Nearly brand new Nest Cam battery life is so short

[timlah79]

I purchased 3 latest model "Nest Cam Battery" cameras about 3 months ago. They are all mounted outside, working on battery only. The one facing my front door's battery is draining like crazy. I fully charged it 3 days ago and today it's down to 50% saying it has only 1 week left of life.

I have all the appropriate settings I know of set to keep it alive as long as possible.

• A single Activity Zone that only captures the area where my front door is
  • In this Zone only Notifications set for People, Animals, Vehicles. I do not have Motion aka "everything the camera sees enabled"
• Outside of Zone all detection and notifications are disabled
• Heard Events all disabled
• Video Quality: High (not Max)
• Night Vision: Auto (default)
• Status light brightness: Low
• Battery Life: Balanced (Default)

I will say that in the camera's field of vision is a busy street but again, that's outside of the Zone I set up.

According to Google: 

Nest Cam (battery)

• Busy - About 1.5 months battery life (about 20 - 25 recorded events per day)
• Typical - About 3 months battery life (about 9 - 12 recorded events per day)
• Quiet - About 7 months battery life (about 2 - 4 recorded events per day)

I have nowhere near 20-25 recorded events per day. Probably average of 3-5, some days none, other days maybe 10 max sometimes.

Secondly, my other camera which is pointed at the driveway, all the same settings, street in field of vision but outside of its Zone. That camera does NOT suffer this battery life issue.

Do I have a faulty battery in my affected camera? If not, is there a setting I'm missing? Also, I hope no one responds telling me to factory reset the camera. I already did that not long ago to troubleshoot and fix an internet issue.  Appreciate any advice.

[MplsCustomer]

@timlah79 

I don't know why your front door camera's battery is draining so fast.  Maybe--this is sheer speculation--the camera has to do some processing even for events that are outside a zone.

I'm glad our battery camera (facing the front yard) has been plugged in with the optional power cable since we bought it 2-1/2 years ago.

[timlah79]

@MplsCustomer Thanks. Your sheer speculation could be right. Unfortunately keeping my cameras plugged in 24/7 is not an option for me. Hoping someone else can chime in as well. 

[Lance_L]

Hi everyone,

@timlah79, thanks for posting in the Community and sharing all the details about the issue. I’d be happy to help you with the Nest Cam (battery). Let’s check it out.

To completely isolate the battery issue, let’s reset the cameras to factory settings. Please note that this will erase all data from the devices.

1. Save any video history from the camera, if any. Follow this guide.
2. Unmount the Nest camera, and then locate the reset pinhole on the device.
3. Insert and hold the pin (you can use an unfolded paper clip or a thumbtack).
   1. At 10 seconds, the status light will blink yellow four times, and you’ll hear a countdown tone.
   2. At 12 seconds, the status light will be steady, solid yellow while the device starts the factory reset, and you’ll hear a confirmation tone.
4. Release the button. Your device will be restored to its factory settings.
5. After the factory reset, your device will appear as "offline" in the app until you remove it. Also, the status light should be pulsing blue. If not, repeat step 3.
6. To remove it from the app, open the app, then tap Settings > Remove Device > Confirm.
7. Make sure the phone is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the selected network for the Nest device.
8. Bluetooth should be enabled, but it should not be connected to any Bluetooth devices. Disconnect any Bluetooth devices paired to your phone, such as earbuds, smartwatches, etc.
9. Cellular data should be turned off.
10. For iOS devices, tap Settings > Privacy > Local Network and turn on Local Network Access for the Home app.
11. Add the device back to the Google Home app.

Let me know how it goes.

I appreciate your help, MplsCustomer.

All the best,

Lance

[MplsCustomer]

@Lance_L 

The customer, @timlah79 , has already pointed out that they have already done a factory reset of their camera.

[EdmondB]

Hi timlah79, 

I'm sorry to hear your Nest doorbell isn't working out for you. We'd love to help you out with this. Could you please fill out this form? Once you're done, just let me know.

Thanks for the help, @MplsCustomer.

Best,
Edmond

[timlah79]

@EdmondB I just filled out the form and submitted it. But the form is just an ask for my contact information and a link to this forum post. You already have my info on file and I've included tons of details around the issue in this forum post. In other words, I don't understand why filling out that form is the next best step... 

Secondly this has nothing to do with the "Nest doorbell". I own the Nest Cam (battery) cameras which are having the issue. 

@Lance_L Did you even read my issue description? I literally said in my original post that I already did a factory reset . I've already done that multiple times and am not going to do it again. That is not a solution for this issue. That recommendation is just a copy/paste from your internal documentation as a first step for any camera issues. 

Overall, I would like someone in Google technical support who actually understands the technology and has actually read all my details to help based on those details. Look at logs, whatever information you have on my setup internally to help diagnose this battery problem. Thank you.

[EdmondB]

Hi there, 

Thanks for filling out the form! Our support team will send you an email soon to help you out on your Nest Camera battery. . Please let me know if you have any further questions. 

Best,
Edmond