Arlo Pro is it worth it - How Widespread is the battery issue

[marcussuk481]

Hi,

I have been looking at purchasing the Arlo Pro camera kit with 3 cameras however i was a little concerned at the number of posts regarding the battery discharging.

Just how widespread is this issue ? is it a minority I dont want to spend the outlay if im going to end up with a camera battery that lasts a few days

Thanks

[WJS]

First battery charge out of box lasts about 4 months. Next charge lasts 2 months. Next charge less than 1 month.  Not just with 1 battery, but all 6 I have.  Customer Support wants to do all this testing and diagnosis, removing cameras from mounts, etc.  Simply, the batteries don't last.  I understand they're recharagable and they shouldn't last forever, but I expected them to last longer than they do. My Warranty is up February 1st, 2019. I expect them to completely crap out just after that date, and unitl they do, Customer Support won't replace them. If you can go hardwired from another company, do it.

[TomMac]

I have batteries that are a couple years old and working fine....

The issue with batteries are the last couple of FW updates, not the batteries.... Arlo is aware and currently working on a fix for the FW

[jguerdat]

And it doesn't happen to everyone, hence the issue of being able to fix the firmware properly. Hard to fix if you can't reproduce it.

[WJS]

TomMac,

How often do you have to recharge? How long does the recharge last? If Arlo is aware of the problem, then why didn't Customer Service say so instead of wanting to do all sorts of testing & diagnostics, me getting out a ladder to take down all 6 mounted cameras to do testing on each....ADMIT THERE IS A PROBLEM and don't make it seem like it's the customer's fault because they installed them incorrectly!

[WJS]

jguerdat,

If it doen't happen to everyone, sounds like a hardware problem since each customer's hardware (battery) is different.  You got a battery from a good batch, I got batteries from a bad batch.........Obvious poor battery manufacture. 

[jguerdat]

It doesn't appear to be a battery problem. It's something else about how the firmware runs the camera. There is field test firmware that seems to be having good success at fixing this.

[WJS]

jguerdat,

OK, so how does this field test firmware happen?  Customer Service didn't mention anything about this during the hour I spent on the phone with them yesterday...........

[jguerdat]

There have been other threads where folks were invited to join the field test firmware.However, that's not necessary since it's been released to the world last night. Check your firmware versions and compare to what's listed in the Release Notes section here. The base station isn't listed for some reason (yet) and should be at 1.10.0.9_23037.

[WJS]

jguerdat,

You appear to know a hell of a lot more than Customer Service so I prefer to communicate with you, if that's OK.

#1 - My Firmware must not have been updated. All cameras are showing: 1.092.0.16_21159.  How do I get the correct version?

#2 - I thought something may be happening because 1 camera has been inoperable for 2 days showing: FIRMWARE UPDATE IN PROGRESS.  DO NOT REMOVE BATTERIES. What to do with this one?

#3 - Where is the Release Notes Section?

[jguerdat]

1) There are a few methods to force and update. Make sure your base is up to date since camera firmware is locked to the base version (weird things happen when out of sync). One is to power cycle the base and reinsert the camera battery - that will usually fix things. Another is to use Settings, My Devices, your camera, Device Info and see if there's an update noted - click on it. Lastly, remove the camera from Settings, My Devices and resync.

2) If a device hasn't completed an update in, say, 30 minutes, it's not gonna happen. You should reinsert the battery to reset the camera and see if the update happened or if there's now a notice that an update is available. If so, do it. Be sure battery level is at least 25% or there could be issues with being able to update.

3) The Release Notes section is on the main page for here, along with other selections for installation, troubleshooting, etc. It depends on whether you're using a mobile or computer browser as to exactly where it is - poke around.