topic Re: Arlo pro battery life in Arlo Pro

Arlo pro battery life

Bt4run99 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 23:40:58 GMT

First time user sorry if I didn’t post in the correct area. My Arlo pros are dying abnormally fast! I lose about 10% a day even on cameras that are switched off. I got these cameras Thanksgiving 2017. Haven’t had an issue since early May. I got a 4 months before having to charge my cameras. Now in a week and a half my cameras are 50%. Nothing has changed on my end. No new electronics, cameras in the same locations and base unit hasn’t been touched. Only thing that has happened is that update Arlo put out. I even have a camera I charged 2 days ago that has never been used only linked to the base station that is now at 91%. IT’S NOT EVEN TURNED ON!!!!!

Re: Arlo pro battery life

DocCJC — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:31:46 GMT

I have the very same problem with my Arlo cameras since the May firmware update. You are not alone in having this issue. I recommend you log a support case so that Netgear can make a fix for the next firmware release.

I have noticed that rebooting the base station temporarily improves the battery drain.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

pc2k17 — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:54:44 GMT

There are several threads in this forum on this subject. There is currently a bug that seems to keep the motion detection and IR lights active when the cameras are turned off. This means they are always detecting motion and tunring the IR lights on, which drains the batteries. The workaround is either use the disarm mode instead of turning them off or setup a custom mode and leave out any cameras you want turned off, which will disarm the cameras. Disarm instead of turning them off brings battery usage back to normal.

Note: some have said they get more than normal battery drain even on a disarmed camera, but for me, as soon as I disarmed vs turning off, the batteries went back to normal usage.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

pc2k17 — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:59:10 GMT

Info posted by the community manager, DawnM, in another thread:

Hello all,

Regarding the battery rapidly draining issue that started recently, we do have a fix in QA being tested right now. We'll update this thread when that is released.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Infrared-light-comes-on-when-camera-is-off/m-p/1584538#M38844

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Brucerads — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:06:15 GMT

It is now June 11th. Your last response said the battery fix for the Arlo Pro batteries was in QA back on June 3rd.

When will the fix be out?

I recharged my five batteries on May 23rd and they are all now below 40%!

I have version 2.5.4 that was released on June 6th.

Hardware H8

Firmware: 1.092.0.13_19715

Re: Arlo pro battery life

DocCJC — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 22:16:38 GMT

2.5.3 was a phone app update, so it's not going to fix the battery drain issues - this requires a software (firmware) update on the cameras / base station.

I charged my cameras to 100% last week again, and two of them dropped to 90% within two days. These two had no video recordings, either. Most of the others barely dropped 1%.

So there is a logic flaw in the software that once a camera gets into this weird state, it's battery drains for some reason.

For the two cameras I have that starting draining, I took the batteries out for a minute and then replaced them, hoping this would reset the software and it would enter a normal state. So far, so good.

But need this issue fixed permanently, obviously, as I've had enough of climbing ladders every week to recharge cameras.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

gfichtng — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 18:51:19 GMT

Does aybody know if this problem affects only Arlo Pro or Arlo Pro 2 as well?

Re: Arlo pro battery life

itisme2 — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 00:56:57 GMT

I've been going crazy trying to figure out this battery situation! I had no idea othes were having the same battery drain issue! Has anyone discovered a fix? I've changed batteries too many times now. I've used the disarm mode. I've rebooted the base. NOTHING is working to fix this battery drain! HELP!

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Bt4run99 — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 02:53:52 GMT

Apparently they were testing a work around on the third. I don’t know about you but if there wasn’t a problem before the update on May 15th WHY NOT GO BACK TO THAT UPDATE!!!!!

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Stunew78 — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 09:55:39 GMT

I was an early purchaser of Arlo Pro.

System has been solid until the update that has caused this battery drain issue.

I work in IT and hardware development - I cannot believe that Netgear allowed this firmware to make release - the mind boggles. It is without a doubt a MAJOR problem for this system and I am constantly having to now recharge my batteries, while mindful that I will only ever get 300 charges out these Lithium Ion batteries.

This problem will lead me to have to replace these batteries earlier than is reasonable, at my cost.

C’mon Netgear - lift your game in firmware testing and customer communication!!

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Wklovelace3 — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 15:40:12 GMT

You are correct. Every time you charge a lithium ion battery it loses capacity. Maybe minimal but it adds up over time. And these batteries are 50 bucks a piece. Huge difference in charging every week vs every month or two. The internal resistance increases with every charge

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Mel33 — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 16:27:16 GMT

June 18, 2018 and this problem still hasn't been fixed. My battery has gone down to 85% in only two days, with not alot of use.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

DocCJC — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:05:51 GMT

I've been talking to support and they said Netgear is aware of the issue and are working on a fix. They cannot give an ETA, however.

I've found through trial and error that if you take the battery out of the camera, and then replace it after a minute, the issue will usually temporarily disappear. One camera drained 5% in just over two weeks but then reverted to excessive drain. I charged up two other cameras last week and they are still at 100%.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

itisme2 — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:16:13 GMT

I've removed my new batteries & waited a minute then reinstalled. I've unplugged the base station & waited a minute then plugged back in to reboot. I've "deleted" each camera in the settings, then re-synced to re-install each one. I've done everything that everyone has suggested. AGAIN I bought & installed brand new batteries again today. My cameras are losing battery life all day long. In just one day, today, my cameras are now each down to about 75% and they each in the DEACTIVATE or OFF mode!! The infrared red light is clicking on and off all day long even in the deactivate mode. I loved my Arlo cameras for ovef a year. Now I am frustrated and angry that they are basically useless and expensive battery eaters! I can't afford to keep buying new batteries every 4 days. Arlo/Netgear's chat line is down. Tech support is an endless HOLD. This sucks that their tech people have no answers. All this started after their "security update" last month.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Wklovelace3 — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:47:53 GMT

If you turn them off they drain more. Leave them on and disarm instead of off. They still drain but not near as bad. Mine are rechargeable and i was charging every week. The only thing that will help is the new firmware update that they release. However you can get on the field trial. I have had that for 4 days and it appears to be back to normal. I had 100+ videos today and only lost 4% all day. Ask dawn m or james c to get you on the trial. Especially since you have disposable batteries

Re: Arlo pro battery life

jamesmcd — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:22:13 GMT

I am also having this problem - since purchase - the batteries last about 4-5 days before needing a recharge. This is very frustrating when traveling, but even more frustrating given my second issue, which is:

Battery life indicator does not work: My battery indicator reads 100% and then the batteries die in 2-5 days (and while I've never watched it die, it reads 100% a few hours before it dies). The cameras lose the base station when they die, so I start the recharge, resynch, and then the battery indicator reads something like 8%, and I get an email telling me the battery is tired. Then, I finish the recharge, get camera set up again, and then it reads 100% battery life -- and then it stays at 100% until it dies again. Any ideas on my second problem? I would love to know when the batteries are close to going out, as it's easier for me to recharge than recharge and resynch.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

Wklovelace3 — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:35:12 GMT

Thats pretty extreme. Mine were never that bad. I was losing 10% a day and 2 or 3 % overnight. So having to charge weekly. Im on the trial and so far it looks like they fixed the issue. Charged mine sunday and this is day 3 and im still in the 90's

Re: Arlo pro battery life

JamesC — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 16:36:22 GMT

New Base station firmware has been released that should help resolve the issue being discussed here. Check your base station firmware to be sure you are up to date with the latest available version.

Take a look here for more information on this firmware: Firmware Release Scheduled 6/21 to Address IR Rapid Battery Drain and Modes and Schedules Issues

JamesC

Re: Arlo pro battery life

CalT — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 01:48:14 GMT

Just stumbled across the conversations about the battery draining issues. Last post i read said an update in June fixed the problem. I am still having issues. This is very disappointing because I purchased the 6 camera pack 8 months ago and was very pleased until this occurred. Would like to know if there is a reliable power cord that would work with this cameras outdoors? If not, i will suck up the cost to have a company equip my home with POE cameras that pan/tilt and record to a harddrive in my home.

Re: Arlo pro battery life

jamesmcd — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 03:09:25 GMT

An update to my issue - my batteries die quickly, usually in 5 or fewer days - but I have moved the base station and the signal strength is greater, so they now last almost 10-12 days.

The other issue, the battery indicator reading 100% until death has not substantially improved. This time, the battery indicator read 90% the day before the batteries exhausted themselves, again while I was away from home.