Battery drains very quickly even when camera is off - Arlo VMS4330

[Shammy]

Why does my camera night infrared come on when I have the camera set to off?

[secaz]

I found this interesting - and there was an update in Feburary that messed up a lot of things... that's when I first started having issues using Google Chrome for Arlo... and Netgear pretty much told me it wasn't them and I was stupid or whatever...

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/My-Arlo-pro-cams-names-were-changed/m-p/1519961

... and of course end user was told it was probably a result of he/she doing something insecure... but you have to wonder...

Anyway, Netgear telling us to change our passwords has gotten the attention of slashdot...

https://www.slashgear.com/netgear-arlo-customers-warned-to-change-account-passwords-29532319/

[Foxdie2971]

I have 4 Arlo cameras around my house. 3 outside which are always on abs 1 inside only used when needed. Recently the inside one that isn't turned on as much as the others battery had been draining significantly faster. I just changed the batteries the other week and they are almost down to 50%. I have noticed that when it's turned off that I'll hear it click like it's recording and see the red lights come on it, but when I look at the app it shows off and nothing recorded. Any ideas?

[Arbe]

I could not select the correct model as mine is a VMS4330-100AU However... given the many threads this forum has already on fast battery drain I think I might just be barking up the wrong tree.

I purchased the 3 camera syestem at the end of March so just over 2.5 monhts ago - installed it and apart from the occasional drop off with the signal it was working fine. Then it was time to charge the batteries last week - even though they have not seen a lot of use but I thought maybe the whole setting up etc drained more than it should have.

However - I fully charged them and within 2 days they were back down to 30% - now one got charged 2 days ago and has been off since but is down to 15% ! I have tried everything that others suggested (resetting, reconecting etc - swapping batteries between cameras etc). Now I know you can't help me with this but I can't even find a contact where to send my compalint to (of course here in NZ that first point of contact is the retailer - which I did e-mail - but I thought if I contact Netgear directly it might get resolved quicker....

So can someone help me out - I do not fancy calling a Overseas phone number from New Zealand since we do not seem to have a support number here.... at least there is none listed.

Or even better if anybody has a solution that would be even better as I am going on a 4 week overseas trip and if the cameras only last 2 days when off .... not ideal!

Thanks

[DawnM]

Hello all,

Regarding the battery rapidly draining issue that started recently, we do have a fix in QA being tested right now. We'll update this thread when that is released. 

Regarding the community prompting you to re-verify your email/credentials today, we updated our customer support tool last night. If you still see this issue, let me know, but you should only have to do that once 🙂

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Stories/New-Arlo-Support-Experience-Is-Here/m-p/1584166#M2226

[secaz]

Every time I try to post now, makes me log in and then instead of taking me back to thread so I can post, takes me to some wholly unrelated page...

Perhaps we should post a list of what ISN'T wrong with Arlo - would be shorter by far than listing what is WRONG...

[secaz]

Some of my cams are not flashing IR lights when status is OFF, some still are... not sure if its a fluke or Netgear fixed something... but... take with a grain of salt, I guess... tonight I'll turn off one I replaced battery in today that did not display IR light when off... I'll see if the IR truly stays off after turning off the cam again...

Wonder if behavior is different for disfferent cam hardware versions... as I have said, I have a mix of old cams and new purchased throughout the past year...

[pc2k17]

If you recently pulled the batteries or charged the batteries the detecting motion/IR lights on while the camera is off issue appears to go away, but will eventually come back. When I first did troubleshooting on this issue, after pulling the batteries and putting them back in, some cameras worked correctly for up to a full day, while others got the issue back within minutes or hours. Eventually it will come back since it appears the fix is still in testing right now (according to forum moderator in another thread).

[pc2k17]

Arlo is aware of the issue of batteries draining when the cameras are off, and they are testing a fix now.

In the mean time, instead of turning the cameras off, create a custom mode and just disarm the cameras you want "off". To disarm a camera simply do not add it to your custom mode. Any cameras not listed in a custom mode are disarmed by default. Disarming instead of turning them off will bring battery usage back to normal. 

[davdel]

I've noticed the same problem over the last few weeks.  I have 4 Arlo Pro's and have been using them for over a year.  When the cameras were turned off the batteries used to last over 4 months.  Right now they drain in less than 2 weeks.  I was just obout to purchase a new battery to see if that was the problem.  I will try disarming them as suggested and see if that is a solution.  If I understand correctly the battery drain issue is only if the camera is in turned off mode?

[Arbe]

Thanks I'll try that but it also happens on the camera which is not turned off.. so can't just be that but I try your solution and get back to you in a few days and see if it makes a difference.

[Arbe]

No it does also happen when they are working as normal - just - one of my 3 is fine.. I have e-mailed the retailer as well and hope they might send me replacement batteries or cameras - after all the system is less than 3 months old...

[slimshizn]

Just wanted to post as this has recently happened to me as well. Using smartthings integration so this "work around" with disabling the cameras isn't going to cut it. Fortunately Unifi system has a integration that will work with smartthings, but it takes a little more time to get it set up, Selling this system off as Netgear likes to continue to roll out buggy firmware. This worked for the past 6-8 months without even charging them, then I go and change my password and all the sudden batteries are dying? WOW

[davdel]

This is begining to sound like a firmware issue. I have not changed any of the settings on my 4 cameras for over a year.  My wi-fi signal strengths are all 3 bars.  And, it's not cold out.  If this is happening to many of us at the same time I've got to suspect the problem is not with the hardware.  I've tried to do a live chat with Arlo support but the chat page never loads fully. Guess I will try sending an email as well! 

[Arbe]

Might be - but I read a lot of forum posts abotu the very same issue and nobody seems to have a solution.... rather annoying! I have disarmed the system for now and when I leave on my holiday will arm it again - so all cameras are working for however long the battery lasts then.. I asked the neighbours who look after our place to re-charge them if need be and I would contact them about it.. not ideal but the only thing I can do until someone from Arlo replies to me - I also tried the chat but no getting through and from NZ it is rather expensive to call an overseas number....

[slimshizn]

Here's a post from the smartthings forums. If anyone has any other posts let me know.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/arlo-pro-battery-life-w-smartthings/127877

[davdel]

I just checked and my firm ware was updated to version 2.5.0.885_21333 on 05/15/18.  Right around the time I started having these problems.  I just got thru to live chat!  Will get back to you.

[davdel]

Wow. That chat took over an hour.  Here is what Arlo support says to try.

1. Charge the cameras to 100%

2. Power cycle the cameras for 1 minute by removing the batteries.

3. Power cycle the camera for 1 minute by unplugging it from the power outlet for 1 minute.

4. Remove the cameras from the Arlo account. Go to Settings, My Devices, and select the cameras. Press Remove Device.

5. Re-sync each camera with the base station.  To do so, press the sync button on the base station once (just press and release right after).  When the third light starts to blink, press the sync button on the camera.

6. Set the cameras power management to best battery life or Optimized.

7. If the cameras still drain fast try changing your wireless channel to 1, 6, or 11 to avoid wireless interference.

I'll give this a try, but not tonight.  I'll post in a day or two to let everyone know how it went.

[davdel]

Sorry line 3. should be recycle the base station by unplugging it.

[JamesC]

Chet710,

You might try charging the battery in a different camera to see if you get different results, this will help isolate the issue further. Swap the battery into one of your other cameras that is working as expected and see if you are able to charge the battery in that camera.

JamesC

[slimshizn]

---

@JamesC wrote:

Chet710,

You might try charging the battery in a different camera to see if you get different results, this will help isolate the issue further. Swap the battery into one of your other cameras that is working as expected and see if you are able to charge the battery in that camera.

JamesC

---

Any updates on the "fix" for the original issue at hand here?? @JamesC I saw the post from early this morning but this has been ongoing for a while now so a fix should be priority.

[secaz]

I honestly believe that if you plug the camera in to charge it, when it is *fully charged*, as the cam is reporting by turning on the blue light, it is NOT fully charged...

I have much better results in ALL my 10 cams if I charge the batteries in a charging station.  When plugging the cams in to charger, I notice that the blue *fully charged* light comes on too quickly when I know that the battery should take longer to charge.

Anyway, I just put Arlo on its own router and own subnet to isolate those devices from the rest of my network.  I don't believe Arlo is secure worth a flip after everything that's been going on... I just feel safer with them isolated from the rest of my network devices...

[pc2k17]

@davdel

Don't waste your time. What "support" gave you is nonsense that they read off of a script. It won't fix anything pretaining to the fast battery drain when the cameras are off issue. That problem is on the arlo/netgear side. There are a couple of threads about this issue on this forum with several 100 posts and everything has been tried. It's nothing the end user can fix. All you can do is to disarm your cameras instead of turning them off until arlo/netgear fixes it.

[slimshizn]

Any of the smartthings guys here know of a way to kind of do a arlo mode “dance”? The work around sucks because if you have say an inside camera that you want to arm you have to go back into the app or on the web UI and change the mode because of the lack of custom rules. If you could make the mode change at a specific time or whenever you leave the house then that would be more of a perm solution. I’m checking out Stringify right now to see if there is a way to do that since there are actions to arm, disarm and record video. If there are any guys that are familiar with webCoRE please let me know if it’s possible.

Edit: I’m going to try this.

In smartthings I have taken out all of the “turn on” and “turn off” functions for each of the automations so the camera’s are staying on.
In stringify I added two new flows with a presence device from smartthings.
Presence detected —> Disarm
Presence not detected —> Arm
This way you can keep the cameras on to stop the battery drain from the “off IR bug” and have them enabled when you leave automatically. I’ll test it for a couple days and see if it works. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

Edit 2: I’m going to speak with a Stringify dev and see if they can’t incorporate additional “custom” modes instead of just the arm and disarm. That way I could make an additional flow that goes like this for night time.

Presence detected & Time —> Custom arm ( Outdoor arm indoor disarm )
Presence detected & Time —> Disarm
Presence not detected —> Arm

[Sarakoth]

So this is a known issue that has gone on for nearly a month?? I recharged two cameras that went flat and found instead of lasting months, then now lasted a few days... though I must have done something wrong so recharged them again and same problem. Cameras and system have been running fone for months. So annoyed. I also noticed that despite me turning the camera off it seemed to be recording. I hope there is a proper fix soon!

[davdel]

You are probably right.  I have done what they suggested. When I went to reinstall the cameras tonight I noticed one thing. Even with the cameras turned off.  The IR LED's are on when its dark.  I do not recall seeing the red glow from the IR's when the cameras were turned off before.  I've had the cameras for over a year and a half and 2 of them are inside.  I don't think I would have missed them.  I'm wondering if the last firm ware upgrade has caused this.  That would certainly explain the battery drain.