Can you damage the rechargeable camera battery by over charging?

[Dogdollar]

THe tech support person I spoke to last night told me my battery needed charging, to plug it into the a.c adaptor for four hours for a full charge. I told her I would just let it charge overnight and she said NOT to charge it for more than four hours or it would damage the battery. I never heard of this before....is this true?

Thank you,

DD

[jguerdat]

No. While I have some old batteries for cordless drills that can be damaged this way, the Pro camera actually stops charging at 80% of actual capacity. The indicator will say 100% because it won't charge more. You can leave the battery in place and run the camera from the USB charger indefinitely with no issue since the charging intentionally stops to preserve the battery in it's sweet spot.

[amorris101]

These are the answers I received from Netgear Support in respone to my aksing whether or not one can leave batteries in the charging station indefinitely. I am sure they are wrong but this is what they say:

Spoiler

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Answer #3

My name is Kristel and I am answering on behalf of my colleagues.

I really apologize for the inconvenience that had caused you. Going back to the concern, If you will let the 2 batteries plug into the charging station for few months it damage the battery not just the battery life but the physical battery. Let me give you example. If you will let your phone charged for 2 days, you will notice that the battery will sometimes over heat, drains the battery quickly, you will see that it is a bloated battery and it will blow up the battery or the phone. It will make the phone malfunction or not work. We know that the arlo pro battery is a Li-Ion batteries and the charging station has a built-in protection circuitry that prevents a battery from overcharging. All devices not just Arlo system but other devices has its own limitations when it comes to battery. If what happens to the battery it will also affect the cameras capability.
 

I hope this will answer your query.

We appreciate the time assisting you. Thank you for choosing NETGEAR.

Regards,

Kristel
Expert ID: 46269
Netgear L1 Support Expert

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Answer #2

This is Jane from Arlo technical support. I do really apologize for the inconvenience this has cause you and also for the confusion.

Regarding your concern, you can actually plug in the camera with the battery on it until it's fully charge but it is not advisable to plug in the camera with the battery on it continuously since it can affect the battery performance. Just like any other devices that uses charger or your PC, it is advisable that you plug it using the charger and use it at thesame time because it can either damage or affect the battery performance. With Arlo camera you can have the camera plug in using the power adapter continuously and just use the fully charge battery reserve for an event like power outage. I hope this helps you with your concern.

Again thank you so much for choosing NETGEAR.

Kind regards,
Jane
Expert ID 46276
NETGEAR Support Expert

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Answer #1

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

To start with, the camera was designed to be battery operated so that this can be placed outdoor. This type of camera then was designed to use rechargeable battery so that you just need to recharge the battery when it drains to avoid the hassle of buying new set of battery. With regard to your query, my recommendation would be based on the intention on why you would want to leave the battery inserted while the charger is connected. I am not just sure, please correct me if I am wrong, if your intention of leaving the battery inserted while the charger is connected is to serve as backup just in case the battery runs out, I would say it will not run out of battery since the charger is continuously plugged in. About the risk which you are more concern about, I would recommend not to leave the battery inserted while the charger is connected to avoid over heating on the battery side and for it not to bloat.

Should you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us back.

Kind Regards,

Melody R.
Expert ID: 46491
NETGEAR Support Expert

[jguerdat]

Interesting. I was told by engineering that the battery won't charge more than 80% when charged in the camera (the battery indicator will show 100%) to prevent this exact scenario. @JamesC, can you get official clarification on this?

[JamesC]

jguerdat,

To my knowledge, that is still the case. I'll see what I can find out.

JamesC

[amorris101]

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JamesC wrote:

jguerdat,

To my knowledge, that is still the case. I'll see what I can find out.

JamesC

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So what makes no sense is that Netgear sells a charger that holds two batteries but at the same time the word from Netgear is that if you leave batteries charging in that charger you will damage the batteries or worse (according to the Netgear experts who responded to my questions direct to Netgear support and posted earlier in this thread) cause the batteries to explode or catch fire with the attendant risk of human and/or property damage.

What makes even less sense is that Netgear supplies absolutely no warning/no instructions with the charger and with the batteries that they sell and ship. I would think Netgear's legal culpability would be pretty high if a battery should catch fire or explode.

For all of the problems that have happened with Lithium batteries (Boeing, Samsung) -- those problems were caused by faulty design or faulty manufacturing. So it begs credibility that Negear designed a product that is potentially dangerous and doesn't have lawyers who would insist on that product ship with a warning and instructions and language saying Netgear is not responsible for the consequences if the consumer ignores that warning.

And again - why in the world sell a two battery charging station if you shouldn't use the charging station to keep the batteries charged for when you need them?

[JamesC]

amorris101,

I will seek clarification on this and post an update shortly.

JamesC

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

After reviewing this topic with the engineering team, both the Arlo Pro camera and charging cradle have safety mechanisms in place designed to prevent battery damage/overcharging when left on the charger. Users should not experience any issues leaving a charger connected to the camera or the charging cradle while a battery is inserted.

JamesC

[amorris101]

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Thank you - that is what I always thought. Could someone at Netgear please inform their team of experts that this is the case. A few months back in repsonse to my posing questions about the charger and the battery to Netgear Tech Support I received the following responses from three different "Experts". :

Expert 1
With regard to your query, my recommendation would be based on the intention on why you would want to leave the battery inserted while the charger is connected. I am not just sure, please correct me if I am wrong, if your intention of leaving the battery inserted while the charger is connected is to serve as backup just in case the battery runs out, I would say it will not run out of battery since the charger is continuously plugged in. About the risk which you are more concern about, I would recommend not to leave the battery inserted while the charger is connected to avoid over heating on the battery side and for it not to bloat.

Expert 2:
Regarding your concern, you can actually plug in the camera with the battery on it until it's fully charge but it is not advisable to plug in the camera with the battery on it continuously since it can affect the battery performance. Just like any other devices that uses charger or your PC, it is advisable that you plug it using the charger and use it at thesame time because it can either damage or affect the battery performance

Expert 3:
If you will let the 2 batteries plug into the charging station for few months it damage the battery not just the battery life but the physical battery. Let me give you example. If you will let your phone charged for 2 days, you will notice that the battery will sometimes over heat, drains the battery quickly, you will see that it is a bloated battery and it will blow up the battery or the phone. It will make the phone malfunction or not work.



JamesC wrote:

After reviewing this topic with the engineering team, both the Arlo Pro camera and charging cradle have safety mechanisms in place designed to prevent battery damage/overcharging when left on the charger. Users should not experience any issues leaving a charger connected to the camera or the charging cradle while a battery is inserted.

JamesC

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[JamesC]

amorris101,

I apologize for any confusion this has caused. I have escalated this topic to the management team and will be working with them to provide the correct information on this to the support team.

JamesC