1 camera out of 5 goes offline and stays that way

[Bluestreak121]

I've put in a help ticket but have gotten zero response. Bought my system 12/17/16, installed it 12/18. Every day 1 of the cameras (always the same one) goes offline and doesn't reconnect. I've been taking the battery out, removing it from the system, adding back on and everything is fine for a few hours then it goes offline again. Sometimes it happens overnight and the battery has died, other times the battery is fine. It was our furthest camera from the house and base but now we've switched cameras around and it's closest to base. It is still happening. Has anyone else resolved a similar issue on their own? Maybe I'm being impatient but I'm frustrated with their response time.

[steve_t]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Perhaps it's a faulty camera. I'd wait for support to get back to you

[northlander152]

I had this exact same problem with a 4 camera set from Best Buy. When the camera goes offline, the battery will drain very fast, most likey due to the camera trying to reconnect to the base station. I called them yesterday, and over the course of 3 phone calls, Netgear is sending me another camera. Here are the things they had me try to fix it but nothing worked:

1) Pull the battery and put it back in (tried this before I called support). Camera would go offline after 30 minutes.

2) Called support the first time, they had me disconnect the camera from the base and reconnect. 30 minutes later, camera goes offline.

3) Called support the 2nd time, they had me switch batteries with another camera. 30 minutes later camera goes offline.

4) 3rd call to support, they are sending me another camera, supposed to get here tomorrow.

Phone number I called is 408-638-3750.

[HB15]

I have four cameras and if I'm lucky I can get three to connect at one time.  I experience frequent failures to connect.  If I play with the software enough I can usually coax the last one to activate but it always takes some effort.  I think there are many things that can interfere with these cameras and cause them to be unreliable.  And based on my experience with the system over the past week, I'd say Netgear rushed to get this system to market before thoroughly testing it.

Hopefully some software and firmware updates will eventually make it more stable.  I'd be curious to hear from users of the original Arlo system if they experienced this as early adopters, and if software improvements eventually stabilized the product and made it worth the aggravation.

[TomMac]

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HB15 wrote:.  I'd be curious to hear from users of the original Arlo system if they experienced this as early adopters, and if software improvements eventually stabilized the product and made it worth the aggravation.

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I've had the Vuezone cameras ( that were bought out by Netgear ) before the Arlos...and now have the Pro and Q cams too.

So , I been there from the start and yes, on the ride there have been bumps in the road. But, I will say if you know the limits of the systems they are pretty darn good.  I use them to fill the holes I have in my home security and they fit well. There are advantages and disadvantages to almost every system and setup can be a balance of good/bad to make it work well.

Biggest problems I see over the past year or so in questions is 1) that many users try to cover an overly large an area with these cameras ( esp Arlos ), 2) many do not realize the limitations of wifi connections over wired.( ie; interference from every other wifi system out there and the limits of range based on building materials ).  3) understanding of the methods the different cameras us to detect motion ( PIR vs Pixel change )

I do know that in most forums there seems to be more complaints than good as this is where people go to complain/get answers, but condsider how many units have been sold vs all the users here.

Do I have all the answers, absolutly not, ...and the level of aggravation is something each user has to determine on their own... Is it a simple plug-and play ?  Most times, and then there are always that odd duck ( device/os/etc ) that just makes you scratch your head.

Anyway... if you have questions ask, the only dumb ones are those not asked. ( like a guy not asking directions when lost 🙂  )

Merry Christmas

Tom

[Bluestreak121 · Accepted solution]

Update: Netgear replaced the camera and all is working well. We went through a few more troubleshooting steps to ensure that the camera was actually the issue. One was to swap batteries with another camera, another to try having it plugged in with the battery installed and finally to have it plugged in without the battery. Once someone responded to our online troubleshooting ticket we had great communication, it did take over 48 hours to get our first response, however.

Other than this issue we are quite happy with it. There are definitely limitations to what it can do but we were aware of those from the start. It is startig to fill in some gaps with our home security system and we're looking forward to future products.

[Bluestreak121]

Once they responded I was happy with the resolution. Because of the holidays and busyness with family I didn't call in. Based on another response sounds like it would have required mulitiple calls in anyway. I would definitely contact them if you haven't, they did resolve it and I'm quite happy with it now.