Purchased Arlo cameras about a month ago and went to charge but ran the battery down

[gmcmenimen]

I bought these Arlo cameras about a month ago and I noticed that the cameras needed charging.  I went to charge one of the cameras and it ran the battery down to almost nothing.  No charging went on and yes, the plug was in all the way.  The app was even worse.  If the app is controlling the camera and the charging should have no issues, then why is the camera struggling to charge.  And why is the app showing a 1% charge and the web app is at 18%.  I had the camera plugged in for four hours and it never got above 1% according to the app.  I have very little confidence in this camera at all.  It never detects at the moment and is always a little late when someone walks by.   I am not sure that this is the best camera for us.

[StephenB]

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@gmcmenimen wrote:

I bought these Arlo cameras about a month ago and I noticed that the cameras needed charging.  I went to charge one of the cameras and it ran the battery down to almost nothing.  No charging went on and yes, the plug was in all the way.  The app was even worse.  If the app is controlling the camera and the charging should have no issues, then why is the camera struggling to charge.  And why is the app showing a 1% charge and the web app is at 18%.  I had the camera plugged in for four hours and it never got above 1% according to the app. 

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The app doesn't control the charging (and neither does the web client).  Both just report the status.  Of course they both should be reporting the same thing.

It'd be helpful if you could sort out if the issue is with the camera, the battery or the charger.

• Are your other cameras charging properly with the charger?
• If you swap the battery with one of those cameras, does the problem move with the battery?

Options are to exchange the system with the seller, or to contact support.  https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx

[titicaca]

Same issues here and have spent about $80.00 in batteries already and only had these about 2 weeks also. I just ordered the recommended rechargeable batteries and we will see what happens. If not I am going to ask for my money back..........

[gmcmenimen]

The camera was plugged in over 8 hours and it actually drained the battery.  No charging occurred.  I checked to see if the charging plug was fully plugged in.  That was fine.  For some reason after a number of attempts, the camera finally started charging.  Took me two days to get it to finally charge one camera.  I did nothing different except plug the camera in.  So I am not sure what changed.  My question here is why did you make the plug so narrow that it takes a special size of mini-HDMI plug.  It looks like you have to be exact in your skill of plugging the charging cable into the camera.  

[StephenB]

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@gmcmenimen wrote:

My question here is why did you make the plug so narrow that it takes a special size of mini-HDMI plug.  

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It's a microUSB socket - no HDMI involved.

But you do need to be careful that you get the plug all the way into the socket.