to charge it.
For the other cameras is easy to connect and charge them whenever necessary.
This is what they use with Verisure at the fraction of the cos
Bought cable due to security camera using charge very quickly, despite following manufacturer’s instructions.
I was sick and tired of having to take camera down and having to charge and then reattach. I attached charging cable to allow charging with camera in place. Can check charge percentage from phone.
Cable is good a length and quality feel, most importantly fixes securly into camera well.
Glad I purchased, has made life a lot easier.
I’ve had this nearly 3 months so have given it a decent assessment (over a cold/dark winter period). It is an excellent partner for the Arlo Floodlight, which otherwise would need charging quite often if you trigger it regularly. Since connecting the panel I haven’t had to charge the Floodlight, which is currently at about 99% battery. The main proviso is that it absolutely must be mounted somewhere that gets direct sunlight for at least some of the day ie ideally south facing. Without direct sunlight it doesn’t really generate enough power to top up the device it’s connected to. On cloudy days it only gives a small boost, but a sunny day soon tops it up fully.
Great, so handy to just throw the magnet onto the camera, without having to take it off the mount. Just connect it up through the window and away you go. Con – expensive for a wire
Having lost my charging cable I needed a suitable replacement.
This works perfectly well and is no different from the cable that was supplied with the cameras.
I believe the price is a little high, but there is little choice due to the unusual connectors the cameras require
This is a surprisingly small solar panel, yet it kept my Arlo Pro 3 Outdoor Floodlight Camera (which I guess is the most power-hungry of the Arlo devices) fully charged throughout 2022’s sunny summer and autumn. That’s hugely impressive, given that the floodlight camera covers the front of my house, with a lot of comings and goings by day and by night. However, after a couple of cloudy rainy weeks around Christmas time, the battery was completely flat. So, it is clear that the solar panel cannot keep a busy floodlight camera charged on anything less than hazy direct sunlight in summer, or full direct sunlight in winter. It’s also worth mentioning that, when the floodlight camera detects that it is connected to a solar panel, not the mains, the floodlight only operates at reduced brightness.
Better than expected to keep the camera charged. Battery level stays 100% now so no need to take it down and charge anymore
I purchased this brand for Arlo Essential XL it’s a good length cable. The only thing it that is an over priced product.
It’s easy too expensive but better than the knock offs that stop working rapidly. We (my gopher DS) doesn’t have to change the arlo pro 4 camera batteries every week anymore in the summer. Just be sure to get the gutter mount kits otherwise it’s recharge and change fort nightly of your lucky.
Impressed. Had it 3 months and usually keeps it at 100%. Never dipped below 68%. Don’t know how it will be in winter but worth it even if it only save charging half the yea
Brought these as my battery life after changing my cameras was running out rather quickly and invested into these for my cameras and I was rather skeptical seeing reviews and honestly I cannot fault them they are doing an amazing job
Perfect fit-and-forget accessory though it does not work in winter. The other three seasons are all OK but you will have to charge the battery in the more conventional way during winter.
Given the British weather and hours of sunshine etc I was sceptical about using solar panels for my camers.
We have two of these panels, one on a South facing wall and the other East facing.
Both keep their respective floodlight cameras at 100%.
I first charged my Arlo camera through a usb from mains during the camera operation the charge level started to drop I plugged in the solar charger as my house is south facing it gets a lot of sun this charger soon brought the charge back to 100%
Works well no issues after several months. Seems to hold charge around 85% and I have a 24hr recording subscription. It’s an external cable but offer no clips to run cable sadly, Screwfix had some for very little money. Arlo eco system is very pricey but I find keeping genuine parts worth it especially is have new subscription which includes added warranty.
Needed the outdoor charger so did not need to remove camera – works a treat, simple to attach and then remove when full charged – suppose you go just keep it on if you wanted!
If you’re not wanting to drill a >15mm hole to feed the cable from inside, the transformer fits the “Masterplug Nexus Storm Single Outdoor Weatherproof Unswitched Socket” perfectly with room to spare. The socket is large but can also fit an RCD and is worth the additional cost.
This was delivered toward the end of July 2021. I first made sure the battery in my Arlo camera was fully charged and then mounted the panel and plugged it in. I positioned it to face the direction from which we get the most sun. I live in the NE of England so it’s not a lot. Since installation the panel has kept the camera battery charged to 100%. Winter is ahead and will see if that changes.
Update: battery icon on camera setting wasn’t showing the thunder bolt all day and still showing 72% since the day before. But the next day the charge showed 84% and no thunderbolt still but the black bar in the battery icon is fully filled. So even though I was getting worried some days it wasn’t charging if the thunder bolt icon wasn’t showing, it is charging! So I’m still happy and the camera charge only goes down one percent, when I’ve viewed the outside from my phone a few times for around a total of 10 minutes a day. The extra charging percentage just takes a full day or even the next day to update on my settings it seems.
Unless you want this plugged in all the time, buy a professional wired system. This lead is long enough for inside your house cameras to get to plug sockets without extension lead, unlike the ones in the boxes that come with the chargers, but you will be using it often. It works but the longer the lead, the linger time charging takes. Get a wired in system.
Not sure how I can comment on battery life as these are mains powered!
They’re well made OEM cables but I would have preferred the cables to connect to main by a smaller connector preferably a universal cylindrical plug-in which would enable smaller holes to be drilled in walls/frames etc.
I am almost tempted to cut off the plug and solder a USB connector to use with the the various spare Netgear Arlo plugs that came with earlier add on cameras but that would hardly be any smaller that the magnetic camera plug.
Also they are way too expensive!
Works perfectly, just plug it into the camera and it keeps the camera fully charged. It does require direct sunlight to work so make sure you do not install it in a shady area.
Only recently upgraded my 5 x Pro 2 cameras to Ultra cameras and the picture quality difference is nuts.
However, an equally great upgrade is the power connection. The micro USBs on the pro 2 really are rubbish – they’re temperamental and corrode easily. These magnetic power connections are brilliant! It just clicks into place and works, without any fiddling.
The cable itself is nice and thick, which isn’t too much of a surprise, given the price point. You do need to plan, if fitting outside, as it is a fixed three pin plug at the power end, so it has to be fed to the camera from inside (not easy in a loft!).
Anyway, I’d totally recommend these cables and it’s worth the money to never have to go and swap batteries. Plus, the blue light on the front of the cameras stays on when they’re fully charged, which is all the time when plugged in, so potential burglars can see the camera nice and clearly, which is a great deterrent.
There’s a good length of cable on these and they are easy to install. Just a word of warning, the connector head on the cable is quite large so if you need to thread it through a hole then you will need to drill quite a large hole in order to fit this through.