Nest camera battery going offline for no reason

[thegios]

Fifth post: my camera goes offline with no reason for minutes than comes back onlinme again.

[thegios]

managed to change camera with Amazon but the new one is even worst than the old one. Tonight it went offline for a few minutes. This morning when I woke up it was offline and it took me 1h to bring it back online after several attempts during which the camera went havock. All this time the camera was correctly connected to the router, the led was green and I was receiving movement notifications, yet the Google home app was either saying camera was offline or that it was online but off. Clicking on turn on but was to no avail: led steady green, notifications arriving, no live streaming. Then all of a sudden camera fixed itself and streaming appeared again and on/,off button started working again. What is strange is tha if camera is online and on, if I turn WiFi off I do not get any offline notification: the Google home app simply says the camera is unreachable (not offline, but unreachable), so what does offline means at this point? It is obvious it is a Google server status and your servers have problems.

[thegios]

Fourth ticket on the same subject, since previous ones never got an answer: camera goes offline for no reason.

The router still sees the camera connected, but on the Google Home App it is offline. This lasts between 10 minutes and an hour.

This happens either when camera is off (cos I am at home) or when camera is on (cos I am outside).

It is not a router issue.

It is not a WiFi issue cos camera is 4 meters from router.

[cbielinski]

I have the exact same issue. I have 5 Nest cameras in and outside of my house. One frequently goes offline and it is the one closest to my modem and router. It's not a modem, router, or wifi issue, as I can get signal standing below it with my phone. I have seen other questions on this topic and there seems to be no answer that actually solves this issue.

[thegios]

So after opening 3 weeks ago two tickets here that never got an answer

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Home-Automation/Camera-going-offline/m-p/603816#M45201

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Nest-Camera-Battery-keeps-going-offline...

my nest camera battery started behaving for two weeks but yesterday it started again to go offline (3 times in less than 24 hours).

As always, this happens both when I am not at home and camera is on and when I am at home and camera is off.

[thegios]

Listen, I am honestly totally fed up!!!!

Three weeks ago (one week after buying this useless camera) I reported here that camera was going many times offline with no reason. I proved it was not my fault and eventually you confirmed it was a Google server side issue that was eventually solved. Camera behaved for two week bust since two days ago it started again going offline dor minutes with no reason. I want to know where the problem is and when you will solve it, or I will return it to Amazon and make a bad review everywhere.

[JamesSC]

Same! Mine are both floodlights. I have never ever had issues and suddenly both keep going offline and will not come back online until they randomly want to. The Google Mesh Router is 5 feet from it and it says "Great Connection". I have restarted time and time again, unplugged, etc but the cameras just say Offline. I have tried everything.

[gmelanymelissa]

Hi folks,

I'm sorry you're running into this situation with your Nest Camera, I understand how frustrating it can be when your security system isn't working as expected.

I checked the last threads and we appreciate your efforts in taking those steps.

We'd like to further check on this. Could you fill out this form and let me know once you're done.
 

Keep me posted, 

Best regards,

Melany 

[thegios]

@gmelanymelissa  Just to let you know that after days without issues and camere online, 10 minutes ago, while out of home and camera on, I got a notification that camera went offline. Internet at home is ok cos thermostat is reachable from remote and modem/router console shows camera connected, so this is obviously a Google server issue.

[thegios]

My camera just went offline again.
I did a factory reset yesterday.
I am goiung to ask for a refund: the much cheaper cinese camer I had before had no problem mat all.

[thegios]

My camera just went offline again.
I did a factory reset yesterday.
I am goiung to ask for a refund: the much cheaper cinese camer I had before had no problem mat all.

[MplsCustomer]

@thegiosand @cbielinski 

Maybe Google Nest has a problem with quality control, and your battery cameras are defective. We've had a battery camera for over 2-1/2 years--plugged in--and it's always online.

[thegios]

@MplsCustomer it is not a camera issue, because the camera is still connected to the router, the camera still records events, but appears offline in google home app. If camera is offline and I walk in front, the led becomes green and I receive a notification, yet camera still looks offline.

[MplsCustomer]

@thegios 

Strange. Then do you think it's some defect in the Google Home app that afflicts some customers and not others?

We see occasional anomalies in the Google Home app, but not as persistent as what you're encountering.

[thegios]

@MplsCustomer last year some regions had this same problem.
When I bought camnera 3 months ago and reported here the problem, both here and via chat Google support admitted there was s erver iussue.
Do not know now, but for me this problem is quit regular: for days all is ok then for days it goes offline a few times per day. Did a hard factory reset yesterday, to no avail.

[thegios]

@MplsCustomer 

I managed to change camera with Amazon but the new one is even worst than the old one. Tonight it went offline for a few minutes. This morning when I woke up it was offline and it took me 1h to bring it back online after several attempts during which the camera went havock. All this time the camera was correctly connected to the router, the led was green and I was receiving movement notifications, yet the Google home app was either saying camera was offline or that it was online but off. Clicking on turn on but was to no avail: led steady green, notifications arriving, no live streaming. Then all of a sudden camera fixed itself and streaming appeared again and on/,off button started working again. What is strange is tha if camera is online and on, if I turn WiFi off I do not get any offline notification: the Google home app simply says the camera is unreachable (not offline, but unreachable), so what does offline means at this point? It is obvious it is a Google server status and your servers have problems.

[thegios]

Camera is now back offline 

[MplsCustomer]

@thegios 

Unless for some reason you have a weak Wi-Fi signal in your camera's location--and you've ruled that out--I don't know what might be causing your camera to go offline. On rare occasions one of our cameras will report--erroneously--that it is offline, but nothing persistent like what you've been encountering. (It shouldn't make a difference, but we have iPhones and therefore the iOS version of the Google Home app.)

This may be irrelevant to your situation, but we have one camera that is 25-30 feet from the nearest access point--a Linksys router--and the Wi-Fi signal strength there was pretty weak, so I added an inexpensive high-gain directional antenna to our Linksys router. So the camera stays online at all times. And our front door Nest Hello doorbell, which is close to our Xfinity router/modem, used to go offline once in awhile until I made a slight change to the location of our router/modem. Maybe something in the room or closet was causing just enough interference.

[thegios]

@MplsCustomer 

Camera is 4m in line of sight of the router

The router is an expensive one

Signal is full

Two strage strange things

1. When camera is online (connected to the router, accessible from Google home app or nest website), either on or off, if I turn off WiFi or if I block the camera on the router, I do not receive any offline notification, simply Google home app or nest website say that camera is unreachable. This means that this offline status (and notification) is something that happens on the camera in the communication with Google server. Otherwise if I turn WiFi off, camera would go offline and I would get an offline notification, which I don't. So offline does not mean the camera is not connected to the router.

2. When the camera is connected and on, and goes offline, it keeps on being connected to the router (I can see from router console) and it keeps on monitoring/recording. As a matter of fact, if I move in front of the camera, the LED becomes suddenly green and I get a movement notification, even if in the recording history I cannot see anything. Also, when eventually camera goes back online, I can see the movement recording (that, I repeat, got recorded while camera was offline).

So honestly I do not know what this offline status mean. This is not even documented anywhere. I doubt Google knows what this means as well.

[cbielinski]

This morning 1 out of the 5 cameras I have goes offline again for approximately 2 minutes then comes back online. It is the one closest to the my modem/router and the other 4 connected with no issues.

[thegios]

@cbielinski I can assure it is not a WiFi problem.

Also, like I wrote, when it goes offline it does not mean it's disconnected from the WiFi: check the router/modem and when offline you can still see it connected. Another way to verify: if camera is on in monitoring mode, when it goes offline if you walk in front you will see the green led turn on and you will get a notification while still being offline. Or try also this: while camera is in, turn WiFi off, camera will not go offline but will simply result as unreachable and you will not get an offline notification.

[cbielinski]

I am going to try some of the things you mentioned to see how it reacts. This happens so fast and resolves itself it is difficult to time it.

[thegios]

@cbielinski for me sometimes lasts 1h it more, sometimes a few minutes. Problem is that often it would happen when not at home: luckily a few days ago it happened while I was at home and realised all the above. But first thing you can try is unplug WiFi and see that you will not get an offline status/notification, so I do not know what offline means but must be something at Google server side, and not even documented.

By the wayy, my camera goes offline either when on or off, so also when not monitoring movements.

[thegios]

@cbielinski any news?

[cbielinski]

I haven't been able to try anything yet as I have gotten less offline alerts since I posted.

[whYG2000]

I've been unsuccessful in getting any of my cameras back online. Currently, I have 7 Nest Indoor/Outdoor cameras that are down and cannot be added to the Nest or Home app. Despite attempting the reset option, the cameras do not respond to the reset, even after following the factory reset instructions. If anyone has successfully reset and re-added cameras to the app, I would appreciate detailed instructions.

Additionally, I want to mention that I have an ongoing case with the Google Home team, but they have been unhelpful and unable to provide any explanation for the issue or a resolution plan.

[whYG2000 · Accepted solution]

Given the challenges faced with Google Home Support's reluctance to address the issue at hand, I took the initiative to devise a workaround during the spare time over the weekend, successfully restoring functionality to my seven cameras. Here is the step-by-step process I employed:

1. Set Up a Temporary SSID/WiFi: Source an older router for this purpose.
2. Connect Your Device: Link your iPhone, Android, or Tablet to the temporary SSID/WiFi network.
3. Initiate Setup in the Home App: Access the Home App, navigate to Settings, tap on +Add, and follow the standard procedure to add the Nest cameras to your home. However, ensure to connect the Nest cameras to the temporary SSID you've established.
4. Troubleshoot Live Video: After adding the camera to the Home App, note that live video may not be visible initially.
5. Transfer to the Nest App: Click on the camera, access its Settings, and select "Transfer to the Nest App." This process may take around 30 minutes to complete without any notification upon finishing.
6. Remove Device: Once the transfer process concludes, return to the Home Camera settings and click on "Remove Device." It's advisable to repeat these steps for all non-functional cameras.
7. Disconnect Temporary SSID/WiFi: Upon successful completion, you can disconnect the temporary SSID/WiFi network.
8. Add Cameras to Nest App: Open the Nest App, access Settings by clicking on the Gear icon, and select "Add Product." Follow the standard procedure, connecting the cameras to your regular SSID/WiFi network. Repeat this step for all cameras.
9. Note on Migration: While the Indoor Nest camera may automatically migrate to the Home App upon connection to the Nest App, the live view function may remain accessible only through the Home App. However, the Outdoor cameras should function seamlessly within the Nest App.
10. Avoid Transfer Notifications: Be cautious of continuous notifications prompting migration of Nest cameras to the Home App. It's advisable to refrain from clicking on these notifications, as doing so may reintroduce the initial issue.

By following these steps diligently, you should be able to restore functionality to your cameras without encountering the previous setback.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about these instructions. Thank you, and best of luck!