Arlo Wire-Free Camera sudden rapid battery drain

[charlesb11]

For the third time this year, I'm having to change the CR123a batteries in these cameras. Obviously, there was an update that screwed them up. I've done all of the recommended procedures to get them back to normal (re-install, reset the base, etc., etc.) and the batteries only last 4 weeks (if Energizer) or 6 weeks (if SureFire). They used to last a year since my system is in a quiet cul-de-sac and only gets triggered to record maybe 6-8 times/week.

Unless there is a solution to this problem (software update) that hasn't been discussed previously, this system is being ditched.

[jguerdat]

While a firmware update can certainly change things, that's not the only possible variable, including 2.4GHz interference, new/moved wireless devices in the environment, etc.  I would start by bringing a camera closer to the base to see what happens as well as by moving the base as far as possible from your router.

You can also ultimately reduce battery costs by using the recommended Tenergy rechargeables instead of the non-rechargeables. There's certainly a large cost up front but then it simply goes away.

[jjschmidt1946]

Recently, I changed the batteries in my 2 VMC3030 cameras. following the battery change the cameras refuse to connect to the base station. My 5 other devices (all newer than the 3030) are connected just fine and re boot if taken off line for any reason. ARLO says it's a problem with my ISP, My ISP says it's a problem with ARLO. Can't seem to get any help from either resource, anyone have any ideas?

[jguerdat]

WHen you close the battery door does the camera flash blue, indicating power is connected? Does it then blink either blue or amber rapidly after some seconds indicating connection or failure? When you change  batteries you should just place the batteries in the slots and let the door do the pushing to ensure a good connection.

Give us all details as to what you've tried and what you see.

[charlesb11]

I am starting to suspect that the camera battery drain has to do with the Base Station (Model VMB3010r2 - Firmware 1.12.2.18_950_446c68d). I am seeing the base station lose its connection and reconnecting to the router on a regular basis. Many times every hour, the center LED regularly goes to amber and then blinks green for a few seconds before becoming solid green again. My guess is that this very frequent disconnecting/reconnecting is probably affecting the cameras as I think they need to be connected to the Internet through the base station. So this constant disconnecting/reconnecting is probably responsible for the quick battery drain.

What could be causing the base station to connect/reconnect very frequently to the main router? I know it's not the router itself (a Netgear Nighthawk R7800 running DD-WRT) as no other issues with any other network components have this connection/disconnection issue. Up until a few years ago, my batteries literally lasted for almost a year. Then last year, it dwindled down to 3-4 months. Now I'm lucky if they last a month.

There is zero doubt that this is a software issue with either the base station or cameras. Nothing else has changed in the entire network setup since Arlo was installed.

[jguerdat]

First, loss of Internet connection won't increase battery drain. Loss of connection between the camera and base definitely will since the camera will keep trying to reestablish the connection.

The amber internet LED means the router-to-server connection is lost for whatever reason. This can be a local connection to the ISP problem, one within the ISP itself or anything in the World Wide Wait that causes this to happen. There's certainly a chance that the base has a problem but I'd start by rebooting the modem, router and base, in that order, to ensure a known condition on all of them.

[TallMaryAnn]

That is bunk!

The system worked great for 2 full years and all of a sudden is eating up batteries?  And your recommendation is to move the unmoved system to fix it?>

BUNK!

[TallMaryAnn]

My model is actually Arlo 720P HD Security Camera System

[dcfox1]

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@TallMaryAnn wrote:

That is bunk!

The system worked great for 2 full years and all of a sudden is eating up batteries?  And your recommendation is to move the unmoved system to fix it?>

BUNK!

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Since you never posted here, do you have details of your problem for someone to help you?

[TallMaryAnn]

Sorry, I guess I thought it was self explanatory since I commented on the dead battery link.

I just replaced batteries about a month ago, and they are already drained.  The previous ones were in about 6 weeks, and I know this since I mark the batteries when I install them.  I buy these from the same vendor on Amazon, so don't think I got old ones, and since they cost $22 plus tax for 12, that is damn expensive.  And please don't insult me with the "rechargeable" option, since we all know they don't stay charged very long anyway.

The "Bunk" part is that you suggested we move our router, or the camera, when it never got moved before.  This isn't a rock in the yard, and is a big deal to move things around.

From most of the comments you are pushing an update which screws things up.

So if you have a viable suggestion, please suggest away.

[dcfox1]

@TallMaryAnn I didn't suggest anything here, that was another user responding to another users  situation and No one from Arlo has responded. Also this is a public user forum so you should not post personal information. 

[dcfox1]

Good thing you edited it fast to avoid spam or worse. 

[Geoff]

Just a thought.....do you know that the batteries are actually dead?

I say this because recently, (probably after an update), my batteries are still showing that they are dead on the desktop, even after replacing them.

However, on the android app, they show as fully charged....!

[ErnestC]

I have the same issue with battery drain but even worse. My brand new batteries I bought a month ago only last for 6 days! It went from 100% to zero in 6 days! My 2 Arlo base stations with 9 cameras in total have been in use for 6 years and working absolutely fine until recently I noticed there were numerous firmware updates and the message “firmware has been updated” stayed on the Arlo app for a few seconds each time I logged into Arlo. The battery drain problem arose. Is this a trick by Arlo to force me to upgrade my first gen Arlo system to the latest one? This has made my security system completely unreliable as the cameras can die any time even after I put in 36 brand new CR123 batteries just 6 days ago! I must say I have no confidence in any Arlo device now. Extremely disappointed with Arlo as it has been my trusted security system for years and I recommended to many people over the years. If there is no reasonable firmware to fix to this, I will have to sadly recycle my 2 Arlo base stations and 9 cameras and move on to another brand

[ShayneS]

@ErnestC

Do you happen to have another set of batteries you can test in (1) camera?

[ErnestC]

Yes and I just replace one of the cameras with this new set of batteries from the same batch last night as a test. I will see how this set will last this time

[ShayneS]

If you haven't made any major changes to your cameras settings/position, environment etc. There is a chance you might have a bad batch of batteries unfortunately. Using a different brand/set will help narrow down the issue.