Arlo Pro batteries wont hold a charge

[photogold]

My camera hardware is H8, firmware 1.092.0.19_26228.  I have two different batteries, and neither will hold a charge for more than one week.  The camera has a strong link to the base station and is not set to record video.  It is on standby so battery drain should be minimal.  We bought the Costco package with three cameras and four batteries about 9 months ago.  Two cameras have AC power, so those batteries are contantly charged.  The third camera runs on the battery.  At first it worked as advertised.  It would last about 3 months.  After the first recharge, it lasted about two months.  After the second recharge, I would notice the battery draining about 3%/day, then once it got to about 60% charge it would go to 0% the next day.  Now (possibly after a firmware update) I'm seeing the battery maintain 100% for about 3 days, then slowly drain to 97% after about four days, which seems normal. But then the next day it will be 0%.  Then when I plug in the camera to recharge, I see it is already at 97% and shows to be fully charged 15 min later.  Similar results with both batteries.  I've tried resetting the base station and removing and adding the camera several times, but no help.

I hear that there are some firmware bugs regarding battery charge.  Has this been addressed with my current firmware?  Do I have two bad batteries?  Or is this a firmware bug?  What should I do to resolve this?

[JamesC]

photogold,

There was a recent fix that resolved a battery drain issue with Arlo Pro and Arlo Pro 2. If you're still experiencing rapid battery drain with the most recent firmware update. please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[photogold]

What is the firmware version that fixes the battery drain issue?

[JamesC]

photogold,

This was the release previous to the current firmware version. You can see the release notes here: Arlo Pro - 1.092.0.17_25364 - 26th September 2018

JamesC

[photogold]

The new firmware didn't help.  I contacted technical support via chat.  They asked me to try running one of my other cameras on battery power to see if the problem was unique to one camera.  The battery in that other camera died after just 3 days.  I would see the battery drain about 1%/hour.  After 3 days it was at 8%, then it went to zero.  That camera is in a different location and has a weak signal, and it records about 80 short videos per day.  But even still I would think it would last more than three days.   

So I have a battery drain problem with at least two different cameras.  The two cameras have very different configurations and different indications of battery drain.

The first camera has a strong signal and records no videos, so you would expect very inimal battery drain.  It died today after I charged it 1 1/2 weeks ago.  The battery meter showed it would lose about 1%/day, which doesn't seem too bad, but then when it got to 90% it just died.  So either the battery indicator is not correct and the charge was close to zero when the indication showed 90%?  Or the battery is still charged at 90%, but there is a glitch that made the indication go from 90% to zero and the camera dropped out?

The second camera shows the battery draining from 100% to 8% over time.  But shouldn't it last more than three days?  Even though there is a weak signal and it recorded about 200 videos over that time?

[photogold]

James, BTW why was your last post labled "success"?  I never indicated that there was a fix to my problem?

Is anybody else in the community still having problems with battery drain?

[ShayneS]

photogold,

Have you tried to bring your camera inside and test closer to the base station to see if the signal issue was draining the battery? this will help isolate what is going on with the cameras.

[photogold]

Yes.  In fact the camera that was closest to the base station and had the strongest signal was the one with the worst battery drain.  The problem seems to be a bad camera.  I switched the postion of two of my cameras.  I now have a different camera running on battery power and that seems to be holding a charge well.  But the other camera that is now on AC power shows erratic battery levels.  Sometimes I get a notice that the battery is 0%, but it still has AC power and is funtioning.  Then if I toggle the AC power off and on, it will show 99% charge and quickly go back to 100%.  This happens several times a day.

[ShayneS]

photogold,

  Due to the amount of issues described I have opened a case for you. I will contact you via private message with further information.

[doogie91112]

It seems I have the battery drain issue. I've tried everything. Nothing works. Best advise is don't buy an Arlo until they man-up to the problem.

[JessicaP]

Hey @doogie91112,

Are you on the latest firmware for Arlo Pro? And try to change the Power Management option in order to save the battery. Read here (if you haven't already) on how to extend your battery life for your Arlo Pro: How can I extend my Arlo Wire-Free, Arlo Pro Wire-Free, or Arlo Go camera's battery life?

[doogie91112]

I think the problem is in the controller. It's memory becomes corrupt after repeated power cycles. Solution was to reset the controller via the recessed micro button and allow the controller to reprogram. The fix only works until the next series of unexpected power oitages though. It sucks.