Rapid blue flashing light since firmware upgrade

[Munchkin6]

Ever since firmware upgrade 1.092.0.6_15695, I have noticed my Arlo Pro cameras blink a rapid blue light every so often.  They seem to work fine otherwise.  Would anyone know what this means?

Thanks.

[D_Hoque]

I am also experiencing this which I found strange.

All cameras otherwise functioning fine and recording.

Have rebooted hub hopefully does the trick will keep you posted.

[96708]

When recharging, solid blue means the battery is fully charged. Seems the firmware is confused on the status of the battery. Have you tried pulling it our and reinserting it and maybe shutting down the cam and turning it back on from the base station and even rebooting the base station?

[Munchkin6]

Yup, tried turning off and on the base station, and tried turning off and on the cameras from the software.  Tried with the camera plugged in and with it unplugged.   Still noticing the rapid blue flashing light.  It seems random and happens at different times.  It's just something I notice if I happen to be looking at the camera.  So I'm not sure how often it really happens.

[96708]

The blue light is only relevant for charging. As I said when it turns solid means your battery is fully charged. I think you got a lemon. Swap batteries with another cam and see if the problem follows the battery or the cam. IMO its likely the cam. Request RMA once you figure it out. Don't take no or excuses for an answer. Level 1 tech will make you do silly excecises but shove it down their throat you want a replacement. 

[steve_t]

Flashing quickly denotes sync'ing between the camera and the base. This may be because prior to this, the camera and base lost their connection. The most common reason for this seems to be interference from the wifi router. Try position your base station another few feet further away from the wifi router and observe for the blue light again or cameras going offline intermittently

[Munchkin6]

I have moved the base station a couple of feet away from my router (they were right next to each other before), and this seems to have helped greatly.  Thank you.

I do notice the same rapid blue flashing when I first plug in the camera to charge it.  I have noticed if I keep the camera plugged in all the time, it still does on occasion blink rapidly.  However if I unplug the cable, I haven't noticed the random rapid blue blinking so far.  As a side note, I have the "Battery Fully Charged Indicator" set to Off in my settings.

[96708]

You shouldn't turn the light off to avoid seeing it if there is a defect in the battery and/or the cam. I would troubleshoot and ask NG for new one IMO.

[steve_t]

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Munchkin6 wrote:

I have moved the base station a couple of feet away from my router (they were right next to each other before), and this seems to have helped greatly.  Thank you.

I do notice the same rapid blue flashing when I first plug in the camera to charge it.  I have noticed if I keep the camera plugged in all the time, it still does on occasion blink rapidly.  However if I unplug the cable, I haven't noticed the random rapid blue blinking so far.  As a side note, I have the "Battery Fully Charged Indicator" set to Off in my settings.

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Great to hear it's working much better!!
Yup. I think it might flash blue to show that it's charging but when the battery is full, you won't have the solid blue LED because you've turned it off in the settings. I've only turned it off for the camera I have an AC power full time

[D_Hoque]

I seem to still experience random flashing blue light is this a known fault I have tried reboot and re sync.

The cameras have also had a battery pull and in regards to location they are all situated very close to base station as close as 5 meters away.

[Munchkin6]

On Dec 18/17, I posted that the flashing blue light seemed to have lessened when I moved the base station farther away from my router.  But after watching it over the last month, it seemed about the same.  Probably about once a day, I would still notice the flashing blue light.  But now that there was a recent firmware update done Jan 26 or 27, 2018, I am again keeping watch to see if I notice the random flashing blue light.  I'm really hoping this latest firmware update addressed this issue.  It's been a couple of days since I updated the firmware and I'm happy to say I haven't noticed it flashing (so far).  Fingers crossed!

[Munchkin6]

It's been 2 weeks since my last post on Jan 28/18 when I did the lastest firmware update to version 1.092.0.8_17203.

Unfortunately, the flashing blue light continues.  Probably about once a day or two, I'll notice it.  Still no idea what causes this.  They do seem to work fine otherwise.  If anyone has any insight into this, would love to hear it.  Thanks.

[jguerdat]

While you could simply cover the LED with black tape so it's not seen, if it's a hardware problem only an open case with support can get you a replacement.

[steve_t]

AFAIK, the blue light flashing is supposed to indicate that the camera is sync'ing. Any chance of a skin or something pressing that button?

[Munchkin6]

No, I have no skins on my cameras.  This is a fast flashing blue light.  The same one you see when you first plug in the camera to charge it.  But I have cameras that are not plugged in at all and one that is plugged in constantly, and they all flash the blue light every so often.  Like I said in my very first posting, this all started happening after a firmware update.  The most recent firmware update obviously didn't fix it.

[steve_t]

OK, cool. Can't say I've seen it but then again, I don't spend much time looking at the front of my cameras any more. Maybe contact support and see if anyone else has mentioned it or if they know what it means

[NetBox]

Just thought I would share my experience with my Arlo cameras/system.

I have the exact same issue on at least one of my Arlo Pro cameras too (I say at least one as it's the only one that I can see the front of regularly and is very noticeable at night).

It's a bit frustrating (especially as the Arlo Pro systems are not cheap) but seems to have no negative effect and you can connect to that camera ok. But I did also have an issue with that camera (or I believe it was that one) on first use.

When I put the batteries in first time round when they were new, one camera was fine but that camera was showing the low battery led, I had to reinsert it a few times before it recognised that there was actually a fully charged battery installed.

It ran fine since then apart from that blue flashing light for seemingly no reason, but when I tried to charge that camera it wouldn't go past 80% and when I took the battery out and put it back in I got the same low battery led for a few attempts (then it showed 80% but did then charge fully - although I did have to resync it again for some reason).

Also on both my Arlo pro cameras the batteries seem to rattle around inside a bit as if they are not the correct size and if I tip the camera forward it disconnects and seems to go off like its lost power and rebooted. I have tried packing the back of the camera battery with cardboard to ensure it is firmly held in place when the door is shut, but it still gets that low battery led when the charged battery is put in sometimes.

I think may be the camera has some connection issue with the battery but its not the pins as they all look ok, so it might be a bad batch of cameras which got out and might explain why it flashes blue sometimes if it looses power/connection and resyncs.

My Wi-Fi also is perfect signal so that won't be the issue but I personally think it's a hardware issue.

Mine is only a few months old so am monitoring mine and will see how it is next time I need to charge it/them as it's a pain to RMA the cameras as you are left without security until they are replaced and I need my system working.

I've not actually noticed the blue led flash on mine for a while but also not been checking it as often as I did when it was new.

[jguerdat]

You don't need to putz around with defective hardware. Open a case with support here for a possible replacement.

[superbit]

I just noticed this threrad and thought I should also mention that at least one of my powered cameras also has a flashing blue light at times. I also have my blue fully charged light turned off so as not to attract attention. Mine is on the adaper 24/7 but the camera is only armed when I leave the house. Having not armed the camera for a week or so I begun to notice the blue flashing light. Before this, this same camera kept on comming up with a charging fault. I used another adapter and the adapter fault went away.

I beleive the flashing blue light is when the software checks the condition of the battery to see if it need charging. 

[SallyC]

I thought it was just me! I asked about this also, in another thread, but didn't tie it to the firmware update.

My cameras are plugged into an outlet and don't even use the battery (unless there's a power outage) and the camera I observed this on is about 5 feet from the base station so that's not an issue either.

[jsturess]

I have the same problem with one of my cameras. blue light for charging is off, about 4 meters to the hub, no skin, and powered with cord.

Any solution to this problem?

[ShayneS]

jsturess,

The blue LED will only be present when inserting the cable to the camera when plugged in. It will not stay illuminated while charging.

[jsturess]

@ShayneS In my case, the cord is always connected/powered. Occasionally the blue led flashing rapidly for a half day and then it stops. And after som days it starts again. rapid 2 sec, led off, rapid 2 sec, led off and so on.....

I have 9 cameras and 7 is always powered, and this is only happens to one of my seven that is powered with cord.

[ShayneS]

Hi jsturess, 

Have you tried to remove & reinsert the battery, if that does not work we can try and remove the device & re sync.

[jsturess]

Here you can se how the blue led is flashing. It says its 100% battery. Happens a few times a month. only one of the seven that is powered with cord.

@ShayneS youre soulution didnt help