Charging progress with Nest Cam (Battery) in Google Home app

[mmalcangio]

I'd love to suggest an enhancement to the Google Home app for the Google Nest Cam (Battery) models.

It should always show the battery percentage, regardless of whether it's plugged in or not.

Today, when you attach a plug to the camera, it switches from showing the battery percentage to saying "Plugged In." Which makes sense if you were going to leave it plugged in, but I'm not - so losing easy access to the battery percentage is very inconvenient, because then you have to drill into the settings and select battery to view the percentage charged.

That wasn't ideal, but something changed and now when I drill in to the battery it's also telling me that it's plugged in there. So now, there's no way to tell how charged up the battery is in the interface. 

I understand that you want to have the interface look good for folks that have plugged these cameras in, but it feels like the experience has been over-optimized for this use case. You put batteries into these cameras for a reason. It  needs to be easy to determine how charged up a battery is.

[BG]

I don't know. I might disagree. I'm using the Google Home App for android, but on my display, the battery percentage shows on the live view, including the thumbnail views only if there is no power to them. If power is restored, the battery percentage icon disappears completely, removing the clutter. I know they have infinitive power if there is no icon, and if I see the icon with percentage, I know they are on battery. So, why display anything unless they are on battery? Mine does not say "Plugged In", so not sure about that, unless yours is a different app or Apple?

[EVK]

Mine is showing "Plugged in" for the 90% of the time. But randomly it switches to battery mode (reason behind it is still unknown, my thread was closed by moderators). So, it can just switch to battery mode while being wired. And then you discover that battery isn't actually 100%...

[mmalcangio]

I'm a-ok with streamlining the live view, I understand that they have to make trade-offs because of the multiple modes for the Nest Cam (Battery) and the Google Home supporting different kinds of cameras. It's really drilling into the battery panel within the settings where something needs to be tweaked. As of now, there's no way to tell how charged a battery is while it's charging. I'm going to wager that I'm not unique in putting the cameras in places that can be difficult to get to, secured with the anti-theft, etc. that make it a chore to charge and not something you want to keep guessing at when to disconnect the power cable.

[ckbkmt]

I agree, I just got 3 nest cams up running on battery, don't want to run wire, so planning on charging in place every few months or so. Have you tried changing the Camera Mount setting to "Other Mounts"? I know during setup, the camera would turn itself off when it couldn't detect the magnet, maybe with "Other Mounts" the battery display would be different, or maybe turn the camera off while charging? Worth a try.

[Brad]

Hi there, 

I apologize for my late response and thank you for all of your patience while waiting for a reply. I can definitely understand how frustrating your situation must be, but I wanted to make sure that your issue was addressed. Do you still need help with this issue? I know that there's been a delay in response since you posted.

Please let me know if you need further assistance. 

Best Regards, 

Brad.

[ckbkmt]

Yes, is there a way to know the battery charged percentage while mounted and plugged in. This is a common use case where someone wants to charge the cameras while mounted, and want to know when it is fully charged so they can go unplug it.

[PCLOADLTR · Accepted solution]

So after being incredibly frustrated and annoyed at the lack of a battery status while charging, I started poking around in the camera settings. Because of @ckbkmt's post I looked at the camera mount info and noticed Camera Mount was set to Other Mounts (I've only ever used the white disc that comes with the cam). So I switched it to the Made for Google... option and I now see the current battery level and time remaining for full charge.

[Brad]

Hi there,

Just checking in to see if you still need assistance with this issue. If so, please let me know and I would love to look into this further for you!

Best Regards,

Brad.

[ckbkmt]

Yes, my issue is different from the one from @PCLOADLTR. I want to see the battery percentage while the camera is mounted on the provided mount and also plugged in. Currently it just shows the infinity sign, and that it is plugged in.

[Brad]

Hey there, @ckbkmt.

I like that idea, and I could see how it could be helpful. Right now, when the camera is either wired in, or plugged into an outlet, it will show that infinity symbol stating it's receiving power and is not running off of the battery. Thank you so much for bringing this up to my attention!  I will go ahead and submit this feedback forward for you. Thank you for all of your patience.

Please let me know if you need further assistance on this issue.

Best Regards,

Brad. 

[RickKelSD]

I am another person with this problem.  I installed a six cam setup about 4 weeks ago and the cameras need to be charged as only one is powered (the floodlight cam).  My plan was to use the three charger cables that I have to charge the batteries while the cameras are in place on their provided Google magnetic mounts.  I cannot tell what the battery percentage is so I don't know when to move the chargers to the other cameras.  I noticed that the floodlight cam that I installed does not charge the battery to 100%, but to something in the 80% range.  I'm sure this is to (smartly) preserve the lithium battery in that camera.  I wonder if charging the cameras in place will also stop the charging process at 80%?  They are plugged in now, so we shall see.  I don't want to take the cameras down and have to do the adjustments for best view every time!

[Brad]

Hey Folks.

At this time, I'll go ahead and lock this thread. If you're still experiencing problems, feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

Best Regards,

Brad.