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?

[Wklovelace3]

Theres a firmware bug that causes the ir lights to stay on. Doesnt seem to matter if camera is on or off. Mine loses 10% a day. 3% used to be normal for me. The may 15th fimware update caused this and other issues. Theyve been working on it and currently there are people participating in a "field trial" firmware update.. I chose not to. If it works i guess they will update everyone. The bad thing is there not saying much and forget calling support they are useless. Weve been going thru this for a month now. I have to charge mine weekly now. Used to be every two months.

[R_Robinson]

I have a 4 cam kit that's been running at my father's house for a year. One camera has starting eating batteries. It will drain all 4 batteries in less than a week. It was working fine last summer and through the winter. The camera position has not changed, nor has the base station. The base has direct line of site to the camera out a window.

I've been checking the batteries with a battery meter. The camera drains all 4 completely. It has eaten 3 different brands of batts, all of which continue to work fine in other cameras.

I just switched some batteries from a good camera and relocated the bad camera right under it. The arlo app shows the bad camera's batteries half power in just 4 hours.

The camera fimeware is up to date, but I feel the most recent update might have caused the problem.

Is there a way to re-flash the camera's firmware? Or some sort of diagnostics I can perform before I pronouce death on this cam?

[Chief-kir]

Hahahaha
I tried with the support.
I sat 2 hours in line.
Finally when I got there, the standard answer was that the Arlo team are busy but they will call you back.
I asked when will they so that and the answer was today.
It is 3 days ago and you dont need to ask if they have called back.
I also made a support ticket, and after 1 week, still no answer.

I don't get this, should I not be able to gety money back since the system don't fulfil the specs? 3-6 months battery is far from 3-6 days.

[Jan1972]

hi i have  the field trial and it looks at this moment that the IR light is not going on anymore. I am charging my battery to full and then lets see what the next weekend is bringing .

Keep you updated .

[TomMac]

Not much can be done on our end re the cam and FW... it does sound like a camera issue since it is one of four and you changed location.  Warrenty still in effect ? ( 1 yr warranty )

[Wklovelace3]

We are all waiting for netgear to release a firmware update to remedy the battery drain issue. Its a known bug that causes the ir lights to stay on continuously. Your camera is probably fine. For some reason it only affects some cameras. This all started may 15th. Mine are both draining at an alarming rate. Ive been having to charge weekly

[ChaosChris]

Just an idea for the people that have to keep going up a ladder I found a great solution.  I have one cam that it up on my overhang that requires a ladder to reach.  The ladder has to be put in the landscapping stone which is all graded with hills and etc.  Was not safe at all.  So I went on amazon and bought a 10ft. ezreacher.  I installed the better magnetic ball bracket that they sell seperate so it can't pop off like the little ones that come with the kits.  Now I just can use the ezreacher to pick the cam off the bracket to charge then stick it back up.  Works great and safes the ladder mess.  They make them in all different extendable sizes.  You do have to play around with the cam a bit to get it at the right position but it takes maybe 5 minutes to move it around a bit then all set.

I am really getting frustrated with this whole battery drain.  Now people that bought these just because I praised them so much over the last year are now frustrated with me.  Sucks since its not my fault but this is crazy we don't even have a good response from them.  I hope if they don't fix this the the best buys and other places get wind of whats going on and can stear people to a different cam.  The only way Netgear will act faster is if there business starts hurting by the looks of it.  😞

[secaz]

BTW - has anyone recently tried to change their password for Arlo?  I tried to change mine and it would not accept it - I followed the password rules... no go... when clicking SAVE, nothing happened...

Not inclined to try again... I had already changed it once when Netgear advised us to do so, and I don't use weak passwords anyway... but figured I would update it again... and it would not update... I am so done futzing with this system and having to spend way more time up on  ladders than I ever wanted to be... the system was a waste of money and a waste of my time... honestly... and screw the password update.  If I get locked out, lord knows Netgear won't be able to help me get back in... and I sincerely doubt the FORGOT password link on log in page works... nothing works with Arlo...

[Wklovelace3]

I have not tried to change mine. I heard from someone this morning thats doing the field trial and said her ir lights are not coming on anymore. I dont even know if thats the issue among issues. My lights dont come on anymore with camera disarmed but my batteries are still draining. So im not convinced this new firmware will fix anything. Also heard a guy say that only one of his four cameras are draining and the other 3 are ok. So not sure what to think anymore. I noticed my signal strength is weakest at night which is when the batteries seem to drain the most. I took the camera down and went into a a dark closet with it disarmed and could not see any lights come on. But yet my batteries still drain rapidly. Im losing around 5% a night. Its a big mess and i have no confidence that netgear will fix it

[secaz]

People should check their hardware version on cameras - with mine, the crankiest ones are H11... the other are H8 and not so crabby, but STILL there is no way my batteries are going to last the advertised length of 3-6 months.  Not happening.  Even at low res, 10 sec videos and not all that many, either... system is a money pit...

[Shaeaustin]

I have the same issue but worse. I can fully charged to 100%. Even with the camera turned off it will die in usually about 5-6 days. The IR light does not come on this one when off so it makes no sense. I also have a regular arlo wireless outdoors that will constantly show the IR even when turned off. I have tried removing batteries and resetting to base but nothing helps. It's kinda creeping me out. It feels like my cameras are being remotely accessed at times. I've changed passwords to be sure but no change.
Is there ANY fix on this yet?

[Wklovelace3]

Currently there doing a "field trial" firmware for those who wanted to participate.. Have not heard anything else. Netgear /Arlo is not saying much. As usual there leaving us in the dark. I dont think its anyrhing we can fix ourselves. Its in there buggy firmware.

[Hoboryan]

Of course your camera will drain when it is turned off. The bug hasn't been fixed yet!!

Unless you're sitting there for the whole day looking at whether the IR is turning on, I'd be hard pressed to believe that you know it's not turning on when your cameras are off.

[Shaeaustin]

Disarming them doesn't work either. Mine still drain in a matter of days even when off or disarmed. After fully charging and having my system disarmed for almost a week, when turned on, almost all my cameras were dead. This all started about a month or so ago. It's frustrating to say the least.

[secaz]

Last night one of my cmas, hardware version H11, incidentally, was at 100%, I cheked all the statuses of cam batteries before I turned in - then when I got up this morning, this cam was 95%... and there are only a hanful of low res, 10 second videos last night.  If there were 10, then that would be a lot...

This system is a lie, and unreliable... false advertising if you ask me...

[Wklovelace3]

It started may 15th. Disarming used to work but not anymore. So its very confusing . there seems to be alot of issues and no ryhme or reason for any of them. Im starting to think they've been hacked and cant fix it. Shouldnt take a month to correct fimware issues. Nobody knows and since there not talking were pretty much stuck. I know i wont be buying anymore arlo products. I was going ro add some cameras to my backyard but im gonna look at other options now. I cant trust Arlo to secure mu home

[secaz]

Hackers have control and are running riot.  That's my take.  It's like Netgear is chasing them, running around stomping out their brushfires...

When something breaks, it breaks - but to change the nature of what is broken, and when, and the degree?  That's human intervention.

[Wklovelace3]

Mine drops 5-8% a night also. Disarmed armed doesnt matter anymore. I charged last weekend and im in the mid 40's now. So a week is all its good for now. This also shortens the lifespan of a lithium ion battery. You only get so many charge cycles before capacity loss becomes a factor. So not only is it a major inconvenience but we are shortening the lifespan of a very exspensive battery to replace. After 300 charge cycles you lose about 20% of the batteries capacity. So buy the time they get this fixed our batteries will be shot

[pc2k17]

All of my cameras are H8.

Now that I either Arm, Disarm, or use a Custom mode and keep the cameras turned on, the battery drain is normal. I am only affected if the cameras are off. I'm not sure why some report the drain even when disarmed and on.

I just charged one Monday night. This morning it is 92%. It recorded 99 one minute long videos and was live viewed 6 times over that period. That's about 2% drop per day on a regularly used camera. Battery would last about 50-60 days which is normal for me and this camera. (Arlo says up to 4 months if used 5 minutes per day, this camera averages 20 minutes per day and gets 2 months).

I am also now using Arlo Pilot, a SmartThings smartapp, which changes my Arlo Mode automatically for me based on whether I'm home or away. Works perfect.

Once the camera off/battery drain issue is fixed I'll continue to use Arlo Pilot so it automatically changes my Arlo Mode, and I'll turn my rouitne back on to turn the cameras off. So inside will be disarmed and off.

[secaz]

Its like you need a base station for each camera, honestly... there is not one base station I can totally disarm... but why do I have to fight with this?  It was never an issue, previously.

It would turn off cams I wanted off, they woud STAY OFF... batteries would not drain... so, what?  Netgear has decided to break this functionality and they did it in the best interest of their customers?  I still can't figure out the logic behind ANY of this...

Andnow I have a cam that isn't triggering... its set for 80% and I walked within 10 feet of it and it didn't trigger.  And I was in that vicinty for a few minutes, didn't trigger at all.  So now I have to crank it to see if that helps.  What a POS system...

[Wklovelace3]

The disarmed workaround seemed to work for awhile now it does not seem to matter. Me and others were also experiencing the 100% freeze while in disarmed mode. My camera would stay at 100 for days . not normal. Ive used the disarmed mode and kept cameras on since this whole mess started May 15th. Im having to charge weekly. Was at 100 sunday and im in the 40's now. Thats why im not sure that this firmware update will fix it. I think its a bigger problem. As i stated i took both cameras down and put them in pitch dark closet and cant get ir lights to come on by waving my hand. The one out front the ir lights would come on if i turned it off and walked in front of it. They dont come on anymore while disarmed but still losing battery rapidly.

[secaz]

I have witnessed varying behavior with IR lights... if I take one down, IR lights are on... if I pop in a fresh battery, no IR lights... won't come on at all... then turn the cam on.... wait a minute, then turn it off.  Now IR lights come on again when cam is off...

I reiterate - POS system.

[Wklovelace3]

I have to agree with secaz. None of this makes any sense. If its an ir bug then why are our cameras draining still even while disarmed. Why are people reporting 3 cameras are fine and one is draining rapidly? Why are settings being changed and schedules on there own? Why is our signal strength going in and out? I believe theres a bigger problem out there and thats why netgear is silent. The only thing that makes sense is its an arlo product and its not working

[Wklovelace3]

Mine used to use 2% a day. Now its using 10% with a 2 or 3% on top of that overnight. Even whlie left on and disarmed.

[BillUhr]

I've not heard from Engineering.  However I notice that my hub firmware has changed to 1.10.0.7_21310.  Is this related to the field trial or was this a routine firmware update?  Camera firmware has not changed.