Google Nest outdoor battery cameras are junk!!! Extreme JUNK!

[MichaelWayne]

Google Nest outdoor battery cameras are junk!! Complete junk and you cant get any answers other than "Google is researching the problem" But the research never produces answers. I buy all Google products but that is about to change. I have 4 and they are all plugged directly into power but I still get error messages saying the battery is low then the camera dies out. I take it inside factory reset it and start over. They do not connect at all and I have tried so many so called solutions, all that do not work at all. I have factory reset two again and now Google Home cannot find them even though the lights are flashing to connect. I am so sick of this junk that does not work as advertised!! How are they allowed to keep selling this junk that does not work as advertised or work at all. Guess it is time to turn to Arlo. What a shame these cameras are very expensive to throw away but thats exactly what I am doing!

[MplsCustomer]

@MichaelWayne 

That clearly should not happen. We've had a battery camera for almost 4 years now, plugged in since installation with the optional 10-meter power cable, with the cable feeding towards the FRONT of the camera (even though it looks odd), and with Settings | Battery always indicating the camera is "Plugged in" with an infinity symbol.

I don't know whether the 1-meter charging cable that is included with the camera is suitable for powering the camera in a plugged-in state.

The USB plug that plugs into the base of the camera seems rather flimsy, and some posts have reported that the plug can simply fall apart.

Also, some posts in this forum seem to indicate that the battery camera has to be plugged in during the initial install in order to set the camera to a "Plugged in" state, and this is a hidden setting that is only set during installation.

You could try contacting Support:

1. Go to https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp.
2. Select a category/product family, and type in a brief description of the issue, then click "Next".
3. Select your device from the dropdown, click "Other", then click "Next step".
4. Under "Resources", just click "Next step". (Clicking one of the listed links will bring up a Help page.)
5. Under "Contact options", choose to get a phone call or chat with the team, depending on availability in your country.

[MichaelWayne]

I have the 10 meter cables on them and they say “plugged in” for a while then it starts using battery again with no changes in anything. Also I put one on a solar panel and it shows solar and I had no issues with that one. Bit 3 others are plugged in and all end up going to battery at some point. 

[MichaelWayne]

Thanks for the help suggestion I will try that. 

[MplsCustomer]

@MichaelWayne 

Maybe the USB plugs are faulty and not staying seated securely.  We've never gotten a low battery warning.

[mattewwade06]

I get the frustration I've had issues with battery life and inconsistent motion detection too. When it works, it's great, but reliability has definitely been hit or miss for me as well. I’ve found that tweaking some of the sensitivity and activity zone settings helped a bit, but it still feels like these cameras need more software support to match the hardware. Curious if anyone’s found a solid workaround or alternative that performs better?