Infrared light comes on when camera is off causing rapid battery drain

[Shammy]

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

[oshawn]

There have now been hundreds of patrons with the same problem yet Netgear has failed to respond in a "community" I assume it created for owners to get answers. Netgear, how come you're not answering our inquiries? Is it because our concerns only seem to be raised within the bounds of your website and you think you are containing it? I would appreciate your addressing our issues before we start #arlo sucks #netgear sucks #dontbuyarlo #dontbuynetgear #netgearspeepingonus, etc. At a minimum, an apology would be appreciated. After the apology, Netgear should offer to replace our wasted batteries. These batteries are not cheap! I can't even turn on my system because it's eating up my batteries in a day. I was already irritated about the life of the batteries and the cost but when you add to a system that doesn't shut down and kills the battery life, I would NEVER PROMOTE ARLO/NETGEAR nor buy another one of your systems! I'm giving you (Netgear) one more day to ignore our concerns and then I'm taking it to social media (outside the bounds of Netgear('s community))!

[davdel]

I did some more experimenting.  The IR LED's are coming on because the motion detection is still operating even when the cameras are turned off.  I've created a custom mode now.  The not selected cameras in this mode now do not have the Motion Detection operating. Only the one camera selected in the custom mode still has the Motion Detection operating when the camera is off.  It will be interesting to see the difference in battery usage over night.

[Hoboryan]

I am using smartthings with my Arlo Pros, so I was turning the cameras on/off to simulate arm/disarm. 

This was draining the batteries over recent weeks, as indicated earlier.

Switched to the SmartThings smartapp called ArloPilot. This allows you to use Arlo's arm/disarm/scheduling modes. I'm no longer setting the cameras to on/off and after 1 night it seems to have helped. Not sure if there are still battery issues if not in the off mode.

PS: This issue sounds a lot like a strategy utilized by another big tech company to prompt users to upgrade their smartphones.

[pc2k17]

@slimshizn

Here you go........... you can change your arlo mode via smartthings. Works great. I have it tied to SHM, when I'm armed (away) or armed (stay) or disarm, it automatically sets my arlo mode to what I want.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-arlopilot-enhanced-arlo-system-integration/117581

[secaz]

pc2k17 is right - I've had some cams display normal behavior after popping batteries out then putting them back in, but they go back to former behavior of IR lights coming on when cam status is off.  So - if anyone thinks its fixed, its not.

I found that the cams behave properly after replacing batteries, but once you change the cam status from OFF to ON and THEN back again to OFF, the IR lights come on...

[secaz]

Wklovelace3 - you had said if we didn't get an email, we were not affected.  I received an email prompting me to change my password, so does that mean my Arlo system was hacked?

Would be nice if Netgear would post to this tread with DETAILS of what happened, instead of making us hunt and peck for info... honestly...

So glad I put my Arlo system on its own router and own subnet - offers some protectiong at least... and I exclusesively use Linux, so not overly worried, but worried enough to separate my Arlo system from everything else on my LAN...

[Hoboryan]

I had the same problem but now that I’m just using the arm and disarm modes it seems to be better.

Is there any reason why you’re turning them on and off?

[secaz]

I get zinged to different pages as well, even if I tick the "remember me" box on login page...

Netgear should email ALL its Arlo customers with regular updates on the hardware situation AND the hacking situation.

They are not being responsible AT ALL... they are negligent... this is *supposed* to be a security system... not some home entertainment system.  Its unconscionable for Netgard to leave its users, not to mention PAID SUBSCRIBERS, in the dark... and for SO LONG...

[secaz]

Hoboryan - I turn the cams OFF when I change batteries, or plug the cams into chargers... or when I am out swapping cameras... it has always been the simplest, easiet thing to do, just turn them OFF.  I only need to turn off two of my 10 cams at a time when I do batteries.  I will turn off a cam in a location I can reach without a ladder, typically on my patio, I then clean the lens, pop in a new battery.  I then turn off the cam I intend to replace it with (typically location only accessible by ladder), go and replace that cam with the one I just prepped.  After the swap cam is in place, THEN I turn the cam back on, do a quick position check, and that's it.  Then I take the cam I had swapped out, pop a fresh battery in it and put it back where I had taken down the first cam... then I turn that cam on, do a quick position check... that's it.  I don't want to disarm all my cams when I do this.  Especially at night which is when I do the cams out front.  I want some of the cams on while I'm out there in the dark.

And when I am out front in the dark I don't want the IR lights coming on when the cam is OFF... live in dark sky community it is REALLY easy to see the IR lights coming on and off, and a neighbor across the street who has been threatening me, he can see my front cams from his livingroom... he sits in the dark with the shades open watching TV... and I'd rather not have him see the IR lights constantly coming on and off while I'm out there getting up on a ladder.

[pc2k17]

Yes that is the problem. Many here say it's an IR light issue, but thta's just a symptom of the real issue which is when the cameras are off they are still detecting motion. During the day, no lights and you wouldn't notice. At night you get the lights. Constant detecting of motion when they are off and add on the IR lights at night and the bateries drain fast.

Just use a custom mode and don't turn the cameras off. If you turn them off and use a custom mode batteries will still drain. If you use a custom mode and disarm cameras and leave them turned on battery usage should return to normal.

[pc2k17]

I turn my cameras off simply because it was convient to do so thru smartthings. I had routines setup that automatically turned the cameras on/off depending on if I was home or not and if certain conditions were met.

As for the "hack", here is my understanding of it........

A third party got ahold of some Arlo user account passwords, probably from the people who called the fake Arlo support number and gave out their password and let people remote into their computers.

The "hackers" then used these passwords as a basis for a brute force attack, which is essentially a program that runs over and over and over, etc, trying different password combinations. If you have a weak password, eventually the program finds the correct combination and they have your password. Then they used any password that was found and logged into users accounts.

Any password with even moderate security will hold off a brute force attack for days, weeks, and even years, so any one who's password was found out must of had a really weak password. My old password was 20 characters long of random upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. It would take a brute force attack probably 20-100 years to crack the password. My new password is 40 characters long. Tip of the day: always have your passwords as long as possible and use upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters if available.

[secaz]

And again, why do we now have to jump through hoops when simply turning the camera OFF used to work?  It was splendidly simple.

With motion being detected all the time, how do we know if the cameras are really off and not capturing videos or doing live feeds without our knowledge or consent?  A behavior which only presents itself when cam status is OFF?  And these videos are being diverted to only God knows where?  I no longer trust this system at all period.  I'll be looking for something else, but in the mean time at least have the Arlo system on its own router and subnet to keep it away from other devices on my LAN.  Not perfect, but will do until I can find some other system.  Sad thing is, I'll be out the money I paid - don't think I could sell this system to anyone in good conscience.  It will get boxed up and put away...

[secaz]

pc2k17 - I have had Netgear support ask to "get into my system", and quite persistently... have always declined, especially since what I was trying to explain, a chimp could understand it... 

[secaz]

Wklovelace3 - you are right, I have enough cams to notice disparate differences, and I swap cam positions, and I swap batteries bettwen cams, so never the same setup twice.  And it is not normal for cams to stay at 100% with daily videos, and stay at 100% for a week, even, just to then suddenly drop by a big amount.  Don't know how many times I've check a battery at night, was reporting 100% then the next morning was down to 94% with only a handful of videos that night at 10 seconds each and low res.  The battery had been discharging all week, naturally, but the new firmware isn't reporting the correct battery percentage...

[slimshizn]

Still no comment by Netgear. Unreal. With "security" cameras being this expensive they need to make it a priority to get this fixed and a firmware update pushed out NOW.

[secaz]

Do not hold your breath waiting for Netgear, you will turn blue...

Pretty sure their legal counsel has advised them to zip it...

[howangder]

My base station has been down for two days. Does anyone know if there has been firmware pushing out that might have caused the problem? My internet has been up.

[secaz]

Not to mention hideous performance with the Android app - every release it gets worse and worse... takes forever to load cam status and clips... and I do not have a slow connection, either...

[pc2k17]

This was posted yesterday by DawnM, in case you missed it.......

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.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Infrared-light-comes-on-when-camera-is-off/m-p/1584538#M38...

[secaz]

What I'd like to know is why, when it QUICKLY became apparent that there was a serious problem with new firmware, that Netgear didn't just ROLL BACK THE FIRMWARE.  And still no details as to what happened, why they did it, or why they didn't just roll back to a good version of the firmware... unless there is far more going on here than meets the eye...

Again, dismal tech support, lousy customer communication, quirky firmware and apps, wholly unreliable as a security system...

[Chase84]

So it seems a firmware update was released yesterday. Anyone noticing anything different?

[secaz]

They did mess with the website... added e911 icon... I would never use that because Arlo isn't reliable, and besides, prefer Arlo to NOT have my physical address so they can let hackers get it...

[secaz]

Installed new Android app  - there's a blurb that pops up - states new features... says cloud storage is now 30 days free instead of 7 days.  Um - so why are people paying for PREMIUM service, then?

[secaz]

BTW - took one of my cams, turned it off, popped out battery, waited 30 seconds, put it back in, IR lights off, do not come on... but same old stoary... turn it on, then turn it back off, IR lights still come on when camera status is OFF.

Great fix.

Go Netgear...

[secaz]

Oh - in the Android app - they took away the ability to RENAME RULES...