topic Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when? in Arlo

batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

whtsbabydoinnow — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:27:48 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I just installed my arlo camera, and it works well. Only thing that puzzles me is the camera battery is almost out and I just installed it like 5 days ago. I do have the camera set on lower quality and longer batter life, so what happened? I did notice that the batteries drained like mad when I disconnected my arlo base station from the ethernet port. But then the strangest thing happened, the cameras still broadcast images out without my base station connected to the internet; how is this possible? Has the camera taken on a life of its own? or does the base station connect up to my comcast router via wifi? help.....

Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

jguerdat — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 13:34:05 GMT

A poor connection between the base and cameras will drain the batteries fast but I'm not sure about with no Internet connection. That hasn't been reported before.

How do you know the cameras are still working with no Internet connection? The app or browser should give you a "not connected" error so you can't view them. Does the library show new videos? The base only connects to the Internet via the cable, not WiFi, so nothing should be possible with the cable disconnected.

Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

TomMac — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 13:37:04 GMT

First... it's not possible that the Arlo base/camera recorded while unplugged from the ethernet port the way you described.

The basic way the Arlo ( NOT Q CAM ) base and cameras work are as follows;

The base hooks into internet via the ethernet port when powered on. The base then sets up it's own WIFI system. The cameras will ONLY connect to the base's wifi when sync'ed and not connect at all to your home wifi. The camera now records video when active, sends it to the base and the base sends it via internet to the Netgear servers (at the far end ). To view the videos, the vids come back to your PC via the internet.

So I don't know what you saw happen, but there is no large buffering in the base unit and if it's unplugged there is no videos sent out.

Now as to the batteries;

If the base unit is UNPOWERED, yes, the batteries will drain alot faster... as long as the base is powered, the unplugging of the eithernet will not make a difference ( to my knowledge from testing ) in the batteries as they still see the base as active and the pinging between the base and camera continues as normal.

First question i usu ask when users say the batteries die in a short time is ; How much are you recording? The Arlo cameras are not meant to record 24/7 but really are motion detect type cameras...and Spec use to make the time battery life given by Netgear is 4 mins per day ( viewing/recording )

If you give more info , maybe I can give a better answer.

Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

whtsbabydoinnow — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 14:11:32 GMT

Yes I agree it's the strangest thing, but i do want to correct myself. I do have internet connection active, but yes, definitely the netgear base station was unplugged from it and I was or actually am (as I'm checking now from work) still able to receive videos and snap pics as if it were plugged into the ethernet. When I get home I will try to take a picture of my set up at home and add a pic so I can show you. And thanks for the detailed answer.....you guys are awesome.

Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

TomMac — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 17:45:59 GMT

is it possible you unplugged the WRONG ethernet cable...done that myself one or twice 🙂 ( since I can't see back there when I do mine )

ALSO, check the conditions of the LEDs on the front of the base... the first three are normally green ( showing ; power/internet/cameras )

Re: batteries draining fast with no internet connection, but camera still working?how? why? when?

TomMac — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 17:27:25 GMT

whtsbabydoinnow wrote:
Yes I agree it's the strangest thing, but i do want to correct myself. I do have internet connection active, but yes, definitely the netgear base station was unplugged from it and I was or actually am (as I'm checking now from work) still able to receive videos and snap pics as if it were plugged into the ethernet. When I get home I will try to take a picture of my set up at home and add a pic so I can show you. And thanks for the detailed answer.....you guys are awesome.

So...what happen??? curious to know if human error or what