New Arlo Camera Issue

[MikeBravo]

This is getting to be a real pain not being able to find my original thread to document continuing issues.

This is a continuation of an issue I reported where the camera battery went overnight from 45% to 4%. At that time I pulled the camera down and found two (2) batteries weak and two with plenty of charge and when I replaced the two weak batteries Arlo reported the camera then at 84%. 

Well, eleven days later when I signed in I found that same camera now suddenly at 3%. What? I pulled it down again and found one (1) battery weak and the rest ok. I replaced the battery and now its back up to 90%.

This is very discouraging. Out of eight cameras installed only three months ago, two have lost their IR capability and now this one with strange battery issues. 

[jguerdat]

If you click on your name, you should see the latest messages you posted with the ability to see all using a second link at the bottom.

It sounds like you're having an issue with the batteries making contact with the battery door. This frequently is due to pushing the batteries down and having them stick down, so no contact with the door contacts. Just place the batteries lightly into their slots and let the door do the pushing.

Also, the camera operates on two batteries at once, front and rear, not all four. It then switches between the two sets to maximize life. That would explain why two batteries had good life (they weren't in contact so not used) while the other two ran down quickly. Having one battery bad while all others are good just points to a dud cell.

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

If you click on your name, you should see the latest messages you posted with the ability to see all using a second link at the bottom.

It sounds like you're having an issue with the batteries making contact with the battery door. This frequently is due to pushing the batteries down and having them stick down, so no contact with the door contacts. Just place the batteries lightly into their slots and let the door do the pushing.

Also, the camera operates on two batteries at once, front and rear, not all four. It then switches between the two sets to maximize life. That would explain why two batteries had good life (they weren't in contact so not used) while the other two ran down quickly. Having one battery bad while all others are good just points to a dud cell.

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Yeah, I finally figured that out. Thanks.

As I have explained previously (don't remeber who to), I do as you describe, that is let the door seat the batteries. I do that with all my cameras and most seem okay.

The issue with this camera appears to be that it is NOT switching between batteries. In this newest epsiode, only ONE of two batteries in the active pair was depleted and the other just fine, so it seems as if the camera isn't even draining the active pair equally in addition to not switching to the second fresh pair.

At this point, in light of two other cameras losing their IR, I think this is another bad one and I'm going to contact tech support to send them back.

[jguerdat]

Don't forget that the contacts on the door could be out of position, not making contact.

[MikeBravo]

I'm going to give it one more try and pull the cameras down one by one and examine them minutely. 

Then, I'm going to delete them---again----and re-sync. 

Finally, as I appreciate your help, I have a question. Like many I have read about here, my Arlo base station needs periodically  to be power cycled as sometimes cameras will drop off line and are then not be able to be accessed. Power cycling the base station seems to be the only thing that solves that.

My questions is, would an Arlo Pro base station with its better processor and increased memory sove this issue do you think?

[jguerdat]

It may but I don't think so unless the existing base has an issue. When things go offline, what are the LEDs on the base showing? There should be 3 green ones - if not, what do you see? What have you tried? I've had "offline" that simply logging out and back in has fixed so it was obviously a display issue or a very temporary issue with the server connection. I have 3 bases (one original, 2 Pro) that have never gone offline as far as I can remember, certainly not receently.

Lots of folks have complained of offline issues but it's tough to try to diagnose from afar since there's so many variables. All we can do is to suggest various things that may or may not help. Sometimes it's faulty hardware that folks struggle with far too long before getting it replaced, other times it's something about the local environment. And there's the issue that extended power and Internet outages cause reconnection problems.

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

It may but I don't think so unless the existing base has an issue. When things go offline, what are the LEDs on the base showing? There should be 3 green ones - if not, what do you see? What have you tried? I've had "offline" that simply logging out and back in has fixed so it was obviously a display issue or a very temporary issue with the server connection. I have 3 bases (one original, 2 Pro) that have never gone offline as far as I can remember, certainly not receently.

Lots of folks have complained of offline issues but it's tough to try to diagnose from afar since there's so many variables. All we can do is to suggest various things that may or may not help. Sometimes it's faulty hardware that folks struggle with far too long before getting it replaced, other times it's something about the local environment. And there's the issue that extended power and Internet outages cause reconnection problems.

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I haven't been near the base staton when I suddenly get cameras going offline except just today.

I was in the process of rehabbing the two cameras that had lost their IR where the base station is located when suddenly all my cameras went offline. I then saw that the middle light, the Internet connection one had changed to amber. It stayed that way for a good twenty to thirty seconds and then went green again and of course my cameras came back.

Tonight I'll see if the two cameras get their IR capability back and then I'll consider what to do at that point. I have two other base stations, but redoing everything with a new base station would be a pain so I'll have to see what happens tonight. 

If it does turn out  to be a server issue (I'll try to go over and check the station lights the next time it happens), the question I will be interested in next would be if the Arlo Pro base is more reliable.

[MikeBravo]

Okay, I redid the cameras as instructed. 

Right now one of the cameras has regained its IR. The other one is still down.

I'll try that one again one more time, but then I'm going to return it.

[MikeBravo]

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MikeBravo wrote:

This is getting to be a real pain not being able to find my original thread to document continuing issues.

This is a continuation of an issue I reported where the camera battery went overnight from 45% to 4%. At that time I pulled the camera down and found two (2) batteries weak and two with plenty of charge and when I replaced the two weak batteries Arlo reported the camera then at 84%. 

Well, eleven days later when I signed in I found that same camera now suddenly at 3%. What? I pulled it down again and found one (1) battery weak and the rest ok. I replaced the battery and now its back up to 90%.

This is very discouraging. Out of eight cameras installed only three months ago, two have lost their IR capability and now this one with strange battery issues. 

This issue madly continues with a second camera that suddenly went from 45% down to 15% overnight. When I pulled it down and tested the batteries only one (1) was found to be weak and when I replaced it Arlo  reported the battery level at 90%. That was on November 11th. 

This morning when I log in I find the camera completely offline. The night before at bedtime it Arlo reported its batteyr level at 55%. Here we go again. I pull it down and check the batteries. Two (2) report as weak and two report as having plenty of  charge. So, again, I replace two batteries and put it back up. Arlo reports that the battery level at 97%. 97%!!!!

Now, I don't want to be taken wrong here. It's much more economical replacing one or two batteries at a time, but it also makes it impossible to properly gauge whether my cameras are working properly or should be replaced as defective. 

Of the eight cameras originally installed on July 12th, only two have their original batteries reading 71% and 64% respectively and are well on the way to fulfilling the maximum  advertised battery life which is very reassuring. Of the remaining six (6), two had be replaced having defective IR and the other two which have been left at the default optimized video to prolong battery life and are not recording anymore that the standard advertised four (4) minutes per day which is supposed to allow up to six (6) months battery life are having unusual and concerning battery issues. 

Two (2) out of eight (8) working properly is an outrageously poor quality control. Added to this I'm paying for the use of the extra three cameras and the convience of the cameras being wirefree is slowly being outweighed by the seriously reduced value of the system.

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[MikeBravo]

Yet another of my cameras has falllen prey to this battery not switching issue and this camera was a replacement for the replacement camera that wouldn't sync at all which was a replacement for an orginial camera whose IR failed after just two months.

Once again, a camera that read 57% battery strength the evening before, wound up with 9% the next day and triggered an alert from Arlo. I took the camera down and tested the batteries. The basic tester indicated that three of the batteries were fine and one was weak. 

Now armed with my multimeter, I checked the ones that read 'good' on the basic tester and found that one battery was at 3.05v, one at 2.92v, and one at 2.81v. Oddly, the battery that tested weak listed at 2.87v.

I put the 'good' batteries back in with a brand new one that read 3.25v and now Arlo lists the battery strenght at 84%. 

This is becoming maddening. Three of the eight original cameras I bought absolutely refuse to  change batteries when the running pair fails. 

Mr. Netfear moderator, what can I do?

[JamesC]

MikeBravo,

Please contact the Arlo Support Team and open a case to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[MikeBravo]

Here's another example of the strangeness of the battery life issues I am having.

A completely different camera from the ones that I have been having issues with, one morning a few days ago suddenly shows a low, 24%, level from a 52% just the night before. I brought the camera in and tested the batteries. The basic charger, as many times before, shows a good solid charge. The multimeter shows each the batteries reading between 2.82 to 2.90 volts. 

Since this camera is readily accessible, I tried and experiement. I put the batteries back in and they still showed 24%. I took them out and changed their order and this time the camera read an improved 45%. After several hours indoor still showing 45%, I put the camera back outside.

Now, two days later mounted outside, amidst temperatures as low as 3 degrees, it still shows a decent 45%.

I can't be certain what this means on top of my other issues other than suspecting at least for now that many of us may be throwing away perfectly good batteries owing to some strange hardware of software bug.

[jguerdat]

Switching the batteries around and getting a different result implies that one pair (front or back) wasn't making contact or lost contact after being used for a while (corrosion on contacts? loose battery? phase of the moon?). Make sure when insertng batteries to only loosely place them and let the cover do the pushing into place.

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

Switching the batteries around and getting a different result implies that one pair (front or back) wasn't making contact or lost contact after being used for a while (corrosion on contacts? loose battery? phase of the moon?). Make sure when insertng batteries to only loosely place them and let the cover do the pushing into place.

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Yes indeed. I took your previous advice to heart and am scrupulous when I insert new batteries. The cameras are only a few months old and the connections are pristine. I still using at this point the batteries supplied by Netgear which I test before installing and all thus far read as fully charged. 

This is the fourth fo eigth cameras with strange battery issues. By contrast, two of the eight cameras are in sixth month of their initial deployment and still read 54% battery life which I consider fantastic, however all things being equal in terms of how much recording is done, etc, why is there such a wide divergence in battery life and why is it that so many of my cameras apparently aren't switching between batteries and\or misrepresenting how much useful charge remains?

All I can do at this point since the system is ideal for our needs is to persist and see where it leads us.

[jguerdat]

Is there any chance that the battery covers aren't fully pressed down and into place? I've had occasion to find a bit of a gap after closing the cover, meaningI didn't close it properly.

BTW, what batteries areyou using? 

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

Is there any chance that the battery covers aren't fully pressed down and into place? I've had occasion to find a bit of a gap after closing the cover, meaningI didn't close it properly.

BTW, what batteries areyou using? 

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Based on the advice I received here, I have been very meticulous in both inspecting the battery housing contacts and in the way I am closing the covers so that there is no question about those aspects. Insofar as two of the eight cameras are performing completely up to standards, given that I have not handled those cameras any differently from the others, it still seems as if there is either some issue with the batteries, a quality control on the contacts that is so minute that a visual inspection doesn't reveal any irregularities, or with the basic firmware itself. 

As to the batteries, I am using the original Duracells provided by Netgear.

[jguerdat]

In the huge, original rechargeable battery thread were many posts about the physical specs of the various batteries with some being wider (hence sticking) and/or shorter or longer than the OEM batteries. I don't know what the design tolerance is for the cameras as to what sizes they will properly accept but it's possible that your cameras are a bit out of spec or the batteries are.  If careful inspection of both the springs and contacts on the cover don't provide clues, it's possible that the spring length is too short or the cover contacts are deformed somehow. Since we have little control over those (other than pulling on the spring to try to lengthen it or bending the cover contacts, both very judiciously so as to not void the warranty), all I can suggest is:

1) Try a different battery manufacturer or

2) Open a case with support to try to get replacements.