7 out of 9 cameras battery drained overnight

[pc2k17]

Woke up this morning to the arlo base showing internet was offline. All other devices, TV's, alarm, smartthings, and computers were online. Rebooted the arlo base, internet came back and I find 7 of my 9 cameras drained to ZERO percent overnight while the base was offline. Seven cameras OFFLINE, batteries drained, all because the arlo base went offline while internet was up and running fine.

To charge my outside cameras I have only one cord and use a power bank so I don't have to take them down, but the power bank only has enough power to charge one camera then I have to re-charge the power bank.
It will take me 15 hours to charge the outside cameras.

Inside I only have 2 arlo cords so I can only charge two cameras at a time.
It will take about 7 hours to charge the inside cameras.

That's 22 hours of charging to get my system working again.

Come on Arlo, you have to do better. Don't you have any pride in your products anymore? The quality of this system has gone downhill in the 8 years I've had Arlo cameras. It's getting pathetic actually.

Whatever made the arlo base think there was no internet also drained my cameras. That should NEVER happen for a so called security system.

Get your firmware fixed and have some pride in your products. Stop putting out bug riddle hardware and a bug riddle app. Create a more robust testing system and make sure your products work flawlessly before putting them out in the market. Have some pride and make good products and apps that work, instead of the junk you've been putting out the last few years.

DO BETTER !!!

[ShayneS]

Hi @pc2k17 

From the details you shared, your base station briefly went offline, which led to your Pro 2 cameras attempting to reconnect and draining their batteries.

As noted, your Arlo Pro 2 cameras (VMC4030P), which are now around 8 years old, officially moved to End of Life (EOL) on January 1, 2025. This means they no longer receive firmware updates, bug fixes, or new features. Your SmartHub is not EOL and continues to support onboarded devices.

Key points for your setup:

Core functionality: Live streaming, motion notifications, and local recording through the SmartHub remain supported.

Subscription use: Arlo Secure cloud storage and supported features remain available, but some advanced features may not apply to EOL devices.

Updates: No further firmware or stability updates are released for Pro 2.

Battery: Given the cameras’ age, some natural battery degradation is expected and may contribute to charging and runtime concerns.

[pc2k17]

I also have three Pro 4 cameras and all of them drained as well. One completely drained and the other two went to below 10% but remained functional. So calling out the Pro 2 I have doesn't quite cut it.

As you said the base is not EOL and that's where the problem originated, not with the cameras. My reference to firmware was for the base. The base went offline, but my internet did not and my router logs prove that. The base lost connection to the arlo server because of a temp server glitch. It should have just reconnected automatically but it did not. From my 25 years of experience in IT and tech, if this was the first time this has happened I'd just say meh it's technology, it happens, but this is not the first time, so the conclusion would be that it's on arlo's end and that it may be a bug that needs addressing.

But that's fine I also have Reolink cameras, so I have ordered their new Home Hub product and a few more cameras. I'll be replacing all my arlo cameras with Reolink cameras and canceling my subscription. Reolink has no subscription costs, local storage (cloud available if wanted), more camera choices, higher quality cameras, and lower prices. The only thing arlo has going for them is the preview image in the notification, but since Reolink is local storage it does not have the typical 10-30 seconds delay that arlo has, so I can instantly pull up the video if needed.

Have a good one.