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?

[secaz]

If anyone is unhappy with new Android app since they took away the ability to rename rules, if you are quick enough, uninstall from Google Play store and then go install from Amazon App Store - its still at the May 24th version at Amazon... I rolled back to that.

Does Netgear not get that people SWAP cams?  It was REALLY EASY to just swap a cam, rename a cam, then go to rules and rename the rule so it matches the cam in the rule.

Without that ability, you have to change the trigger cam in the rule, reselct the cam you want to do something after triggered in the rule, and reset all the settings you were using for previous cam in the rule... and that's WAY too much pointing, clicking, tapping for me... so... I went back to previous version, will stay with it for as long as it works...

[secaz]

The only GOOD thing I can say about new WEB update is this - Google Chrome works well again with Arlo... it doesn't take forever for clips to load or preview... and live feeds are a bit faster... I use Linux... so my experience is diffeent than Windows users. 

And the biggest pain with Arlo web updates this past year was back in February I had lost the ability with Google Chrome to watch video clips that are zoomed and be able to pan while zoomed.  This FINALLY works again.  I had to go and use Vivaldi browser in order to be able to pan while zoomed watching videos.  Thing was, with Google Chrome, even though THAT function was broken, you could still pan while zoomed watching live feeds.  Go figure.

Anyway, Google Chrome experience on Linux has improved, but it nowhere near as fast and streamlined and elegrant as it had been back when I got the system over a year ago.  Again, every *improvement* Arlo makes regresses p[erformance and quality...

[secaz]

If an email recipt is not valid, Netgear needs to stop doing internet sales, lol...

Netgear just keeps making things worse, and right now, I'm not happy about the IR light STILL coming on when cam status is OFF... but they have our money, and there's nothing we can do except dump the system and buy something else...

Any they don't give a flying flip about their customers...

[secaz]

If Netgear did any firmware updates, as one poster suggested, then it hasn't solved the IR light coming on even when cam status is OFF.

Also getting fast battery drain again - on cams that rarely get videos, and two of them I just put fresh batteries in yesterday...

[secaz]

And what a joyful new feature!  One cam now has decided that instead of recording for 10 seconds like I have it set?  Now it wants to record to 35 seconds...!!!  JOY.  Faster battery drain then ever is in my future... thanks Netgear...

[secaz]

In the running joke that is Arlo, is anyone now getting duplicated Android push notifications?  Started in the wee hours this morning... some time after 1 a.m. here... when a camera triggers, I get THREE notifications on Android, both my phone AND my tablet.  Really annoying... and each has a dropdown for ALARM.  Wonderful.  Let's take bets on how long before this near-senior citizen here is going to accicentally activate the siren on the base station from one of these damnable push notifications.  Does Arlo not take into account that very often the ELDERY are buying these systems?  Because they are easy to install and use (even if they don't work right half the time), and yeah - old people have a hard time with small devices as it is, and Netgear makes no effort to code any accessibility features into its Android app... and I'm a technology consultant, work with tech daily but even I have trouble dealing with small devices... and I'm a competent techie...

As to WHY I am getting THREE of each triggered event, I can only guess its becasue I have three base stations... makes no sense, I know, but three push notifications for each triggered event, three base stations. 

So now, if my garage cam goes off, I get three Android push notifications for the same event... so if my forward facing cams ALL trigger at once, which they do sometimes depending on time of day and the vehicle, I will now get 12 notifications.  Unusual to have cars trigger all 4 forward facing cams...only two of the cams I tweak to catch cars, the others are fairly obscured by landscaping and maybe a handful of times a day a big vehicle or lights on vehicles at night will trigger these other two.  Regardless, why on earth would I want TWELVE Android push notifications when I should only get FOUR?

Am I the only one that Netgear has cursed with this?  They fix nothing and every time they do an update?  Does something nasty...

[Hoboryan]

Has the issue with battery draining been fixed?

I'm on like day 2 and it seems to be better. Though it could be that I'm no longer switching the camera to On/Off. I'm using the arm/disarm feature now (set through smartthings).

[secaz]

The notification thing, think its from damned Arlo Smart - not sure when this got added to my account, but I DO NOT WANT TO SUE IT but it won't let me turn it off.  Say I MUST have at least one type of alert selected.  How on earth do I disable this Arlo Smart thing?

And here I thought I would be able to sit down this morning and just have some coffee and read the news, but now, again, I have to fight with my Arlo system.

[Hoboryan]

what's arlo smart? I have no clue what this is.

[secaz]

Arlo Smart - its something about refining motion detection, or what gets detected.  Do not want or need, but if you are a Premier subscriber, like I am, you now get it for FREE, and Netgear ENABLES IT BY DEFAULT.  And they don't even NOTIFY YOU that you are getting this feature, OR that they are turing it on for your account.  This was the cause of all the multiple notifications I was getting, with pictures attached to notifications, duplicated notifications for each triggered event, it was a MESS.

To disable Arlo Smart wasn't intuative - go to Settings > Manage Arlo Smart and you will see all you cams, and areas for ACTIVE Arlo Smart and INACTIVE Arlo Smart cams, but I did not notice at first that up in the upper right hand corner in TEENY TINY PIRNT was the little word EDIT.  Once I clicked that, I could drag-n-drop my cams to INACTIVE Arlo Smart status.  Click SAVE in the upper right hand corner in tiny print, you are done.

NOW I get a nice text push notification in Android, just ONE notification PER triggered event... NO damned drop down with ALARM or picture of trigger.  Although I have to admit, the pic is nice, but I know the thumbnails for my video clips rarely show the trigger, I have to watch the clips to see what actually went on... so a pic attached to a notification is nice, but useless for me...

Anyway, I did a chat with Arlo support and had to tell THEM how to disable Arlo Smart since they couldn't figure it out... more stellar support from Netgear... the customer has to educate their staff.

Still, have to wonder WHY, when Arlo Smart was enabled, did it feel a need to give me THREE noticications for EACH cam trigger... that's messed up...

I don't want Arlo Smart, free or not - what I WOULD like is 60 days free cloud storage, since they have now given users who do NOT pay for a subscription 30 days free, instead of the 7 free days previously given to non-subscribers.  So I pay for Premier, and I get the SAME number of days free cloud storage as those who do not pay for an account.  Does that not seem right to anyone?

And still the IR lights thing is not fixed, and batteries still drain excessively, but it is not consistent, its sporadic, no idea why some are tanking more quickly than others... and I swap batteires between cams and have different experiences when I do, so bad firmware is my best guess...

[secaz]

Arlo Smart seems usful, but doesn't work for my situation, I want to be notified of everything, including cars... but even if I wanted to use it, I don't want triple push notificaitons for EACH cam trigger.  Had million push notifications this morning before I got it turned it off...

[secaz]

I did like the Arlo Smart picture in the notification, but unless its something huge and slow, thumbnails of my videos don't always show what tirggered the event.  Typically have to watch the whol video... the trigger is either at the beginning or end of video, so the thumbnail they do mid-video doesn't show much most of the time... and besides, having that ALARM button on the notification is a bad deal for me... just know I'd accidentally tap that sooner or later...

I told Arlo support they should not push services on customers and enable them by default, and especially without telling them, but naturally, Netgear doesn't give a rat's behind about its customers...

And interestingly enough, this morning had some fraudulent charges on my bank card - made me think of the hacking issue with Arlo accounts and if mine was one of them... the party was testing my bank card, doing $1 credits and the $1 debits, did this three times each... had to cancel my card this morning...

Think about it - if a company like Equifax can get hacked, why should we think our personal info with Arlo and Netgear is safe?

[secaz]

Fact of life these days, unfortunately... no matter how careful you are with your info...

But still wonder...

Since I put Arlo on its own router and isolated it from my network, there's a LOT less activity on the router for my network, I can watch the activity lights on my routers, and typically don't think much becasue I work at home and have a lot going on... but as soon as I put Arlo on its own router and own subnet... I have noticed a LOT less traffic on the router for my network, and the Arlo router isn't blinking away frantically either... only when there is cam activity...

My worry with Arlo being hacked isn't so much my Arlo account and people getting hold of my cams - there's not much to look at and my cams are all outside, hope they enjoy the videos of wildlife.  However, someone getting control of the base stations and using THOSE to launch an attack on my network, that I have been worried about.  The first thing a hacker will do once gaining access to a device is to look for routers on the network... and granted, its a stretch that this is what was happening, but... not as unlikely as we might have once believed. 

[secaz]

If I didn't think it would be a total disaster, I'd take my base stations and reset them, would feel better about it if I could start clean, now that they are on their own router/subnet... but... nothing seems to go as planned or work as it should with Arlo... afraid I'll wind up with a brick or two or three... lol...

[JoeCymru]

@secaz I do not believe it has anything to do with your base station count. Several here have reported multiple audible notifications with Android. Did you uninstall and reinstall the app? This is what caused it for me. Each iteration of the uninstall/reinstall adds another. To rid myself of this I uninstalled from the phone, checked the last Google app backup, waited for Google to back up without the app, turned off Google automatic restore app settings on reinstall, then did a quick Samsung back up and restore (that process takes a few minutes). Some of that may be overkill but I do not have time to test the variables. Then after all that load the app new from the Play Store. Hopefully you will get back to single notifications. Just try not to uninstall and reinstall and let Google push updates, if indeed that is what happened.

[secaz]

JoeCymru - after disabling Arlo Smart, my push notifications once again behanved, one per trigger... just plain text, no bells and whistles... so I'm good... less is more...

I don't use Google to backup my settings, so each time I uninstall Arlo what I do is I clear cache and settings, uninstall Arlo, typicall restart phone aftewards, then install clean.

It was just a coikny-dink that I have three base stations and was getting three push notifications for each single triggered event... and I don't use multiple devices per rule, either, my rules are one cam, one action, same cam for each...

Arlo Smart looks useful if people need immediacy, to see what happened quickly, and trigger alarm quickly... but I don't need all the frills it offers.  I just wish Arlo had told me they wee giving it to me as part of Premier and that they were going to enable it without my consent...

[secaz]

Wklovelace3 - I'd give you my Arlo Smart functionality if I could, lol... that's not right, that you bought a sub and they just, what?  Decided they didn't want you to have it?

[paddos]

Same issue with excessive battery drain with latest release 2.5.2. Have 5 pros on three different base stations. One camera is not showing drain while the other four are. ... strange. Discharging even when disarmed.

[paddos]

Having crazy battery drain issues without turning off cameras. One has been 100% for over a week with several recordings. Two others recharged at the same time are at 70%. Never in off mode and disarmed most of the time to try to conserve battery.

[secaz]

Having sporadic battery issues, too - put fresh battery in a cam that gets minimal videos... was 100%, then got 15 videos of low res 10 seconds each and battery dropped to 98% from 100%...

[secaz]

Wklovelace3 - have not seen batteries go back up, but have seen them stay at 100% forever then tank.  Thank's not right, either... and since I swap batteries and cams, never same situation twice, but some cams, do drain faster regarless what battery is in them, or where they are,or how many videos they get, so that smacks of firmware... and it kind of looks like its my oldest cams, there are three that are crabby and when I first bought my system, I bought a 3 camera starter pack...

Heat and cold affect batteries, but mine have been basically the same hot or cold... and have not witnessed this behavior previously regarless the weather.  So, who knows... just have to chase the batteries around... and again, it is sporadic, across my 10 cams... have given up trying to find a pattern...

[paddos]

Not just a camera off issue. I am losing 4-5% every 8 hours with cameras disarmed. One still locked on 100% for 10 days now ... this one is armed with multiple videos. As already stated I can't see a pattern in what's happening except the behavior is different since last round of firmware updates. Arlo keeps adding feature content when they should be focused on fixing issues. Sales clearly the priority but they will destroy their brand if they don't shift priorities.

[paddos]

New 2.5.3 for iOS just released. Has anyone tried the new version to see if it fixes battery issue?

[Chase84]

My patience with this issue is entirely gone. I've just updated my support case asking for a full refund or I'm taking legal action. They've had more than enough time to provide a fix for this. No communication, nothing. This was the first netgear product I ever bought as I work in the tech industry and hear about their poor service plenty. Having experienced it first hand now I entirely regret not going with my initial thought process of setting up my own IP camera system.

[Chase84]

I have a premier subscription. Don't even know what Arlo smart is. The system really did work well (Arlo pro) for me before all of this. I loved it. The no fixing and no communication has just been going on for too long.