Rapid Battery Drain. Tried resetting and repairing camera and base station. Changed router.

[Jonb219]

I've had my camera's for a little over 2 years.    Recently, i am experiencing rapid battery drain on all cameras (I have 5).   The batteries would previously last for several months before requiring charging.   Now, they last 3-5 days before they are completely depleted.

Arlo support drug me through 2 months of trouble shooting.   Resetting; Repairing cameras and base stations.    Ultimately, they determined "your base station is bad".    Replaced the base station - no improvement.     I've also replaced 1 camera with a new camera; and replaced 3 of the remaining 4 batteries with new OEM batteries.    No help.    

The problem started several weeks after I replaced my Google mesh with an Eero mesh system.    If it started immediately, I'd suspect the Eero....

Has anyone experienced and/or solved something similar?  

[JessicaP]

Hey Jonb219,

Try to move your Base Station away from your router or any other WiFi devices as that could potentially cause an interference between your camera and your Base Station and could also lead to some rapid battery drain from your cameras.

[Jonb219]

I'll give it a try.   How far away would you recommend?   I'll need to get a longer ethernet cable. 

[jguerdat]

The length of the supplied cable generally is enough.

[Jonb219]

Moving the base station didn't help at all.   less than 4 days, and the batteries are under 15%.    I have a lot invested in this system...but I'm getting ready to dump it.    running out of options. 

[jguerdat]

Bring a camera closer to the base to see what happens. Also check for some wireless device near your base that also uses the 2.4GHz band. If nothing changes, a system reset may help.

[Jonb219]

Thanks - but those trouble shooting steps have already been taken.   This problem has been persistent since November.   

[Jonb219]

I do notice that the red LED lights on the cameras come on randomly, as if the camera is detecting motion.   This happens even when the system is disarmed.    I suspect the constant activity is related to the battery drain.   

[Jonb219]

If my eero wireless mesh routers are using both 2.4GHz and 5GHz - could the router itself be interfering with the Arlo VMB4000 family base station?    Is there an arlo base station that would be compatible with the 2.4/5Ghz router, and not have the same interference / camera batter drain issue?

[jguerdat]

There's no base or hub that uses 5GHz but moving the base/hub away from the router can fix things. I was having issues a while ago after years of no problems with the base right next to my router. I moved the hub away from the router and haven't had issues since.

[Chase84]

I have experienced this also. I have narrowed it down to, even though the system is disarmed and even though the camera is off, motion is still being detected and this is causing the battery drain. If I point my cameras at the wall, they will last forever. As soon as I point them back out into the living space where we're always moving around, they drain within a day or two, not ever having been armed or turned on. Arlo support is useless and there does not seem to be a resolution for this. I have tried factory resets, new routers, etc. Base station is no where near my Ubiquiti AC PRO router (Previously an Asus Router). One camera is within two feet of the base station, another is across the room. Others are throughout the house. I have one in our unfinished basement and it lasts forever as we're never down there. Few weeks ago we went down to play ping pong and the battery drained. Honestly, look into a better solution. I am canceling our subscription and going to something else. These setups are far too unreliable and the support is just not there.