Batteries Draining Arlo Camera

[Shammy]

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

[Wklovelace3]

Mine was fixed with the may trial firmware. Then they broke it with either the 2nd or 3rd update. Losing 10% a day again. Really sucks having to climb ladder every week.

[NetBox]

Mine were charged the other day. My Arlo Pro camera (H8 HW 2450mAh battery) is on 91% already and my Original Arlo HD (H11 HW 650mAh batteries) is still on 97%. Neither have had many recordings and both trigger at the same time. My Arlo HD camera is actually the one detecting and triggering recordings on both as that detects better and faster than my Arlo Pro cameras which are a little slower to detect. You would think the HD camera would therefore have a lower battery percentage especially as they are only 650mAh batteries, but its the Pro camera draining way faster.

I need to go on holiday for a few weeks soon, I am dreading it and really don't want to trust Arlo to look after my home as I'm sure the batteries will be flat before I get back. Totally unacceptable when they used to last 3-4 months before.

There should be no logical reason why the cameras for some people are fine yet others are not? How can it be that the update fixed some but not all? Unless as you say it is hardware/code related, but I think its not even that. I think it's just random and just luck of the draw as to if it works or not. Resetting cameras etc seems to work but only for a short time then its back to the same situation so there is something going on sapping the power on the cameras which didn't happen before, some error in the coding some where which needs sorting out.

[paddos]

Not camera specific in my case. 5 cameras all H8 and 3 base units all same hardware. All running on same firmware with same settings optimized for battery life. One base unit with 2 cams draining less than 0.5/day. Other two base units with other three cams draining 3 to 6%/day. Really strange that same hardware, same settings, same firmware and very different battery drain. Have swapped batteries, etc and drain rare stays with base units. All started with May release. Improved a bit with first firmware .... one of three bases working per advertised. Nothing left to try except to wait for Arlo to push new firmware.

[Wklovelace3]

Yes i noticed that. After resetting its fine for a day or two then back to rapid drain. Not really sure what to think at this point. It is really strange that some are ok and some not. I guess the arlo engineers are stumped too

[NetBox]

That's bizarre!!

Yes unfortunately we are left just waiting for a fix, I've just no idea why on earth its taking so long, do they only work 2 hours a week?

Surely trolling through code can't take so long or even a rewrite can't take months and months, unless of course you have no idea what it all means which I'm beginning to think might be the case for the Arlo developers.

Maybe now Arlo is Arlo and not Netgear they will push a fix out sooner rather than in a few months.

[paddos]

Think they have just grown so fast ... have 3 generations of Pro, 2 Q's, a baby monitor that never worked really, new light, IOS app, android .... driving new feature content like "smart,," ... IOS. Android, web site ... AND they break multiple things every time they do anything new.

Not really a surprise they are struggling. They have created a "hairball" driving for revenue and may never figure out how to regain control. Hope they do but not convinced they can make the hard choice to stop pushing new devices and content and focus on getting their s#%t together.

New CEO needs to step up and change what is clearly not working or they will tank. Already have a new competitor with a good history offering an outdoor wireless camera.

@JamesC. Hope someone is still listening!

[Retired_Member]

Hello

I changed over from Arlo to Arlo Pro due to the rechargeable batteries however I seem to be recharging every 3 weeks from initially every 3 - 4 months when purchased in July 17..

My 5 Batteries for Arlo Pro are draining between 3 - 5% a night with 3 of the 5 not even being used (scheduled to go on but not video/motion detected). I tried calling Arlo Help number and got the Philippines help desk (two different people) whom after an 1 1/2 hrs told me that it is due to an Arlo update in June 18 which I told them this has been going on since April 18. He then said that I don't have any warranty on the batteries (purchased in July 17) so nothing can be done and maybe change the Video settings from Optimized to Best Battery Life but then the image isn't that good for what I need (night time security). 

I can't believe this is the service that Arlo are providing especially when you spend money to upgrade. Surely something is not right or someone is logging in and draining the battery life.  And don't say "change your password" because I have many many times and still draining. 

Is there anyone else at Arlo or community that can assist or provide a reason why after 10 months (started happening in April/May) this is happening.

Thank you 

JBV

[Wklovelace3]

Mine are doing the same. After the 1st update in may it fixed battery issue but then they did 2 more and thats when mine started draining fast again. I guess most peoples cameras are fine so for the few of us with battery drain there not putting a whole lot of urgency on it. Mine used to last 2 months now im charging every 2 weeks. Prior to all this firmware stuff mine were fine for almost a year. So its something they did not us

[Wklovelace3]

And yes support is really bad. Other than this forum theres no way to get imformation. Support has no training or knowledge of how the system works so its pointless to contact them. They will just run you in circles

[ChaosChris]

Yup I think I will be taking mine down and going back for a return.  I have had enough of this.  Have gone through a whole summer now with no proper fix to battery drain issue.  Never had this at all when I first bought the system.  Have other friends that bought the system because I praised it so much that are now also taking down there system to be returned to the store.  Used to last like 5 months now I am lucky if it lasts 3 weeks even.  And that is with some new batteries I bought thinking it was because of that.  Very disappointed.  This was one of my top new smart home products when it was working now it is the worse.  Looks like most on here are finally at the point that this has gone on long enough and are ready to do away with the system.   Its really too bad because it is setup to be one of the best with there software/app but no good if it can't hold a long enough charge to not have to get up and take camera's down every other week.  😞

[NetBox]

Totally agree. Its unacceptable and such a shame as it was great.

Feeling really annoyed at Netgear/Arlo as I am stuck with my system as the retailer went bust so I can't return it.

I have recently bought an excellent hard wired reliable CCTV system (4 cameras 5MP with 2TB drive for under £350) as I can't trust Arlo to protect my home!!!!!!!

I just need to have it fit and wired up, but I'm still stuck with an Arlo Pro, 2 camera kit aka a £500 piece of junk which I might use for inside but that kind of defeats the object.

I have an original Arlo HD 3 camera system which is far better image quality than my Arlo Pro cameras and batteries seem to last way longer, the detection is faster and they seem no bother. But the Arlo Pro cameras are junk and battery drain is terrible, image quality is shocking, huge contrast problem (can't see faces as its too high contrast), impossible two way audio, batteries don't fit in properly and disconnect if you tip camera up backwards etc etc just generally not happy at all with spending £500 on this piece of rubbish and wish I had never bought it.

Not the way a customer should feel!

[Wklovelace3]

My two way audio doesnt work either. Whats the point of having all these features if they dont work. I will be looking at other options as well. Too many ongoing issues that never get fixed. They just go away then reappear some time later. I wouldnt even feel comfortable selling this to someone

[NetBox]

That's me too. I would put mine on eBay tomorrow if I could but I wouldn't feel comfortable selling it to anyone in the poor working/non-working state its in.

If only Arlo/Netgear had the same kind level of respect for their customers too, but I guess they are only interested in making money at the end of the day and not providing customers with the goods/service they advertise.

[BGPunggol]

Well, so much for optimistic. After factory resetting and clearing app, there was no drain on 100% charged battery for 6 days with less than 5 20s videos avg. Than within 2 days, 11% drainage. So it's definitely to do with the firmware and so far, nothing to help solve the issue. Since this mostly occurs with Arlo Pro, wun they be looking solely for thw bug with this system? Hope that at least try to placate us with some hope that this issue is being reviewed.

[Wklovelace3]

Yes. I dont think its anything we can fix. Ive even moved my cameras around. Over the weekend i put all the cameras inside where all 3 had 3 full bars of signal strength. And 2 out of the 3 drained 4% overnight while disarmed. The other did not drain. Ive also tried swapping batteries. It is a firmware issue. But with very little support and customer service we may be stuck or forced into buying another brand. I cant charge weekly. It defeats the purpose of being wireless. The selling point of arlos are the fact that you can put them wherever and not run power. But with rapid battery drain its not worth the trouble. Theyve lost there appeal with me.

[paddos]

Same experience on my end. Changed everything possible and still have issue. Weird that I have one base and two cams that pretty much is ok but other two bases and three cams not. Warranty up in 45 days so if no solution all 10 cams back to Costco.

Just a shame they can't get their act together. They could even be proactive and let us upgrade to Pro 2 which doesn't seem to have the problem.

Not sure how they can continue to sell Pro's given what they advertise versus actual performance.

Just hopeless and will probably not end well for Arlo.

[Wklovelace3]

I just bought another pro for backyard. Stupid me. But its actually not draining fast. Its only the other two older ones that drain fast and overnight while disarmed. Who knows.

[paddos]

Is it the same H8 hardware running the same firmware as the ones u have that are draining fast?

[Wklovelace3]

New one is h 11. Its not draining fast. The other 2 are h8 draining overnight while disarmed . same firmware

[Stunew78]

H8 vs H11 battery drain??

@JamesC is this information that works towards a resolution??

[paddos]

If Problem is isolated to H11 versus H8, then Arlo needs to get its customers whole by offering H11 replacements for H8.

Is anyone else on this forum seeing battery drain performance difference between H11 (newer) and H8?

@JamesC. DawnM

[pc2k17]

I have 4 pro cameras and one Pro2 (not hooked up yet). The 4 Pro cameras are H8 with firmware version 1.092.0.16_21159. None of them experience any abnormal battery drain after the base firmware update to fix the IR light issue (May I think?). My one camera that only sees a couple one minute long videos a week has drained only 6% in 3 weeks, when I fully charged all 4. At that rate I'll get 4 months out of it. My busiest camera which gets about 120 one minute long videos a week has drained 40% in 3 weeks. I get about 2 months out of this one. I also live view the cameras daily for a few minutes each day probably. When I bought I system I am pretty sure the information said the batteries last 2-4 months with 5 minutes of use a day. I'm well within that range.

So, I don't think it's hardware related, it's just the firmware. Also I will mention that even though my batteries are fine, this past week I have really closely watched the system and I am seeing degraded motion detection. Occationally it misses motion all together, or you have to be 5-10 feet closer to the camera than you used to, or sometimes it works perfect. I think the motion issue is on the back end, triggers aren't being processeed, but I suppose it could be firmware related as well.

[BGPunggol]

And now the app is also acting up. Everytime I get an alert, my phone show the alert twice and my tablet show the alert thrice for the same recorded video. Is this Arlo way of trying to tell us that they are doing something? Can't imagine the development head who is in charge of app and firmware...

[NetBox]

Seems your batteries are performing perfectly normal which is great. Its just crazy why some are and some aren't.

I totally agree about the poor motion detection of late as I have noticed that too and on many occasions my Arlo cameras have totally missed people walking right in front of them for quite some time.

Example today I had someone come into my back yard, walk past two armed cameras, come up to my door and knock loudly, they hung around for a minute or two then went away as I wasn't in.

My Arlo cameras which were armed and set on the usual 80% totally missed them and didn't record a thing, but my Arlo Q camera located inside picked them up knocking at the door and recorded them.

How a person can walk past an armed camera, be in front of it for a length of time but not get picked up can only indicate to a problem with the detection system.

I have noticed this multiple times recently and this may be something linked to the firmware update too.

Something is telling me its the base station which is causing the problem but I'm just gessing there (they are both connected to the Arlo Pro base station).

In any case there certainly is some issue and I think Arlo need to try to update the base station firmware again or with a new version to try to fix this.

[Wklovelace3]

Mine was fixed in may too. Then it started draining fast again. Its still draining 4% overnight while disarmed. My motion has been fine lately but have had it miss big things and not work well for a few days then go back to perfect. Its not signal strength . had them all inside 3 full bars still draining overnight . im having to charge weekly. Before may and after may update i was getting almost 2 full months. I will say today they only used 3% for 50 short videos so we will see if that keeps up. Thats about normal for me. Last 2 week's its been 7 or 8 % plus 3 or 4 overnight with it being disarmed. Time will tell