Batteries Draining Arlo Camera

[Shammy]

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

[jguerdat]

If you signed an NDA, you have no legal right to post information. It's a legal contract and can be pursued. I doubt anyone would bother in this case but NDAs are enforceable. I have no idea if these trials used an NDA but the beta tests do.

[NetBox]

To take part in these trials you have to agree to the none disclosure of information which as you state is a legally enforceable agreement.

Maybe when we buy Arlo products Arlo should have to legally agree that they will work as advertised. But of course they are not that foolish. They can release and sell products knowing they do not function as advertised. They can leave customers waiting for a fix for months and months on end.

We the customers should be able to sue Arlo if they do not resolve the issues "within reasonable amount of time" which in this case Arlo has failed miserably.

I personally want my money back on my Arlo Pro system. It was the worst product I ever bought. It does NOT work as advertised and in some cases does not even work when someone walks straight past the camer (motion detection is useless and schedule has a mind of its own). There are so many problems with it, it's ridiculous!

I love my original Arlo HD system but the Arlo Pro is a disgraceful mess and Arlo should be ashamed at the way they have (or haven't) acted with regards to fixing it.

But will I ever get my money back? No. The retailer went bust and Arlo will never cough up.

[Stunew78]

You’ve confused new features with bug fixes..
Sue me.

[Lowbattery247]

Nice tactic for putting people off. "we have a fix being tested right now" It has been MONTHS and there is no fix. Do you know of a better company for all of us? I would like to return my arlo cameras IMMEDIATELY. It is quite laughable that you guys claim the battery lasts 4 to 6 months. I have had to climb a ladder every 7 days to charge them. I'm not looking forward to this during the winter, when the battery life will most likely drain 2x as fast. Just direct me to a better company who actually has lasting batteries. If you guys could have just gotten that one thing right, you would have been perfect. Also your customer service is trash... You should offer everyone a free solar panel with their cameras... Or an electrician to come and hardwire them all. Your suggestions for saving battery life make the cameras about as useful as if they were turned off. FALSE ADVERTISING. I will never suggest anyone purchase an arlo camera. I can't wait to get my money back.

[Davhd]

Aug 14th charge, 4-6 total recordings, today at 20%.  Not good.

This is the funny part.  Battery was at 23%, made a comeback and jumped up to 27% the next day, then next morning 24%, this morning 20%.  Not a single recording in that 4 day span.

Serious bugs in the power usage and reporting for Arlo Pro.  

[BGPunggol]

Celebrated my 2nd week running with my battery still 100% with average 4-5 25 sec recordings per day by rebooting my Base Station for 30 sec every day. Hopefully Arlo can release the new firmware soon before I go for my vacation end of October.

[Rgee27]

These are going back to Costco soon if this doesn’t get fixed soon.... Return . Return!

[Davhd]

I received the tired battery message this morning, battery went from 20% to 12% without a single recording overnight.  

This is starting to become very frustrating.  When is this latest attempt to fix battery issues being released to the public?

[oillogger]

The longer it takes Netgear to resolve the unacceptable battery drain rate the more tarnished the Arlo Pro image becomes.  This has a long term effect on their Arlo sales as this poor battery history stays forever on the Internet for future potential buyers to see.  Hopefully Netgear is treating this as an high priority.  I went from six months battery life for the last 1-1/2 years to now 2 months battery life.  I am also quickly becoming a fellow unhappy Arlo owner.  As one of the natives in the Arlo village I am also yelling out, "FIX IT NOW!!!".  Netgear already has other natives on this message board moving to another vendors village.

[Hvu504]

What is the field trial firmware version you have for the base and cameras? I just got my firmware updated and wasn't sure if it is the official new firmware released by arlo or if it is the field trial firmware?

[oillogger]

I am not on any field trial firmware testing.  My Arlo Pro cameras firmware version is 1.092.0.16_21159 and my Arlo base firmware version is 1.10.0.8_22190.  Apparently Netgear updates your firmware automatically between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m for you.

https://kb.arlo.com/4736/How-do-I-update-my-Arlo-firmware-manually

[Hvu504]

I have had the same fraustration as you since May. I had called Arlo support directly which I had requested that I be placed on beta firmware (field trial firmware). I was on the same firmware as you as of yesturday. Today is my day one of the beta firmware. From other people previous posting, they had stated that the battery life returned back how it used to be....efficient! I hope this holds true! Will keep you posted.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

For those users who have been experiencing increased battery drain, a new firmware release is now available that will help resolve the issue.

We appreciate your patience as the development team has worked to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

The firmware on your cameras will automatically be updated between 3:00a.m.- 5:00a.m. PST. 

Please be aware that if your cameras or base station are offline or actively recording during that window, they may not receive the update.  If you do not receive the update during that window you can go to Settings > My Devices in the Arlo app, and from there choose to install the new update. 

For information on this release, take a look here:

Arlo Pro - 1.092.0.17_25364 - 26th September 2018

Arlo Pro 2 - 1.125.11.1_25366 - 26th September 2018

JamesC

[oillogger]

Yippee, hopefully tonight I will get the upgrade and all will be fine.  I noticed currently I do not have an update button available so I assume tonight will be the earliest time I will be able to upgrade to the latest version of firmware.   1.092.0.17_25364 for my cameras.  My fingers are crossed and breath held.

[langrock]

So, what about the owners of the original HD model? Will they not get the improved firmware? Ever since the last update to the cameras, the battery drain was significantly worse and the cameras triggers day and night (noticeable at night due to the clicking of the IR filter and the IR LEDs) regardless of them being disarmed or not; they don't record when disarmed, but still respond to motion.

I would appreciate a clarification about who will receive an update to fix the problems that were introduced in the last firmware update.

[oillogger]

JamesC,

My Arlo Pro cameras did not update last night.  The system was on and no recordings were ever made.  This morning I checked my Settings>My Devices>Picked a Camera>Firmware.  I never saw a "Update" button of any sort.  I check both from a PC login and a tablet app login.  Where is this well hidden update or new firmware button?  The hardware version on four of my cameras is H7 and one is H8.  The firmware for all of my cameras is 1.092.0.16_21159.

[jguerdat]

Try rebooting the base. If that doesn't help, remove one camera from Settings, My Devices and resync - it should update immediately.

[pc2k17]

Sept 26, 2018

Production units will see the firmware update in the next 24-48 hours.  

Firmware versions:
Gen 3 and Gen 4 Base Station  1.10.0.9.23037
Camera VMC4030 (Arlo Pro) 1.092.0.17_25364
Camera VMC4030P (Arlo Pro2) 1.125.11.1_25366

[oillogger]

pc2k17,

I restarted my Arlo base and removed one camera about one hour ago.  I have had the same camera updating since.  The camera has good signal strength to the base with all bars showing.  Is this normal?  None of the other cameras have been updated yet so I assume the updating is done one camera at a time.  At this rate it will take at least half a day or more to update all of the cameras.

[pc2k17]

I've never actually seen the base or cameras going thru the update process as mine have always just done their thing behind the scenes, I never had to try and "force" the update, so I really have no idea how long it takes, but my guess is it should be just a few minutes.

If you removed the camera, then added it back, and now the update is stuck for over an hour that is not right. I'm pretty sure cutting power to the camera during a firmware update is a bad idea, so I'm not sure what you can try except maybe restart the base again and/or removing the camera and adding it back again to try again.

[JessicaP]

Hey everyone,

Make sure to check the signal strength through the app or web if you are not receiving the update. The update will happen between 3-5 AM PST.

If your Arlo Pro or Pro 2 did not update, you can go to Settings > My Devices in the Arlo app, and from there choose to install the new update. 

[oillogger]

The camera that is stuck loading firmware was never removed.  The camera that was removed from the base is still offline.  I have not attempted to add it back yet.

[oillogger]

I removed the one camera that had the system locked up when supposedly updating its firmware for 5 hours.  I never ever had selected the update button at this point.  After removing the stalled camera I was able to reboot the base and update my remaining cameras by selecting the update button.  I then reinstall the two cameras I had removed from the system.  They both updated as expected.  All of my 5 Arlo cameras are now updated to the latest firmware.  My Arlo Pro system is back up and running correctly.   Hopefully my Arlo Pro battery life is back to normal.  Time will tell.  Fingers crossed.  

[ehuang4022]

All 3 of my cameras got the firmware update this morning, so far so good now. I noticed one of my camera got 22% this morning and when I checked this afternoon got 25%, got 3 % more after the upgrade.

willl see in a week or 10 days if new firmware is fix the issue or not.

[kjrst9]

My camera is literally draining about 1% per hour.  It also drained 15% during sync.  That can't be normal!!!!