Arlo pro goes offline and battery drops

[JPav80]

I have an Arlo pro camera that is outside connected to a solar panel. The last couple of weeks the camera will stay charged to around 80% but then overnight it will go offline. The camera will then come back online during the day and recharge starting at 1%. Over a few days it gets back up to 80% and the cycle repeats. I am not sure it is really getting that low for battery. I did cycle the base station so I am not sure what it could be. The only thing that has changed is the weather is much colder here in New England.

[steve_t]

While it says offline, do you get any LED when you wave your hand in front of the camera? Does it still activate the IR illuminators if you cover the lens with your hand or the room is really dark?

[glmccready]

It was already offline when I went to a meeting at about 5:45, because there was no motion recorded.  It was online at about 4, because it recorded me coming home.

[JPav80]

I will check the IR and LEDs tonight if it is still offline.  I expect the unit to come back online (reading 1% battery) today once the sun hits the solar panel.  

I will note that this offline issue always happens at night and when temp drops.  It hasn't happened during daylight even if the temperature is lower than freezing.   I am also not receiving any low battery emails that would be expected if the battery was actually dropping.  

[JPav80]

Camera came back online around 10:00am reading 2% and is now up to 7%.  

[jguerdat]

Still no swings here although temps have been fairly stable. I see small amounts of depletion due to recordings but that's it.

[glmccready]

50f here now, and never came back online. Replaced the Pro with the new one I just got, and will put the "old" one in the coldest part of the garage, so I can access it without a climb (for now).  It worked as soon as I removed and replaced the battery...again.  I am recharging it too, and noticed a very small amount of green corrosion in the USB port, but it charged fine. I've had that little rubber piece out so many times to recharge I hope it still is water tight?  No obvious moisture in there.  Even got out the old magnifing glass.  Supposed to go back to the 30f tonight, so crossing fingers.

[glmccready]

Got a new Arlo Pro, installed it in the place of the one that kept going offline.  Moved the old one to the deck, 15 ft from the window , behind wihich sits the Arlo hub.  BOTH went offline this evening. Both showed 3 bars of signal, too. Very annoyed.

[steve_t]

Interference from wifi happens regardless of distance of the camera from the base station. My camera that kept going offline still went offline sitting on the shelf next to the base station. It was only resolved by moving the base further from a wifi source. You said you moved it away from your router by using a wifi extender. Move it further away from the extender, like the full length of the ethernet cable away

[glmccready]

Thanks Steve, it was about 3ft, so I could have it right in front of the window, but I’ll move it 6ft tomorrow.

[glmccready]

Well I'm embarrassed to say the reason BOTH my cams were offline is because, in the middle of wrapping presents my wife unplugged the Base, to check to make sure a gift was "working".  lol

AFTER the base was plugged back in, my new camera worked...and my old camera (now sitting on the deck) was still offline.  I think I have a bad camera....  The new one, in exactly the same place is fine, still online after a few days.  I'll give it a few more cold days to make sure, but the new Arlo Pro worked even when the temps went down below 32f.

[JPav80]

Sounds like you might have isolated it to a bad camera. My camera is still online with 30% even with the freezing temps. I can't get to the camera at the moment due to freezing rain. Tomorrow might be a better chance of getting at it. I want to try and resync and charge it fully and see if it can stay online. If not then maybe I am looking at a bad camera too.

[jguerdat]

Also, make sure the battery is good. If the base was unplugged for a long enough time the battery may have gone dead trying to connect to the base. Try removing the old camera from Settings, My Devices and resync if needed.

[JPav80]

I am about to retrieve the camera today and try to resync. I checked the status and now I got something odd. The camera icon shows fully charged at 34%. I have never seen this. I will also swap the battery.

[glmccready]

Well my new Pro is still working flawlessly, on the garage.  The "old" Pro I brought in, charged over night, resysnced, and it went offline 15 minutes later, 5 feet from the base.  Guess I contact Netgear to get a replacement.  I'm betting they are swamped for Christmas, though.  Any taking odds the servers go down, like on Black Friday? lol

[JPav80]

So I think I have my situation figured out.  I took my camera down and replaced the battery, charged it to 100% and re-synced it back with the system.  I placed it in a new area outside and once the sun went down and the temperature dipped, the camera went offline.  I went out to check the camera and the IR lights are stuck on and I cannot get it back online without removing the battery.  It appears to lock up with the IR leds stuck on, then once the battery drains the unit shuts off which explains the 1% when the solar panel would get it re-booted.  I believe I have a bad unit.  So now my dilemma is trying to get Netgear to replace since it is less than once year old.   My other option is to pack the whole thing up and send it back to Costco.  I would like to keep the setup but a little worried about the durability of the unit since the unit that failed is the one that is outside.  

[jguerdat]

Based on my personal experience, your problem is a one-off. Getting it replaced via the 1 year warranty is a good move. Open a case here with all the details and get it replaced.

[glmccready]

Arlo tech (Non) Support: "There are cases that the camera keeps on going offline because the battery is defective."  Now it's been more than 30 days, and they won't allow a return, becasue I didn't buy it from an "authorized deal"...WTH??  Known defect and still refuse a return. Do yourself a favor, return it if within your 30 day window, otherwise SCREWED.

[JPav80]

That's not cool that Netgear gave you the run around. That is why I bought from Costco since they will take it back well beyond the typical return period. I got in touch with support regarding my camera and they are willing to replace after I tried a couple of things. I have actually recharged the camera and moved it to another location but no longer attached to the solar panel. It has gone through the last 3 very cold nights without issue. I am giving it some more time and will eventually try it with the solar panel again. We are trying to figure out if the issue is with the camera or maybe the solar panel. Netgear support has been helpful with me on this issue but they are inconsistent at best. I also have a R7000 router and Netgear has messed that unit up with the latest firmware and the forums for it are a good example of poor support.

[glmccready]

5 days without going offline, with NO battery installed.  Think I'll just get one of those outddoor plugs, no battery installed and go that route. Better than a paperweight?

[JPav80]

Hope your camera is still holding up glmccready.  I appear to have the opposite issue.  My camera doesn't want to be plugged into the solar panel overnight in the cold. 

I haven't posted on this issue in a while and I have been emailing back and forth with tech support.  

During the really long cold stretch I had charged the camera fully and left it outside mounted near my front door without the solar panel.  It ran with no issues for about 2 weeks.  There was a couple of days where the temp did make it to 32 Deg F but the camera performed reliably with no dropouts.  Yesterday I decided to try and reconnect the solar panel.  It charged to 100% during the day and as expected the camera went offline as night fell.  I took the camera down and took a picture of the state of it.  The picture attached shows the IR is stuck on as I stated before.  I had to remove power and pull battery to reset.   I did note the some people in the Arlo Pro 2 had similar issues in their forum posts which I think was addressed with a firmware update.  

Per tech support, I have now remounted a different camera outside with the solar panel attached.  Hopefully going to finally determine if it is a camera issue or the solar panel is doing something to the camera.  I have a total of 5 cameras now so if it is actually a camera issue I am going to have to test each one outside during the cold weather.  I don't want any of these devices to not perform per specification.  Still a frustrating experience especially moving cameras around.  Not sure how a person troubleshoots without additional cameras.  It is a lot of time, money, and effort.    

[glmccready]

Arlo admitted there was a problem with some batteries. They refused to honor the warranty because I didn't buy it from an "authorized dealer"....which irritated me to no end. It was past the 30 day return window because they dragged their feet helping me.  Just after I bought it Black Friday tech support was unavailable for a week.  The retailer ended up taking it back, ever though it had been 45 days. I ordered my companies to never buy another Netgear product. They will never know what this fiasco cost them. It was a BIG waste of my time, move the hub, up and down the ladder, try this, try that.  I also bought another Pro to try things, it works fine. Wish I had just stayed with my Arlo ver1. cams.

[jguerdat]

There are lots of companies that won't honor warranties if not purchased through an authorized vendor. Netgear is no different.

[JPav80]

So I tried with a different camera connected to the solar panel and the results are not conclusive.  The camera didn't go offline, but with a fully bright and sunny day above 32 Deg, the solar panel failed to charge the camera at all. Connectios were double checked and solar panel is properly positioned.  I monitored it from work throughout the day and never saw it charge or any change in the power level.    The camera that typically goes offline has been moved into my garage and plugged into the Netgear provided indoor cable.  It fully charged and stayed online throughout the night.  The garage temperature never got below 42 Deg.  

Not sure how much more time I should spend on this whole setup. Thankfully Costco is an "authorized seller" and already said I can bring back the whole thing if need be.  I sent a message to Netgear support and have yet to hear from them regarding my last update. 

Any thoughts JamesC?  Maybe my solar panel is the root of all problems.  I am hoping that the solar panel would have tried to charge the other camera and then see that camera go offline like the original.  This would have provided me enought evidence to blame the solar panel.  

[JPC]

@JPav80

Mine just went offline and battery dropped too. My setup is all wired with batteries inside and placed in a soffit. It's been fine all along until a couple days ago when we had heavy rain and temp dropped to mid 40 deg then it suddenly dropped Offline and never came back. Pull out battery and run thru wired only and it's working perfect. I think the battery can't handle low temp.. I wonder if Netgear Engineers can prioritize AC over battery when connected thru outlet. It seems battery is in control even when it's plugged in thru outlet.. Else, they need to build a better quality batteries that can withold low temps. I can't imagine using a Solar on these in a low temp area.. Again, maybe not all but certainly there's a problem here that needs attention from NG.. I bought mine from Costco too.. so anything's wrong in the coming days.. I'll definitely packing this up and send it back to them again.. 

[JPav80]

Did you happen to go and look at the camera prior to taking the battery out?  On the last 2 occasions I checked and the camera was offline while hooked to the solar panel and the camera's IRs were on which explains the battery dropping while offline.  Today being a cloudy day, somehow my other camera is now charging with the same solar panel after not charging yesterday with full sun.  Now I am hoping to pinpoint camera vs solar panel as the issue when the temperature drops again with the camera attached to solar.  I am not sure it will be cold enough but we are also supposed to get heavy rain tomorrow.   Costco is the way to go when purchasing these expensive items.  They have a very flexible return policy since troubleshooting simply takes too long when going back and forth with Netgear tech support.  During the summer I was recommending these cameras to neighbors and friends.  After this experience, I simply do not recommend this product for anyone who doesn't have patience or has time to troubleshoot.  My neighbors see me messing around with these things too much.