Finally replaced my windowed backdoor with a solid door, a Level lock, blank faceplate and a keypad. It was probably the ugliest aspect of the house,
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And I replaced my Arlo Essential cameras with Tapo T85 cameras for the same cost and no charging or access issues so far. Arlo came with 2–watt solar panels which I upgraded to 4 and 5–watt but they still had charging and shade issues. I discovered that if the cameras face the highway, the stream of traffic triggers constant motion events sent over the wifi network. Most of the motion algorithm is self-contained within the Tapo cameras so they use less power.
I started replacing them one by one three weeks ago and surprise, they are all at 99-100% charge all the time. They also talk directly to my phone on the local wifi so access time is 2-4 seconds and I can do better placement and coverage.
In summary, the Tapo cameras just work. Done!
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