Nest cam (battery) discharged while plugged on with 10m cable

[Natac]

Gotta say i was suprised this morning to wake up to notifications that my nest cam was offline.

I installed it this saturday (2 days ago). It was fully chaged when installed, and conencted to the 10m outdoor cabel (showing infinity symbol). It's facing my back yard, and has hade like 5 events regitered.

Had to unmount it, brought it inside and connected the the standard adapter but nothing happened. Had to do a restart, and then it started charging (slowly due to extreme teperatures). it's +3 C outisde and hasn't been colder this night.

I'm quite astonished that it could even discharge in 42 hours, let alone when being plugged in.

[nomanj87]

I am having the same issue.

I setup my google doorbell 2 days ago and wired it and verified the infinity symbol on battery. But today it went offline?! Not to mention I setup with medium battery settings and have approximately 10 events per day...

Since I have the wires, I am thinking of moving to wired bell. But I am still surprised why this is happening.

@NatacDid you find a solution?

Thanks!

[Natac]

Mine's the cam, not the doorbell. but no, just fully charge it and re-mounted. will be interesting to see how it goes. if it gous out after 2 days again i might just return it.

[nomanj87]

Ok thanks. Will try the same

[MplsCustomer]

@Natac

That does not seem right. We've had a Google Nest Camera (Battery) for 15 months, plugged in using the optional 10-meter power cable, with the power cable plugged securely into the base of the camera with the cable feeding towards the FRONT of the camera. The battery always displays as "Plugged in" with an infinity symbol and "Battery usage" set to "Custom" (we didn't set that; it started that way), and the camera is always "Live" with a Nest Aware Plus subscription. If we unplug it, it has always showed a battery level between 77% and 100%, even when temperatures reached -20 degrees Fahrenheit last winter.

When the battery camera is plugged in, it is running off of household current, NOT off of the battery:

"Nest Cam (battery) works differently than Nest Doorbell (battery). For wired installation setups with a Nest Cam (battery), the wires power the camera directly. At temperatures below freezing, the battery won’t charge, but as long as the wired power source is available, the camera can operate in temperatures down to -4°F (-20°C)." https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989?hl=en

Perhaps, since you apparently installed the camera in colder weather, it didn't get off to a good start with the battery. But if it doesn't resolve itself, perhaps you should contact Support (https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp) to see if you have a faulty camera.

[Natac]

Yeah, thanks for the reply. It was fully charged when I installed it, and the cable is in the correct orientation + the infinity symbol is showing.

When I reset it it stated 15% charge. Is it went from 100% to out in less than 2 days I suspect something is wrong with it.

We'll se in a few days, and if it happens again I'm definitely contacting support.

[MplsCustomer]

@Natac

Since the battery camera--when plugged in--is supposed to be powered by household current without using the battery, I think there is no reason your battery should have gone from 100% to 15% in 2 days unless there is some defect.

[Natac]

Well, guess I'm contacting support, since it just went offline due to low battery again.

[Natac]

This is getting wierder and wierder. Went out to dismount it. Immideatley got a notification of detected moment, and noticed the green led on the camera.

Checked battery level and it showed a question mark, but said plugged in.

Now 2 minutes later it says 10%, and plugged in.

I'm beginning to suspect the cable is bad. I believe the camera magnetically detecs the cable, and starts operating as if it was connected with the cable, but doesn't get any electricity from the cable. Hence the battery drains in about 2 days.

It's either the cable or the camera that's messed up.

[Natac]

Seems one of the pins on the 10M cable is broken, it doesn't spring up like the others.

And the fact the the original charging cable works with the cam, it strengthens my theory.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/x9sjgT8TMSnzc4iPA

[MplsCustomer]

@Natac 

That certainly looks like a faulty plug on your cable. The USB plugs on these cables do not seem very sturdy; some customers have reported the plugs just falling apart, and other customers in this forum have had to get their charging cords replaced, but this is the first report I've seen about the optional power cable.

You could try contacting Google Nest Support (https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp) for a replacement power cable.

[Natac]

Ty for the input. Already contacted Google store who are arranging a replacement

[Brad]

Hi there,

Thank you for your patience, and sorry to hear that you're experiencing this. I know that keeping your Nest devices charged is very important, and I would love to help you out. When it comes to keeping your Nest Doorbell (battery) or Nest Cam (battery) up and running, here are some articles and troubleshooting guides for the best charging practices:

• This is a great article on general charging times for your devices.
• This helpful article tells you how to save the battery with your doorbell or camera.
• And this last article, will go over charging expectations when you may live in a cooler/colder environment which will address charging temperatures, etc.

I hope those articles help shed some light on charging and maintaining battery levels of your Nest doorbell or camera. Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Brad

[EmersonB]

Hello folks,

@Natac and @nomanj87 how's it going with your Nest camera? We would appreciate it if you could share with us the information that Brad is asking above. Also, were you able to do the steps above? We'd be glad to hear from you — We'd like to make sure everything is working.

I appreciate your help, MplsCustomer and Brad.

Best,
Emerson

[Natac]

Hi, unfortunately the above articles didn't help. 

I've been in contact with Google store to replace my faulty cable.

In the meantime my camera is operating on battery since 6 days, and currently sits at 99% battery with an expected lifetime of 10 months.

[aatienza]

Hey Natac,

Gotcha — keep us posted on how it goes.

I appreciate the help, everyone.

Thanks,

Archie

[aatienza]

Hey there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 
 

Thanks,

Archie

[aatienza]

Hello there,

Just checking in to make sure that you've seen our responses. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours if I won't hear back from you again. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.
 

Thanks,

Archie