Nest cam (battery) is wired, but shows battery percentage 17%

[Tedenea]

I have 4 Nest Cam (battery) installed.  

All 4 are wired and plugged in to electricity with authentic Google store outdoor waterproof cables…constantly. 

When I view the “battery” status on my devices it shows “plugged in-infinity sign’. Perfect. That’s what I expect.

Suddenly one of these cameras now when viewing the battery status shows “plugged in-17%”. Can someone explain this? It was always plugged in. Never unplugged. No power outages. It was 100% charged when I installed it. 

How/why would battery drain if its wired all the time?

I tweaked various settings during the day to save battery but the percentage never went up after hours snd hours. It actually went down to 10% at some point. 

Left it alone and went to bed. 

Today its back to “plugged in-infinity  sign”. 

Any explanations?

[MplsCustomer]

@Tedenea 

I'm just another Google Nest customer. We've had a battery camera for almost 17 months now, plugged in with the optical 10-meter power cable; it's remained "Live" and the battery has remained charged, and we're on our second winter.

Maybe we're just lucky; yours is the second post I've seen just today about the battery camera not charging when it's plugged in (https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Another-thread-about-the-cam-charging-p...).

I can share what others have posted in the last 17 months. A few customer have discovered their power cable was inserted backwards; the cable should feed towards the FRONT of the camera. Some have found their USB plug wasn't fully seated. Some have discovered that if they just fiddled enough with reseating their USB plug, they could get their camera to resume charging. Still others have discovered their charging cord or power cable--or even their camera--was defective.

The USB plug does not feel very sturdy to me, and some customers have reported their USB plug simply fell apart.

Sorry for not being able to provide a more definitive answer.

[Tedenea]

Thanks for the reply. 

One thing I’d like to know for sake of clarity and understanding..

When “wired”, is the camera functioning off of electricity? If that were the case the battery should not be discharging at all (expect in freezing weather perhaps). 

Or on the other hand, does the cam always run on battery only and the wire is just used for recharging the battery when it starts getting low percentage? 

[MplsCustomer]

@Tedenea 

Per Google Nest, the battery camera runs on household current when plugged in:

"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

So, you're right, your camera's battery should not be discharging at all. If it is discharging, then I think either the electrical connection (USB plug, cord, or adapter) is poor or the camera is defective.

[Tedenea]

I'm going to replace the cable. It seems that the 30 ft outdoor cables I purchased and am using on this camera were from Amazon, a 3rd party seller (brand=wochel), not the Google Store. They have a USB plug with an adapter that plugs into the electrical outlet. Maybe the adapter is faulty, causing a loss of connection and discharging occurs.  The cable I just purchased is magnetic at one end that plugs into the camera and has a molded electrical plug at the other end to go into the electrical outlet. No more usb/adapter setup. I have two other outdoor cameras that have these "Google" cables and they haven't discharged, so let's see. 

[janthadeus]

Hi folks,
 

Tedenea, sounds like a plan! Keep us posted. We’re happy to help.

I appreciate your help here, MplsCustomer.

Thanks,

JT

[janthadeus]

Hey Tedenea,

How's it going? Still need our help?

Regards,

JT

[janthadeus]

Hi there,

Just checking in to make sure that you saw my response. I'll be locking this thread if I won't hear back from you again in 24 hours. Should that happen, feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future. 
 

Best,

JT