Arlo Certified Accessory, Outdoor Magnetic Charging Cable
Arlo Certified Accessory, Outdoor Magnetic Charging Cable, 25 ft, Designed for Essential 2 (+XL) Security Cameras, White
From the brand
Extended Range
| Weight: | 269 g |
| Dimensions: | 15.09 x 9.91 x 7.59 cm; 269 g |
| Model: | VMA5700-100UKS |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Manufacture: | Arlo |
| Dimensions: | 15.09 x 9.91 x 7.59 cm; 269 g |
| Quantity: | 1 |
Seems to have improved performance of ultra2 cam, less drop out.
For outside use pity plug too big for standard outside uk socket. Also a shorter cable version would be helpful.
This solar panel has kept my Arlo 3 fully charged for over a year. Since it is now February and the battery is at 100% charge I am blown away that I don’t need to do anything until something wears out.
I live in the south of England (so not the sunniest place in the world but not bad) and the panel is on an east facing wall tilted a bit south and up. The base station is in the room outside which the Arlo camera is mounted so I guess this reduces transmission power needs. I have all the factory settings on so there is an automatic floodlight at night and full detection of movement.
This is a perfect “mount and forget” solution with no need to run mains power or climb up a ladder to keep the camera powered.
So the product does exactly what you would expect and charges the cameras as expected…. but as a product which will be used by most to mount externally using a power supply from indoors (as that is what is usually the easiest option for most DIY’ers) the major problem is the size of the end usb connector. As it is a right angle connector this also makes it worse. The size means that you world struggle to get a decent sized hole (around 2cm diameter at least) that you can easily pull the connector through. My only solution was to cut the wire and have an electrician friend graft it back together which is not ideal at this price point. A wire with a smaller connector or where you could disconnect easily at other point as part of the design would solve this. But on this basis it needs to lose at least a sta
I didn’t like the price as its so expensive but better than the 3rd party ones that I bought which didn’t work properly all the time. Time will also tell how long the last in the english weather.
Anyway I saw the floodlight cameras and thought they looked really great, and I wanted some lights up anyway and thought these would suit, which they do actually, even just on battery they are really bright so I am happy with the purchase, but I knew the battery recharging would be a pain.
So I bought 2 of the solar panels to go with them, and I got to say that I am very impressed as the one camera has always remained at 100%, and the other goes up and down depending on how sunny it is.
It is vital you position so that the angle is getting as much light directly on it but you can swivel the solar panel all around and it has a fairly long wire as well so it hasn’t got to be right next to the floodlight.
Admittedly when I installed the weather has not been too bad, so I can imagine in the winter the drain will probably exceed to solar charging and will need to be topped up, so I bought a magnetic cable for when I will probably need it during those months and you can just remove the magnetic charge cable that comes from the solar panel and stick the outdoor charge cable on until it’s charged.
I got the extra cable because the floodlight for charging has a usb inside the camera case and you would need to remove the camera to access this which would be a nuisance and you have to press a button and take the whole thing off the bracket and the camera would not be doing it’s job of security while in the house charging, plus getting ladders etc.
I love viewing the cameras and seeing the little lightning through a green battery icon and thinking that it is charging for free and saving me a job.
So I do recommend these as very good, although they are a bit expensive but once up they make so much sense, and I may get some for my normal cameras as those ones are a bit cheaper.
Hopefully during winter months I won’t have to edit my review, but they seem to charge well in only normal days where the sun actually isn’t fully out and clouds obscure the sun.
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.
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.
Update 3 years later: Blimey it’s still working. Every miserable and rainy winter with no sun, obviously it does go off for a few months. But then it charges it’s self back up, to use the rest of the year. My arlo battery icon settings are still all over the place. So I just ignore what percentage it’s on now. As the camera is still switching on and recording everything it hears or see’s. Plus this summer the kids have been outside every day. Then all the cats set it off constantly and foxes by night. Also the covering on the kids pool flapping about, sets it off to record a lot. So between 1 and 3 am I have found it has run out sometimes. But it’s back on shortly after the sun rises. I’ve also got it set to best quality video which drains the battery quicker. So this solar panel is still working great, and saves me the hassle of removing the camera to bring it in to charge. I’ll definitely buy another one, when needed.