Arlo Pro Battery Drain

[ReggieDye]

Hi
I’ve been reading posts about battery drains but am not seeing something like my situation and hoping to get some help.

Have Arlo Pro wireless system with two cameras. System is at a vacation home where I monitor via the app. Cameras are outside and mounted under patio/porch coverings.

First four months, battery life was fine, even with several motions triggering 10 sec filming. Recharged after four months even though not quite out and both cameras were at about same level...20% or so left. Then batteries on both lasted about two months before getting to 14%.. It’s about 80 degrees during the day and less activity. Then I charged again during July 4 weekend. About a month later, both batteries are on 0%! No motions triggered at all during this time. Batteries consistently seem to drain at about the same rate each time.

Power is on. Wi-fi signal is strong. Cameras have not gotten any farther from the base station. and aren’t that far since place isn’t that big. I can’t keep making the 2.5 hour drive to charge cameras. Now I’ll be going back Labor Day weekend to try again. Battery life appears to be dwindling more and more. Can’t let them run on AC all the time. Would appreciate some help or insight. Thanks!

[fax_]

Same problem, few updates of firmware occurred. It was stable with some updates but is back to heavy drain on batteries. There were several threads about the issue here but cannot find them back.

Something was modified, may be to accommodate new features, but now batteries drain 4 times faster than before.

The system is borderline unusable under this condition.

[ReggieDye]

Thanks for your response.

[JamesC]

The engineering team is currently investigating reports of increased battery drain. I will post an update when I have more information.

JamesC

[Loe768]

Yep, almost identical problem to the original poster... 1st cycle lasted 5 months, 2nd lasted 2, this time it's been just a few weeks since my last charge and already getting low battery

[GertL]

Same here, my 3 Arlo's just dropped from 40% to 0 and turned off.

[ReggieDye]

Thanks for the responses everyone and glad to know my situaiton is not unique. Thanks JamesC and look forward to hearing more about possible fixes.

[ws1088]

The engineering team should include power consumption as part of the regression test.

[ReggieDye]

Hi,

Just checking to see if there is some progress or solution. Thanks.

Reggie

[ReggieDye]

Hi,

Checking in again to see if there's a solution or explanation for this issue.  I left my cameras fully charged on Sept 3rd. Now it's Sept 15 and one camera is at 57% and the other 56%. Each has only been triggered once, by a bird and a fly. Thanks.

Reggie

[pc2k17]

New firmware to address the battery drain issue is currently being tested. Reports show positive results.

[Redmoonstar]

I am on the trial firmware, I charged one of my camera's on the 27th Aug to 100% using charging pod it is now 40%, but records between 10 & 30+ videos from 10 - 50 secs ( I have set times but it no longer records to these since that May upgrade)  I have another camera connected to a solar panel that drops between 3- 8% overnight with 3-5  10 -60 sec  recordings  ( set times no longer work since May also) and I used to get 2+ months with the settings I have and set times for recording ranging from 55-80 secs for each camera. I have three other camera's that I now have permanently connected to outdoor cables because of this battery drain which defeats the purpose of wire free camera's. We are going away for 5 weeks and the camera on battery isn't going to last that long so I'll be without one of my camera's which defeats the purpose of having security camera's to monitor your property while away. My cameras are armed 18 hours a day and will be armed 24 while we are away. I have just purchased a Reolink Argus 2 to trial and if it works as advertised and doesn't have battery drain I will be returning arlo pros for refund . Since May along with battery drain my motion detects is now set to 100% and still doesn't detect, all camera's in the same positions as before May upgrade and were working fine. Set recording times no longer work so now I miss activity as they don't record correctly and motion detects doesn't work. My rules have been messed up, all camera's were in rules but none were selected to record on motion when I have had the same set up since June when I received a replacement base station. Netgear just totaled this system with their May upgrade until then I was happy with this system. 

[ReggieDye]

Thanks for your story Redmoonstar.  I was excited to see that there was a promising looking firmware update until I saw your post and experience.  I think I'm going to give this until the end of the month and then like you, return for a refund and find another solution. I purchased the system almost a year ago and think I have given plenty of time for this to play out.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

For those users who have been experiencing increased battery drain, a new firmware release is now available that will help resolve the issue.

We appreciate your patience as the development team has worked to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

The firmware on your cameras will automatically be updated between 3:00a.m.- 5:00a.m. PST. 

Please be aware that if your cameras or base station are offline or actively recording during that window, they may not receive the update.  If you do not receive the update during that window you can go to Settings > My Devices in the Arlo app, and from there choose to install the new update. 

For information on this release, take a look here:

Arlo Pro - 1.092.0.17_25364 - 26th September 2018

Arlo Pro 2 - 1.125.11.1_25366 - 26th September 2018

JamesC