VMC 3030 Battery life indicator inaccurate?

[tlernst]

Once a week (Monday) I check and record the battery level in all my Arlos and have seen a problem common amoung all 3 units...the battery level indicator is inaccurate. This past Monday I recorded a battery level of 85% on one of my cameras and then, Thursday morning, I received a notification that the battery level on that unit was at 4%. During the time between Monday and Thursday there was no activity with the camera and it is only powered up when we are not home or at night. So there was nothing that would have drained the power that much and so quickly. This is not the first time i observed this, it has happened to all my cameras since the time I first activated them. This is very disturbing, especially if it happened while away on an extended trip. Most likely the camera would die before I got home to change the batteries. My cameras just went through a firmware upgrade and hopefully, this was something that was corrected by this update. I have two other battery operated camera systems and the battery level indicators work very well, don't know why Netgear can't get something as simple as this, corrected.

[steve_t]

Perhaps it was the firmware update that drained the batteries. Is it particularly cold where you are? I have 4x VMC3030 and they are all fine with regards to battery life and reporting. What kind of batteries are you using?

[tlernst]

The update occured after I changed the batteries and no, I'm in Phoenix and it doesn't get very cold here. I'm using non-recharable Lithium batteries, the same batteries I use in my other camera system and I have no issues with the battery level reporting with this system. Like I said, if it was just one of my cameras acting funny, then maybe I would look at that particular unit, but this has happened, at some time, to each of my Arlos.  

[tlernst]

I see that Netgear lists this reply as an acceptable solution to my initial issue...it is not, by any means, an acceptable solution. In fact, it is not a "solution" at all, rather just someone throwing out some possibilities as to why the battery level readout is not very accurate. Would like to hear what Netgear has to say about this situation.

[steve_t]

I don't see any comment in this post marked as a solution to your issue, especially not my comment. Are you referring to my comment? 
I have 4x Arlo HD cameras and the battery indicators work fine. This forum is more about users helping other users. If you need further technical assistance, please use the Contact Support link at the bottom of the page

[tlernst]

I received a message from Netgear inticating that your response was accepted as a solution. In fact the exact wording was "A reply to a topic you are following has been accepted as a solution!" I understand your response was just informative, but Netgear seems to think that it fixed the problem. As to your cameras keeping the correct battery level readings, maybe it has something to do with the age of my units, I bought mine right after they were made available. But whatever the reason, mine will only track the levels until 80% - 85%, then they stay at that level for quite a while and then suddenly drop down to less than 10%, with no unusual camera activity and any other extenuating circumstance.

[steve_t]

Very strange. I have pretty old cameras - H7 hardware apparently.

Are you using rechargeable batteries?

[tlernst]

No, I don't use rechargeable batteries.