topic Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly in Arlo

I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

guzpro — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 19:42:10 GMT

I give up. I am done with using the Arlo Wireless Cameras. I have honestly tried to accept the oddities I have experienced since the purchase but I am done. Once again for the 6th time since purchase the cameras chew through batteries almost daily. My base station has been replaced, relocated it and gone through in the plural of hundreds now in batteries trying to make this work. I worked with Netgear early on and eventually the cmaeras were stable and reliable. but in the last 2 months after updates it has gone back to daily/weekly battery changes. the cameras are in my office 1 7 feet, the other 12 feet from the base. Heck for the last 2 weeks they have been on my desk sitting almost next to the base. I have not changed the objects in my office so for months no interference issues or anything like that from other devices. These things just go offline, no warning and by the time i realize, often within a a day, sometimes hours the batteries are chewed through. I am a huge netgear fan but I can't take it anymore. I have 2 dropcams and in the years since i have had them i have had zero issues. They just run and run. But I am done spending money on these things. I come here and read thread after thread of people having battery issues and it seems like this si just something thats known and happens and seemingly never gets resolved. I am sticking to wired camer'as and am now going to research new wired cameras to replace my 2 Arlo cameras. What a waste of a great concept.

Re: I Give up

JamesC — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 15:11:03 GMT

guzpro,

I would like to offer assistance with the issue you are describing. I will reach out to you in a private message to gather more information.

JamesC

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

bigrad — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 20:11:10 GMT

I agree with you. I recently switched from the older netgear camera system which I had for several years without any problems. The new system cameras drain, sometimes in a week. Not all cameras and not all the time but I am monitoring a house ZI go to only every few weeks and each time some cameras are drained. They go from full batter to low then off without any more advanced notice. The wifi is strong and the proximity of base station very good. I have tried everything that has been posted without success. All firmware updates done. There is clearly an issue here that needs fixing. I am about to abandon this system as well and go to something more reliable. Batteries can get costly at this rate but even more important is I lose the ability to monitor my house remotely. Clearly not as advertised.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

JamesC — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 22:14:22 GMT

bigrad,

The batteries in your Arlo Wire-Free camera last for about four to six months with normal usage, which is about five minutes of recordings a day.

If your cameras are detecting more recordings each day, this could be why you are having to replace batteries more often than expected.

Take a look at this article for tips on how to extend the battery life for your Arlo cameras: How can I extend my Arlo Wire-Free camera’s battery life?

JamesC

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

guzpro — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 22:27:44 GMT

I had the same results. Completely random and unreliable. I had to switch to nestcams.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

cher45 — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 05:20:56 GMT

After a couple months with only a quirk here and there- this evening had one camera suddenly at 12% battery. This camera is in the lowest traffic area. The higher traffic area camera still has 75% battery.Something is definitely wrong and needs to be addressed.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 13:28:43 GMT

It may just be the display. I have one camera in a low traffic area that suddenly reported 25%. I left it alone for a few weeks with no change. Recently, I opened and closed the battery door and the battery is now reported at 99%.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

cher45 — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 17:53:57 GMT

@jguerdat I tried opening/ reclosing battery compartment with no change-well a little worse actually, it is now at 8%. Will wait a week and do it again unless it dies completely before then.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 13:20:41 GMT

What's the WiFi strength reported in Settings, My Devices? A poor signal for any reason can drain the batteries quickly.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

cher45 — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 18:07:37 GMT

Mine shows full bars and Network at 100% for both cameras.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

NightOwl12 — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 13:04:53 GMT

Same problem here. Put fresh batteries in 18 days ago and they are at 50% now. I only have at the most 3 minutes of recordings a day. Previously the batteries lasted 3 months. Seems like the batteries started draining very fast over the last two months. Wifi is at 100% and camera is only 75 feet from the base station. Very frustrating. At this rate, better off buying a new Nest outdoor cam and pay the $10 a month.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 14:47:58 GMT

WHat happens if you open and close the battery door on the camera? I've had a low battery indication that this cured.

Also, 75 feet, while well within spec, could be part of the issue. If there are walls, other wireless 2.4GHz devices nearby, etc., battery life could suffer. If possible, you could swap cameras around to see if the symptom follows the camera or remains with the position.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

NightOwl12 — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 10:41:39 GMT

So now I've used 8 batteries in just one month on one camera. I should be able to use this camera within 75 feet. There can't be walls between the base and the camera??....it's an outdoor camera!! Everything worked perfect for 6 months and only changed batteries once. Didn't move around my setup since then. This is obviously a software issue.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:27:20 GMT

Maybe it's a software issue, maybe not. Walls DO make a difference since it's not only the thickness and construction but also what's inside them (wires, ductwork, etc) that can block signals. Interference from various 2.4GHz devices, not all WiFi such as cordless phones, can also get in there. While it won't tell you about non-WiFi sources, one way to determine useful signal levels is by using this software:

http://www.ekahau.com/wifidesign/ekahau-heatmapper

It allows you to move around inside and outside the house to map out what signals are doing for you. You can't say it's not a WiFi issue if you don't know what's going on or has possibly changed, whether by you or something/one else.

It's certainly also possible to be a software issue but it seems to be affecting you and not widespread, pointing to something about your installation and/or scenario.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

guzpro — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:44:36 GMT

I am sorry but as someone who has dealt with drained batteries for months now its not a networking issue. To test this I literally moved the netgear arlo router to my basement. sat both cameras within 3 feet of the base station. left my schedule on as it was before. My basement is unfinished, and this was placed literally away from all other power sources. Basically i a corner with a iant extension cord and a mega long cat6 cable run to it. In the last 3 weeks. One camera shows basically a full battery but 4 times i had to reset the arlo router because both cameras were offline. when i reset the router the cameras came alive. They also came alive if i removed the batteries. 2 nights ago i get an email the one of the camers batteries are tired and at 0%. the other is full. So clearly this is an issue. Based on the number of threads this is a common issue and is the reason i am giving up on arlo and moving to nest cams.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

NightOwl12 — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:11:52 GMT

Thank you guzpro. Exactly my situation. I have to reset my base station because cameras go offline and when I do so the battery level plummets. But hey it's not a "widespread issue," yet half the threads on here are about this exact problem.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 13:33:34 GMT

Or maybe you have bad hardware. Without contacting support using the Support link above, you're just guessing. Too many issues reported here have been resolved with replacement hardware.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

guzpro — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:59:46 GMT

Or maybe I did work with support as I have already stated and maybe they sent me replacement hardware....as I have already stated and yet still the issues exist. It is possible that the product and updates to it have taken it from stable to unstable. Whereas the 2 drop cams i have had for years have just worked, not sometimes worked, not mostly worked. Just worked and the additional nest cams i added took 6 minutes total to setup and they too just work.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

DrEric — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 07:14:37 GMT

Installed the system 5 days ago. Total camera time of 5 minutes maximum. Now it has 53% battery. The other camera with 1 minute maximum camera usage has 83% battery. I'm hoping this is not accurate. Otherwise, sham. Think Enron.

Re: I Give up, batteries drain too quickly

jguerdat — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:33:32 GMT

While it's possible you have faulty batteries or equipment, try power cycling the base and open and close the battery doors. Check your firmware versions to verify you have the latest ones.