VMC 3030 Battery drain and Offline

[Yorbalinda]

I have 3 VMC 3030 cameras.  I have a Linksys whole house mesh wireless router with 3 nodes, and one router (node) is less than 25 ft away from the camera in question.  Nearly 95% of the time my system is disarmed, as I  rarely leave.   One of the cameras has a battery drain that drains the battery in about 4 days, even when disarmed the entire time.   I have changed battery, disconnected, reconnected, made sure the firmware is updated (1.4.293).  The batteries I use are the exact lithium batteries that are recommended, and they are in other cameras, and work fine.    Additionally, even though I have an exceptional wireless system, often the camera goes offline.   I have other devices (sprinkler programmer) that are much  further away and have a strong signal.  I am looking for solutions for battery drain, and signal loss.   Do cameras "go bad" after a time.

[jguerdat]

It's actually possible that your WiFi is causing the problem. Great WiFi is good but doesn't figure into Arlo. The only WiFi is between the base and cameras and your WiFi could actually be interfering with the signal between camera and base. A certain amount of separation can be good so consider monitoring signal levels of both Arlo and your WiFi. I recently had to move my base away from my router to get less signal interference. House construction, objects in and on your walls can be an issue as well as other wireless devices near any Arlo device.

[Yorbalinda]

If I am to understand your recommendation correctly, I would move the Arlo base away from the Linksys Velop Mesh system router.   Since the base requires a direct connection to the router, this means I would have cable laying around,  and need to be near electricity as well.    Should I take from your recommendation that the ARLO base may not have the signal strength for a 3800 sq ft house, with the base and the router on one end of the house.  Seems like Arlo may be part of the problem, since the 2 cameras closest to the router/base station work just fine.

[Yorbalinda]

I failed to mention that currently my Arlo base/router  is about 125 ft from the camera.  There are about 3 walls plus an outside wall the signal would have to go through.   Arlo is suppose to work 300 ft from base.

[jguerdat]

300 feet is in a perfect world - free air, nothing between the camera and base, no interference, etc. It's like any other WiFi device - max range is dependent on a ton of variables. The fact that the camera is 125 feet away with walls inbetween is a major issue. I would definitely move the base as close to the camera as possible or use a second base that will allow the camera to have good signal.

Moving the base away from the router can be as simple as just moving it to the extent possible by the existing wiring. In your case, I'd be looking at a WiFi or powerline extender for a second base that can be optimally positioned.

Another possibility is to use a newer camera that connects to your WiFi, if that provides a better signal in that location, although I suspect it wouldn't or would be marginal. You can use a WiFi app on your phone to see what signals are stronger in the camera's position.