Camera not getting enough power... but everything works?

[Krutsch]

Hello,

I have a number of Google Nest Cameras (6) and Doorbells (3), plus one Floodlight.

Everything seems to be working correctly - I can access all of my cameras/doorbells and stream live video and get notifications when an Event is captured.

Recently, however, I started getting 2-3 push notifications from Google Home per day with message: Camera is not getting enough power ... from my outdoor camera + floodlight combo. I climbed up on the ladder, removed the camera, and cleaned the contact points on the cable and on the camera (which looked fine).

The floodlight is working just fine, as is the camera, and I can see that the battery settings show it is plugged in and charging. No issues, except for the constant push notifications. See the attached screenshots.

Do I need to reset / reinstall the camera into Google Home? Is this camera defective? If it really was a power issue, wouldn't the floodlight not work and/or wouldn't the camera run out of battery?

Not sure what else to try, but would love to stop getting hammered with these specific notifications.

Thanks, in advance.

[MplsCustomer · Accepted solution]

@Krutsch 

We've had a battery camera for 2-1/2 years; that's the same camera without the floodlight component, and we've never seen a low power message.  My guess is that it should mean what it says, that for some reason your camera is getting insufficient electrical power.  But you might need to contact Support for further information:

1. Go to https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp.
2. Select a category/product family, and type in a brief description of the issue, then click "Next".
3. Click "Other", then click "Next step".
4. Under "Resources", just click "Next step". (Clicking one of the listed links will bring up a Help page page.)
5. Under "Contact options", choose to get a phone call or chat with the team, depending on availability in your country.

[EdmondB]

Hi Krutsch, 

Just wanted to check if you've had a chance to see MplsCustomer's response. If you need anything else or have any questions, just let me know. 

Thanks for the help, @MplsCustomer. 

Cheers,
Edmond

[Kimberlygentry]

My camera is doing the same thing. It’s the same as yours. Hard wired nest floodlight camera. I’m also getting numerous push messages a day telling me the same thing “ camera not getting enough power.” I’ve done the same troubleshooting, checking connections and cleaning. The app shows me the same with fully charged battery and plugged in.  I also have numerous cameras, doorbells and 5 floodlight cameras. This is the only one giving me this notification. I’d love to hear what you find out from support. I hate to have to create a ticket for repairs or return especially as it will require a lot of work to uninstall it from the house, pack return wait for replacement and then have electrician reinstall. 

[Krutsch]

What drives me crazy is that everything appears to be working fine. Maybe there are brief power fluctuations, but the camera remains working, the lights work just fine, and the battery screen always says it's on power. I think what the camera should be monitoring is not realtime power levels, but battery charge. I used to be able to turn off the light switch that controls power to this fixture and I would never receive this message. Now, I am getting 5 of them a day. If the power levels really were that bad, the battery would drain and I wouldn't be able to stream video from the camera and/or flip on the LED flood lights.

I suspect that I could purchase a replacement camera, go up on the ladder, unpair the old one, re-pair a new one, and see what happens. I would open a support ticket, but I don't have the energy to deal with the inevitable "...are you sure it's plugged in?" style of questions.

I will replace the camera and see what happens (and report back).