topic Re: Pro 2 Battery Death in Arlo Pro 2

Pro 2 Battery Death

stringbob — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 13:50:10 GMT

Since getting the 4-camera set, about 14 months ago, one of the cameras has been nothing but trouble. The battery dies in anywhere from minutes to a few hours. I've moved the camera to different locations and tried different batteries, all with no resolution.
The camera is currently at a location about 35' to 40' from the hub, a detached garage. where there is sufficient enough wifi to keep my garage door opener satisfied. The door opener is actually 10' further from the hub than the camera.
Definitely at a loss....

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

TomMac — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 13:57:34 GMT

If you've tried different batteries without change it sounds more like the camera is the issue.

As to the range of the camera, it is wifi from the BASE unit, not your home wifi so what another device gets as a signal prob doesn't apply... check the signal level on the camera while on the live view screen.

Swap thr trouble camera with one working and see if that changes anything... weak signal to the camera can cause a quicker battery depletion

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

stringbob — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 14:30:02 GMT

@TomMac wrote:

"As to the range of the camera, it is wifi from the BASE unit, not your home wifi so what another device gets as a signal prob doesn't apply... check the signal level on the camera while on the live view screen."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Arlo Base is right next to the wifi router, which is why I thought it applied. I'll check the wifi level after I charge it again. It lasted about 30 minutes yesterday, so that should give me plenty of time to check...

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

stringbob — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 14:58:22 GMT

The wifi level in the "Live" view was one bar, at 40ft from the base. Pretty sad. It's too bad that individual cameras don't act a repeaters, like in Z-Wave devices. At this point, I guess a camera at the garage, 40ft away, is out of the rhelm of capabilities for this Arlo system. I wanted to avoid IP cameras, but....

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

ShayneS — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 17:24:33 GMT

stringbob,

Have you tried to move you router or base station further from each other & test again?

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

jguerdat — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 14:15:11 GMT

A second base would also help so each can be optimally positioned for the various cameras.

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

stringbob — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 15:02:24 GMT

I'm very limited in where I can locate CAT5-dependent devices. No additional cable run in the abode.

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

stringbob — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 15:10:18 GMT

I'm looking into that now, although it just frosts me that Arlo's claim of a 300ft line-of-sight range is so drastically affected by 4 walls and 30ft of open-air.
Also, it looks a 2nd base isn't an extension of the first, but a completely separate system. Is that correct?

Re: Pro 2 Battery Death

jguerdat — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 19:32:22 GMT

It's not just Arlo - any WiFi device has the same issue. There are other considerations, of course, such as power savings for the camera but 300 feet has never been demonstrated here without using extraordinary efforts. House construction can make all the difference as well as ductwork, mirrors, etc. that all block the signal.

You can always use a WiFi or powerline extender for the second base.

Dying Batteries

stringbob — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 15:50:11 GMT

This is an Update to something I posted, but can no longer find.
I had a problem with dying batteries at a specific camera location, the detached garage. Installing different cameras at the location resulted is similar bad performance. Turns out that issue was really created by a weak signal from the base, all of 40ft away! I installed a 2nd base, but battery death continued. After installing a different camera at the garage, everything was finally OK.
All of the troubleshooting, and a chat with netgear support ultimately pointed to a bad camera. Sadly, there is no repair for a camera so I was left with 2 options; buy a new camera or remove the battery and provide a full-time power source. I opted for the latter as it is roughly 10% the cost of a new camera.
I'm awaiting the arrival of the new power source, and don't anticipate any issues once it's installed.
Over and out...