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ska967
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Follower

Arlo battery icon has changed color from fully charged black icon to fully charged red icon.  What does this mean?

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JessicaP
Arlo Employee Retired

We want to let you know the development team heard your feedback about the new changes where the battery icon shows a red icon when the Solar Panel is plugged in and fully charged. They have made some changes where you will see a Solar Icon instead when your Solar Panel is connected to your camera. This update will slowly appear on both the web client on your browser and on the Arlo iOS or Android app.

 

You can learn more about this here: What do my Arlo camera's battery level icons and notifications mean?

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  • JessicaP
    Arlo Employee Retired This widget could not be displayed.
    ">
    Arlo Employee Retired

    We want to let you know the development team heard your feedback about the new changes where the battery icon shows a red icon when the Solar Panel is plugged in and fully charged. They have made some changes where you will see a Solar Icon instead when your Solar Panel is connected to your camera. This update will slowly appear on both the web client on your browser and on the Arlo iOS or Android app.

     

    You can learn more about this here: What do my Arlo camera's battery level icons and notifications mean?

  • JessicaP
    Arlo Employee Retired This widget could not be displayed.
    ">
    Arlo Employee Retired

    Hi MPIndiana,

     

    You can learn more about the red charging battery icon from this article here: What do my Arlo camera's battery level icons and notifications mean?

60 REPLIES 60
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Do you see any messages in the camera settings about the battery? Have you tried force closing the app and flushing the app's cache?

visigirl
Tutor
Tutor

How do you empty cache?  My battery icon is red at 100%.  No messages just red 

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@visigirl wrote:

How do you empty cache?  


The precise method depends on what browser, android app, or ios app you mean.

 

With the app, it's in the phone settings - google it for your phone, and you'll find the solution.  Similarly, with the browser, it's a browser setting.

Dtrader1972
Tutor
Tutor
Same issue for me lately, Arlo Pro 3, all are attached to solar panels. 2 of 3 cameras do this now, one is green, all say 100% charged when viewing battery in device settings.
Dtrader1972
Tutor
Tutor
Clearing the cache and forced stop did absolutely nothing at all for the app for me, Moto z4, Android latest version
StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

The change in the status icon is intentional, and not a problem.  It means that the camera is connected to a charger (or panel), but is not charging at the moment.

TaurusPete
Tutor
Tutor
There seems to be more to this. My device is also connected to a solar panel. The icon was never red before and now is red also when the sun shines. And the battery % is stuck at 100%, even when the battery is clearly below 100%.

Restarted device but didn't help. Any advice.
StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@TaurusPete wrote:
My device is also connected to a solar panel. The icon was never red before and now is red also when the sun shines.

Any advice.

Stop trying to fix it.  If there are bugs in the new status, you'll need to wait for Arlo to fix them.  Restarting, reinstalling, etc won't make any difference.

 

The battery isn't always charging when power is available, the details depend on the charging circuitry.  Charging too aggressively can shorten the battery life.

LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

When this happened in the past I believe it was JamesC had people remove the batteries and re seat them.  Most said it fixed the problem

TaurusPete
Tutor
Tutor

Thanks for the hint, LandJS. I'm 1600 km away from my camera, but I will try it next time I'm there.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@LandJS wrote:

When this happened in the past I believe it was JamesC had people remove the batteries and re seat them.  Most the said it fixed the problem


The red icon is a new feature in the UI, so it is not something that happened in the past. The color is confusing people, since red is often associated with a problem.  It simply means that the camera isn't charging at the moment, even if it is connected to a charger or a panel  Reasons include

  • battery already full
  • battery not charging because temp is too cold
  • panel isn't getting sun.

 

There could be bugs related to the feature, but the change is intentional on Arlo's part.  Removing/replacing batteries might change the charging status, but will not eliminate the red icon.

 

FWIW, I think this should have been communicated before the change, and I think using red for this status was an unfortunate choice.

LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

This may be an updated feature I don't know about but there was indeed a past issue with it turning red perhaps just not the currant issue. Follow past posts, they are documented.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@LandJS wrote:

This may be an updated feature I don't know about

@JamesC has talked about the UI change in quite a few posts over the past couple of days.

LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

It's possible there is a new feature AND that there is a bug, certainly wouldn't be new.  I can tell you however this feature has not made it to mine.  Most of mine are plugged in and fully charged, a couple I charge but have yet to see the icon turn red other than in the past and was cured by pulling the batteries and reseating them.  

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@LandJS wrote:

It's possible there is a new feature AND that there is a bug

Totally possible, I agree.

 

JamesC was quite clear in several posts about the change to the status icon.  I'm not seeing it on my own system either.  But my ultra (connected to a solar panel) isn't at 100%, and my other cameras aren't on AC power.  So I shouldn't be seeing it.

LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

I haven't seen any currant posts from James on this, my only point to you is that it did happen in the past, don't believe it - research it.  Also unlike you as I said mine are hooked to power, are at 100% and have never shown red in recent history.  I believe I know more about my cams both past and present than you do.  I was only trying to help the poster by stating a similar issue from the past and what cured it but you want to tell people to quit trying to fix it and it will eventually go away.  whatever

chudak
Guide
Guide

I observed the same red battery sign on fully charged battery off solar panel.

Seems like a but to me, will wait for s/w update

LandJS
Mentor
Mentor

SKA967 in the original post I don't see even mention a system strictly on solar though some others later mentioned some of theirs did nor did you say this applies only to the solar connected cams.  Every comment you show from James also only comments on solar.  Perhaps this only applies to solar in which case I wouldn't know but doesn't change a red issue existed in the past and I replied where it didn't appear limited to solar.  It's all yours

MPIndiana
Aspirant
Aspirant

Hi @StephenB  - this just started on my system today and from these notes seems like it isn't something to worry about.  Can I ask where you found the information regarding this update?  I wasn't able to find the notes that you posted anywhere and in the future would love to have a place to find these before I search into the depths of community (and agree with your point that a communication/pop up in the app would have been helpful :)).   Thanks!

JessicaP
Arlo Employee Retired

Hi MPIndiana,

 

You can learn more about the red charging battery icon from this article here: What do my Arlo camera's battery level icons and notifications mean?

chudak
Guide
Guide

Hi @JessicaP

 

This is a useful link, but it does not explain why so many people see the red icon under normal conditions.

 

Was this confirmed/acknowledged by the Arlo dev team? 

dcfox1
Master
Master

@JamesC Had posted it also means the camera is not charging since it is at 100%. The article doesn't mention that.

Jonnylavery
Aspirant
Aspirant
And therein lies the rub… if the status is incorrectly showing 100% as posted above, then the camera will die without knowing…
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