Batteries now not lasting on Arlo Pro - rechargeable

[Simonpwood]

I can’t afford to run solution batteries drained within 4 days. Base statIon and 3 cameras non more than 5m away from baseball show good Wi-fi signal. What’s going wrong can’t afford. £2500 per year in batteries

[Rteastut]

I have 3 Arlo Pro wireless cameras with rechargeable batteries.  They always landed at least 4 months even with activity in our yard such as mowing the lawn or. Just being outside.  Recently I used the schedule option to just have them active at night.  We installed a fence and have had no deer or animal motion at all for the last 21 days and all the batteries are below 50%, with one being at zero.  Is the scheduling option somehow killing the batteries?  Thanks for any ideas on this subject.  

[WENDIGO]

My batteries aren’t rechargeable, but holy battery suck, Batman!  It has just been over the past week or so, all 3 cameras went from 85-90% down to dead.  What’s going on????

[WENDIGO]

Also - no change in WiFi strength or any issues with other smart devices.  One camera went dead first, no impact on other cameras. Then in past two days the other two have gone dead. 

[remlap1440]

Hi I have an issue with the battery charge on two of my cameras (I have 4 in total) 

Bought on 17th July 2019 - installed 19th July 2019

Camera one - Is positioned outdoors approx 4mtr away from the base station. I received an alert 8 days later that my battery was at 15% then an hour after that, it was needing charged. When the camera was installed it stated that it had a 90% charge. 

I put the fast draining down to us checking the camera quite often over the first few days to make sure it was working (understandable), however I brought the battery indoors and gave it a full charge to 100%, I put the battery back into place around 6pm last night and upon checking the status today at 10am it has drained to 40%. It was armed overnight with no activation. At this rate I will need to charge the batteries every day!!!!! Am I missing something?

Camera two - This is very similar to the first camera. It is installed outdoors approx. 4 mtrs away from the base station, but with VMA4600 solar panel attached. (It charges the camera during the day) and I received an alert this morning 29th July 2019 telling me to charge the battery. I checked the status of this battery on or about 24th July 2019, to make sure it was charging, and it was at 100% that day. So 5 days later it has no charge!!!. Again this camera is generally armed overnight and for an hour or so during the day. 

Camera three (for comparison) - This camera is also installed outdoors but approx. 9.5mtrs away from the base station. This camera is currently sitting at a 62% charge. When it was installed it had an 86% charge so not too bad. 

Any thoughts? I am thinking that the batteries are the problem and need to be replaced, but I might be wrong.

I have updated all the firmware etc.

[ShayneS]

Have you tried to reboot the base station and Remove > Re-Insert the battery & test again?

[WENDIGO]

I actually have my set up reboot every day because the Wi-Fi in my subdivision sometimes trips out. And I did try to take the batteries out and put them back in. But it didn’t work. I have replaced all the batteries in all 3 cameras now and we will see what happens

[ShayneS]

Hi @remlap1440

  Have you tried contacting customer support regarding this issue? I have attached the link here for you - Arlo Tech Support

[Violets]

I have 5 Arlo cameras that are about 1 year to 2.5 years old. My CR123 batteries have always lasted about 3-7 months (depending on location and recording). 

In June, the batteries started to die after 2-3 weeks max. My last set died less than 2 weeks after replacing all of them and I had my settings down so there weren't that many recordings. I used the same brand of batteries and tested the batteries and they were all new when I put them in.

What is going on? These cameras are lasting a couple of weeks on very costly batteries when they lasted 4-7 months until June 2019. I'm at a loss. Any ideas who can fix this issue as it sounds like a firmware issue?

[ShayneS]

Hi @Violets

Have you tried contacting customer support regarding this issue? I have attached the link here for you - Arlo Tech Support

[mamarcac]

There's something seriously wrong on the Arlo server side - multiple types of devices are going through issues the past few weeks. Security lights, Arlo, Arlo Pro, you name it. In the Security light forum today an Arlo employee who appears to be involved in development team said they had identified the issue and are testing a fix for the missed notifications. Doubtful it'll fix battery drain or picture quality but if we're lucky maybe it's all related... but if history tells us anything, Arlo is Fix One Break Two in their firmware updates.

IMO, don't waste your time resetting/re-syncing/uninstalling etc.

[Sugar50]

It is the “new” Arlo app. Ever since I downloaded it my batteries has been dropping 5-10% a day

[jerrywilliams51]

One camera dies faster than the others. Have changed battery and location with same results. About 2yrs old. Thoughts?

[ptN]

my batteries held for a year.  I only had to charge them every 3 weeks to a month depending on usage, then after 8 months I had to charge every 2 to 3 weeks.  now they won't even charge over 45% and the other battery 65%.  what gives with this?  I don't want to buy a battery every year, do I need to?   and nothing updates, it always says update fail.  there was no problems until Arlo changed the program to something I didn't buy or ask for.  i invested in what i wanted an without my consent the program was changed.  i will never trust this company again, nor will i recommend this treatment of customers to others.  

[StephenB]

---

@Sugar50 wrote:
It is the “new” Arlo app. Ever since I downloaded it my batteries has been dropping 5-10% a day

---

No, it can't be that.  The app doesn't directly connect to the cameras.

It could be linked to a firmware update that was around that time though.

[Lukas]

Yep, I've had the same problem since the new firm and recent firmware upgrades. I used to get 1-2 months out of my rechargable batteries I got for my original arlos. Now I'm lucky if I get more than a few days. 

My system has become unusable - and it's the same for my Arlo Pro cameras as well as my original arlos. 

I'm pretty disappointed as my Arlo system has been good for 2 years but now it's become a paperweight.

What gives Arlo? What did you change recently to cause this? This is consistent with all my cameras, whether close to base or far. 

[Lukas]

I'm having similar problems with my system with 2 base stations and 10 cameras (8 Arlo and 2 Arlo Pros). 

A system which has worked fairly well for the last 2 years is now losing power extremely quickly. Everything once charged drains in days when I was typically getting 1-2  months. 

I've read enough posts on these community forums to know something is up with all the recent changes. 

What gives Arlo? What's happening about this?

[Hugo358]

Hi Folks,

been trying to call Arlo but no answer.

my battery life has just suddenly starting dropping off very quickly, any one else having issues

[JessicaP]

Hey everyone,

If you're experiencing problems with your camera battery draining, try reading this article to see if this helps: How can I extend my Arlo camera's battery life?

If you're still seeing problems, please contact the Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

[stephenjd]

I am not very happy with Arlo Cameras anymore with any battery whether rechargeable or not. I do believe something is going on. Tweeking the firmware for Arlo's personal use of our cameras and Videos? In my opinion, Arlo is not the top camera for home use anymore. I suggest monitoring the back ground use of your computer and Arlo company.

[storgeman]

The more I read, the more I start watching and wondering.   I to have noticed that my camera's (2 pro's with attached solar panels) have show additional battery drain over the last month, maybe 2.  I live in Phoenix AZ, we have more SUN that most of the time we hide from it.    I have had these camera's installed for about 1 and 1/2 years.  Early on I had a problem where the cable from the solar panel to the camera, broke/died.   I tested the cable and confirmed that indeed that cable was bad.  Arlo support opened a ticket for me and told me they had NO cables (They were on backorder), but when a a new supply was available, they would send be one.   Well, after 7 months, they were not serious of sending me a cable, since I wasted many hours asking where my cable was and always ended with "Still on Back Order".   I found a solar panel at a Home Depot near me, and hooked the new cable from the box and hooked up my old solar panel and remounted it back in February.  Since then through Spring and summer, at sunset both camera's would show 100% until recently.   At sun down, the camera which gets sun till sunset, would show 100% while the other camera (Front Door) which had No activity all day shows 97%.  By sun up the next day, both camera's show less than 90% again "Zero Activity"  Which is good but why the drain ?  Maybe the batteries are getting old after 1.5 years ? 

It would be nice to know the life cycle of these batteries.  There where never were any documentation about the batteries.   If they are lithium ion batteries, then they do have a finite number of  charge's.

[fallenidol]

Looks like the battery draining issue that they fixed last year is back again.

When can we expect a fix?

[Mhayne]

Same issue here. Draining and not even recording anything.

[StephenB]

FWIW, my own Pro2s are draining about 2-3% a day at the moment.  I don't recall if that's usual or not.

Of course, power management in the firmware might be the reason (no way to tell).  Other factors (apart from recording) include lost connections (re-discovering the base frequently can drain a lot of power), and temperature (the batteries are less efficient when it's colder).

[Mhayne]

My battery drains dead in a matter of a week with maybe 2 recordings a day. Just started like this. Before was fine now all of a sudden draining incredibly fast.