Ultra Battery Drain

[JD56]

Hi there, 

Apologies if this has already been solved I did check but couldn’t see a solution that worked.

Ultra camera started draining the battery within 24 hours. Bought a new Arlo battery, charged it and this does exactly the same. 
I’ve tried the usual removal from base station and battery cycling etc to no avail. 
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jonathan 

[jguerdat]

Bring the camera closer to your hub to see if there's an improvement. If you have more than one camera, swap them around to see if it's the location or the camera. Is the camera connected to a solar panel? If so, try disconnecting it to see what happens. Are you using activity zones? If so, try deleting them and monitor the total number of minutes of recording and live viewing being used - spec battery life is <5 minutes per day.

Removing and reinstalling the camera on your account may also prove useful.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

Sorry @jguerdat but this has nothing to do with how far the camera is, and I wish you'd stop telling people to do that. I first reported an increased battery drain on Ultra after the new firmware update, and the OP says that it "started", suggesting that this wasn't the issue before. 

This isn't the first post about Ultra and battery drain, suggesting it's an Arlo issue. I'm quite concerned hearing that users end up having to end up new products, thinking it's their equipment, where evidently, it's an Arlo problem - you don't get numbers of users with the same problem all of a sudden!

[jguerdat]

Say what you like but my Ultras have no such battery drain. While it's always possible that any particular device can have issues for different reasons, the fact that it's not universal still leads to users needing to troubleshoot, which is what I suggested. You/they don't have to but if you don't you have reason to complain.

And, no, my Ultras are not on special firmware and are installed where they have been for years with no issues.

[RBMSS]

I have battery drain too. I tried fully charged batteries in 2 different cameras and the same thing happened. These are not "isolated incidents". You are absolutely right. And so am I. I have read other complaints about this happening. I was going to replace cameras but I'm am buying a different product instead.

[RBMSS]

You may not have battery drain but many of us do. Don't tell anybody this an isolated incident. One complaint about this is "isolated", many complaints do not qualify as isolated. I have read reviews about Arlo cameras and this is not an uncommon problem. Don't tell anyone they have no right to post a complaint about this or anything else - your opinions or experiences are irrelevant.

[RBMSS]

Thanks for pointing out the obvious "Guru"!

[StephenB]

FWIW, I'm not seeing it with my Ultra cameras either.

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@RBMSS wrote:

You may not have battery drain but many of us do. Don't tell anybody this an isolated incident.

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That is pretty much what "isolated incidents" means - some people have the problem, but many do not.  If most of the Ultra customers were experiencing it, then we'd see a lot more reports here than we are seeing.  If you have a better name for "some but not most" then feel free to suggest it.

One thing you can try is a hardware reset:

• removing the cameras from the account
• opening the housing and pressing the sync button for 15 seconds (until the LED flashes amber)
• adding the camera back to the account

If this is happening with all your cameras, then you might as well do the paper-clip reset of the base at the same time.  Again, you need to remove it from the account and add it back after the reset.

This is definitely a PITA, so the other troubleshooting steps offered by @jguerdat above might be easier places to start.  Even if the cameras haven't moved, it is possible (though perhaps a long shot) that something in the environment has changed, and that might be affecting the cameras.   That includes stuff you can't see (a neighbor putting in a new wifi system that creates interference, a change in wind patterns that affects motion detection, ...).

You could of course also contact paid support using the support center in the app.

[RBMSS]

Hi StephenB,

Thank you for your response to my issue. I tried each step you recommended - exactly. It did not help unfortunately. 

I think the problem with the batteries overheating and draining may have been caused by sunlight. It has been very hot here but perhaps repeated exposure to direct sun and heat (for about 5 hours a day) has caused this problem. My other cameras are fine.

Since I live on a mostly-wooded lot, I have decided to mount the cameras in the woods (directed toward the house). They will not receive direct sunlight and, according to what Arlo advertises, will be well within 300 feet of my router. I get upload and download speeds of 480 to 680 Mbps with fiberoptic cable.

Perhaps this will solve the problem. I apologize if I offended you. I was very frustrated, but that does not excuse being rude.

Thank you!

[StephenB]

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@RBMSS wrote:

Since I live on a mostly-wooded lot, I have decided to mount the cameras in the woods (directed toward the house). They will not receive direct sunlight and, according to what Arlo advertises, will be well within 300 feet of my router. I get upload and download speeds of 480 to 680 Mbps with fiberoptic cable.

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Repeated overheating definitely can reduce the battery capacity.  Do you have compatible batteries in your other cameras?  Swapping batteries might be a good test.

FWIW, the 300 feet is the max, what you'll actually get is likely less.  If your router is near the base, then I suggest testing the wifi speed at the camera location using your phone.  Disable mobile data,  and use the free Ookla speedtest app.