Batterys are always dead

[Noraalshaikh]

My battery always dies since i bought the cameras it lasts only for 2 days and then i have to recharge it and i cant contact support please advise anyone

[Wklovelace3]

Mine just started draining overnight too. After being fine for months. The last 2 nights have lost 10% overnight while on and disarmed. No videos no live view. So they still have firmware problems

[Noraalshaikh]

The problem is that the are bran new just bought them on June ! I wonder what will happen few months from now !!

[JamesC]

Noraalshaikh,

How much usage are the cameras seeing (live view and recordings)? What is the signal strength like for the cameras?

JAmesC

[chuck159]

Just 3 weeks after fully charged, batteries are at 37%. some of the cameras were turned off.

[Noraalshaikh]

Recordings every 15 min to 20 min it records 300 seconds. The camera strength is good not the best however

[Noraalshaikh]

I wish mine stays for a week at least. How many housr do you usually charge ur batteries

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

Noraalshaikh,

It sounds like the cameras are seeing high usage, which could be the cause of the battery drain. Take a look here for more information on expected battery life, and tips on how to improve it: How can I extend my Arlo Wire-Free, Arlo Pro Wire-Free, or Arlo Go camera's battery life?

JamesC

[Wklovelace3]

@JamesC- i am one of the ones that saw improved battery life after the trial firmware. However its declining now and using about 10% per day. My average was 2-3% maybe 5% on a busy day. So i dont believe its due to high camera usage. I have 20 videos today and have lost 7% already and its only noon. Not normal for me. There are still problems its just to bad engineering doesn't know what it is

[Noraalshaikh]

Thank you for ur comment. Hope that neatgear would read this and do something about the battery life

[waynebaron]

Ever since the comedy-of-errors in May, my batteries have been draining much faster than normal.  I even created new schedules so that one of my cameras is disabled for most of the day, and only enabled at night.  As such, I rarely get any captures on it at all.  However, it's draining the battery at nearly the exact same rate as the other camera that is always active and gets 10-30 recordings per day.

This leads me to believe that just communicating with the camera (not actually using it for recording/streaming) is the bulk of the battery demand.  This feels like yet another bug.

[Wklovelace3]

Yes its not right. Its better than it was in may but nowhere near right. Motion detection not right either but they are ignoring that issue. A guy just posted it catches a raccoon in my backyard but not a person. Thats literally all the guy said and jamesc writes back . it sounds like they may be out of range. How would he know? He said nothing about range. They (netgear) go back n forth with its our fault its there fault. Meanwhile none of the issues are actually being addressed.

[Stunew78]

And still Netgear refuse to publicly address their May firmware fiasco causing thousands of users battery drain problems.

I’m currently on Holiday in France and my batteries have died - my entire house is now exposed to theft!!

I’ve sent the 900 reply thread and the story through to CNET to report this fiasco publicly and out this joke of a product for what it is.

[Wklovelace3]

What people dont realize is you only get so many cycles out of lithium batteries 300 on average before the battery performance starts to degrade. So for those of us charging every 10 days we are significantly shortening our batterys life. And these are 50 bucks a pop. Whos gonna compensate us for us killing our battery. Netgear? Seriously doubt it. On a brighter note there stock and sales continue to plummet. And for good reason. They dont take care of the customer

[harley239]

I have 2 out of 4 cameras dying quickly again. Sick and tired of this. There is a firmware problem!

[Wklovelace3]

Yep me too. 10% a day

[Wklovelace3]

So james c since you marked this battery problem as solved. And said its due to high usage. Do you mind explaining to me why my camera is losing 10% overnight while DISARMED? Thats not high usage. And its definitely not solved. Many people still having problems. It really sucks to have to climb a ladder once a week vs once a month

[DocCJC]

The new firmware for my Alro Pro cameras was looking promising until yesterday. I fully charged all my cameras yesterday. One has lost 5% already and has only recorded 4 short videos. Two are disarmed and have lost 4%. I'm looking at alternative cameras now. Going to buy a Ring camera and trial it. If it checks out, I'll progressively replace my Arlo cameras.

[Cajunfla1]

Possibly part of the battery drain problem is weak signal between base and camera. A weak signal causes the camera to constantly search for a signal, which is using the battery. 

[Stunew78]

With all due respect, that has nothing to do with this issue.

Most people having problems have had the cameras in the same place for over 12 months. Myself included.

The problem is the firmware updated in May. Period.

[Wklovelace3]

Agree. I have full signal and still draining faster than usual. It seems only certain cameras are affected. So to the people whos cameras are fine our problems arent real. Some people have 3 out of 5 with regualr drain and 2 draining fast. Its a software/firmware issue

[JamesC]

The original poster marked this original thread solved, this one wasn't marked by me. Usage/poor signal strength/interference often times can be the cause of increased battery drain, so it's possible in the original users scenario, this was the case. This is always a good place to start for anyone experiencing battery issues.

For everyone else, the engineering team is continuing to investigate reports from some users experiencing increased battery drain. I will provide an update when I have more information.

JamesC

[Wklovelace3]

The cameras seem to be draining no matter the usage. I have my inside camera that rarely gets any activity and is steadily losing 4 or 5% a day. Even with no videos. My outside camera loses 10% a day for 50 videos which are short. After the 1st update i was only losing 2 or 3 % for same amount of videos and the inside would only lose 1% over time usually a week. Something is definitely wrong. It worked for a short time in may and now im charging every week vs every month and a half