Suddenly poor battery life

[dutifulyap]

Hi! As of a few weeks ago, the battery life on my Arlos is suddenly atrocious. They can barely make it a day without a charge, when they used to last weeks. I just charged one of my cameras back to 100% and it’s already down to 90% just a couple of hours later.

If it was just one camera I would think that it was just the battery wearing out, especially given their age but it’s all three and they all started doing this at the same time. I also tried a replacement battery and am seeing the same behavior. This makes me think there was a bad app update or firmware update. Is anyone else experiencing this?

[jguerdat]

There hasn't been a firmware update to the cameras for quite some time although there were recent base updates:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Firmware-Release-Notes/Arlo-Firmware-Release-Table/m-p/1920885#M791

Have you rebooted your base? It may be useful to remove one camera from your account and add it back to see if that helps.

[dutifulyap]

Maybe the new base firmware is causing issues then? Not sure how else to explain it happening to three cameras at once. Rebooting the base didn't help. I also bought a couple of replacement batteries just in case, but I'm still seeing the same behavior.

[jguerdat]

It could be the firmware update but I'm not convinced. While it's a PITA, remove all devices from your account and add them back as if brand new. You may also want to reset the base after removing it to force the reset to be complete.

[dutifulyap]

No luck. Deleted and readded camera. Was at 100% with a new battery. Already down to 78% just a few hours later.

[jguerdat]

Bring a camera indoors for testing to see if battery life improves. Move your base away from the router as much as possible. Look for new/moved wireless devices near the base and cameras that use the 2.4GHz band which may be interfering with the signal.

[dutifulyap]

They're all already indoors. None of the devices have changed locations in years, but I can keep the camera close to the base just as a test.