Wired Nest Camera Battery Low

[Sherman1667]

My outdoor nest camera is hard wired through the garage and the battery is showing low. I changed the setting so it does not get triggered as much, however, will  it recharge on its own by doing this? 

[MplsCustomer]

@Sherman1667 

If your battery camera is plugged in and the circuit is always on, the battery should never be low. We've had a battery camera for 2 years now, plugged in with the optional power cable. It is always "Live" and online, and the battery setting shows as "Plugged in" with an infinity symbol.

Is your power cable plugged in tightly into the bottom of the camera, with the cable feeding towards the FRONT of the camera? Some customers have had issues with one or both of those.

[Sherman1667]

Thank you. We've had it 2 months...all of a sudden it says low battery. It does sort of show the road so I was wondering if a lot of cars driving by would use more of the power.... Even though it is hard wired. I'm not even sure I could take it down to charge it.. I will check it in the morning to see if everything is plugged in OK.

[MplsCustomer]

@Sherman1667 

When it is plugged in, it's supposed to run on household current, not on battery power:

"Nest Cam (battery) works differently than Nest Doorbell (battery). For wired installation setups with a Nest Cam (battery), the wires power the camera directly."

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11830989

When you first set up your camera, was there an option to specify it was going to be plugged in? One customer reported in this forum that they added their power cable later, and they had to do a factory reset and reinstall the camera to get it to stay powered.  I can't remember if we had such an option, or whether it just worked because it was plugged in during the install.

[Sherman1667]

On my settings it only shows the battery. I know it is wired though, because the technician wired it. He also said we would never have to charge it....

[Sherman1667]

It was installed by adt....3 cameras...all others are fine. 

[Sherman1667]

It is definitely plugged in and the outlet has power. Because our garage door is also plugged in to it. The light on the front of the camera is green. 

[Sherman1667]

I just realized all the other cameras do show the infiniti symbol and this one does not! It has been plugged in ever since it was installed though.

[MplsCustomer]

@Sherman1667 

There's something wrong with that one camera or its power cable, then.  Some customers have had defective USB plugs; that odd plug is kind of flimsy. Our battery camera has always showed as "Plugged in" with an infinity symbol, and other customer posts report the same thing. Maybe ADT should check it.

[Sherman1667]

Called ADT...technician set it up as battery....they can't get anyone here until e d if next week. I'm not sure how to fix it.

[Sherman1667]

After many phone calls and searches online, I figured out what the problem was. The front of the camera where the small cable was plugged in was actually plugged in backwards. It's really hard to tell which way it goes, because it fits both ways. However, one way is the right way. Once I turned it around, I looked at the app and the settings said it was plugged in. An easy fix, but it took quite a while to figure out! It was installed 2 months ago by the ADT security technician... so apparently it has been running on battery the last couple of months..  Thank you for all your replies and help. 

[MplsCustomer]

@Sherman1667 

Other customers have reported having their cable plugged in backwards, with the cable feeding towards the BACK of the camera.  In fact, a couple of product reviews have commented on how odd it is that the cable is supposed to feed towards the FRONT of the camera.

[Sherman1667]

Yes! It looks backwards....but worked! Thanks so much for all your help.

[Lance_L]

Hello Sherman1667,

Awesome! I’m glad to hear that this issue has been fixed, and thanks for sharing your resolution in the Community. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Thanks for the help, MplsCustomer.

Best,

Lance