Arlo Go 2 Battery Unuseable

[neonrt70]

We have about 12 Arlo Go's and they work great with very good battery life on LTE.  I just ordered 2 more and the Go2's came.  They are basically unuseable.  The battery drains in less than 2 days.

I performed a tip from someone else to setup the wifi, then to disable it to make sure it doesn't keep trying to find an access point.  I even took them home where I have a very good signal and faced them directly to a wall with no motion.  I woke up the next morning and the battery is at 60% when it started at 100% the night before.

I placed them right next to my original Arlo, and the original went down 1%.  Can I still get more originals?  I have no idea what to do because these are supposed to be safeguarding some very important equipment and they are virtually not useable.

Is there someone I can actually talk too, to see if my configuration needs tweaked?

[jguerdat]

Is all firmware the same on all cameras? I guess you could try swapping batteries around with the known good ones to see if it's the battery but it may be fastest to swap at the store.

[neonrt70]

The Go2 takes different batteries than the Go.  Both the Go2's are doing the same thing.

[JamesC]

neonrt70,

A firmware update to improve battery life was release midway through February. Has your battery life improved in the past two weeks or are you still experiencing the same drain rate?

JamesC

[lwthomas1]

James,

I have this same issue. I have 3 of the Arlo Go's I have had for 4 years. They are still performing well.  I recently purchased and Arlo Go 2 and put it in the exact spot where an Arlo Go was. The battery drains on it in about  

3-4 days. This is not even functional.  Is there any work  "verified" work going on regarding this? If this is the best they will do I will just return it and continue using the old Arlo Go's. 

Firmware version is - 1.090.7.1_8_178c584 - Arlo Go 2

[JamesC]

lwthomas1,

What is the signal strength for the Arlo Go 2? How much activity is it seeing each day (recordings + live streams)?

JamesC

[lwthomas1]

James,


The signal strength is 2 bars - the same as it was on the original 4 year old Arlo Go temporarily replaced

it with. So if it is a signal problem it would be because the new Arlo Go 2 does not have as strong of reception as the 4 year old one.  In the past 24 hours I have had 18 alerts and maybe 2 or 3 live views lasting 5 seconds or less. During this time Battery dropped 8%. This data is from noon to noon.  I did want to ask how much battery “locate” uses as it is not  a feature on my original Arlo Gos.I turned it off around noon today.


I am just in the early stages of testing one of them to see if it would be worth the effort to replace my original Arlo Gos. It isn’t looking to good at the moment. From looking around it didn’t look like I was the only one having this problem. While I realize there are many issues that can cause battery drain, I am using the same environment/location my old Arlo GO was using.  Since I have it in the exact place I previously
had the Arlo Go I know the battery drain is significantly worse. 


Appreciate any info you can provide.


Thanks, Larry

[lwthomas1]

I had the same experience. I have 3 of the Arlo Go cameras that have been installed for 4 years. I installed on of the new Arlo Go 2 cameras as a replacement in the same location as the Arlo GO with the same signal quality. The original Arlo Go battery charge during this time of year last about 7-8 weeks. On the Arlo Go 2 it would be about 1-14 days based on the daily drain. There does appear to be some issue with the battery  configuration or design.

[Tink2]

Yes, same battery issues. Have three Arlo Go cameras, 3 Go 2 cameras. Batteries on the Go 2 suck down rapidly. I have solar chargers on all. The solar panels on the Go 2 cameras are useless-cannot keep up the pace because the batteries drain so rapidly. 

[lwthomas1]

Has Arlo ever provided a solution to these battery issues? I have not seen anything.

[Tink2]

Not that I’ve seen, but after months of battery suck and out of stock batteries- I finally got batteries- however -suddenly they’re juicing -holding charges pretty good. 
Answers? 

[Boomer_1]

How long are your batteries lasting now? I am curious if you are able to tell if it is new batteries or a firmware update. I had one back i May and returned it because my battery was draining in less than 2 weeks, while my original Arlo Gos will last a couple of months. When did you see this improvement?

Thanks.

[Tink2]

It’s not the batteries, same batteries-likely update-(wasn’t notified)

carrier boosting signal, too?  * All 6 of my Arlo outdoor cameras are wireless.  

. 

[Tink2]

P.S. The solar panels are now keeping 4 of my 6 wireless cameras 100% charged- leaving me with one that lasts about two and half weeks- other 3 weeks (those see a fair bit of activity), 

[lwthomas1]

Ok thanks for the update. Do the wireless cameras that are in the 2-3 weeks or month have Solar panels as well or are they on standalone battery?

[Tink2]

They do have solar panels- but there is a lot of rapid growth foliage that requires constant trimming. If I can get-keep this trimmed back more often- they last far longer-the ones I have running on solar panels in better lit areas are now holding 100% and/ or close. 
* I have yet to winter with solar panels- not certain how this will hold. 

[lwthomas1]

A couple of more questions regarding battery usage - if anyone has answers to these. I have a couple of cameras, 1 Arlo Go and 1 Arlo Go 2 that are burning battery very fast. I am looking at specific functions that may be doing this. Both of these have 3 bars 98% of the time. A few questions I have regarding features.

Does it drain batteries any faster depending on how many devices you are sending notifications to. For example myself, my wife and a couple of secondary devices. I would think not as I assume that the notice would be sent to the cloud interface and it would provide the update. I am curious though.

Also, when you set Activity Zones, does it actually ignore areas outside the zone or just not send the notifications. I 

believe it may be the later as I have seen instances where I was not getting notices and no activity in the zone, and yet the motion light was on. If that is the case, then the activity zone is useless for battery efficiency and only 

useful for not sending you the notices.

Does these Solar Panels require direct sunlight or will they charge to some degree with ambient light?

The area where these 2 cameras are located does not lend itself to much direct sunlight.

Appreciate any feedback on these 3 topics.

[StephenB]

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@lwthomas1 wrote:

Does it drain batteries any faster depending on how many devices you are sending notifications to.

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No - as you say, it's the cloud that sends out the notifications.

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@lwthomas1 wrote:

Also, when you set Activity Zones, does it actually ignore areas outside the zone or just not send the notifications.

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The camera always streams video to the cloud when motion is detected (whether in zone or out of zone).  The cloud looks at the video and suppresses the recording and notifications when out-of-zone.

So if you use activity zones, you are masking power use due to the out-of-zone suppression.  It's often useful to delete the zones for a day or two to get some idea of how much video activity the camera is actually doing.

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@lwthomas1 wrote:

Does these Solar Panels require direct sunlight or will they charge to some degree with ambient light?

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I'm not sure how much light they actually need to charge the camera.  The charging icon in the app will whether they are charging at the moment or not - but not how much they are charging.

[Tink2]

1.Does it drain batteries any faster depending on how many devices you are sending notifications to. 
Answer- No

2. I’ve set zones  and received no notifications or recording- yet I was standing in the zone. So-I can only say- I removed my zones.

3. They REALLY need direct sunlight. They will charge in lower light a tad, but cannot keep up the batteries.   <My experience and I have 6 running on solar panels. 
4. in my low light areas- I just bought extra batteries- keep them charged and swap out. *I have moved a couple and they’re doing better on solar- with more direct light-but still need the batteries- at some point.