Many users of the Nest Can Camera and Nest Doorbell Connected Lock, two Nest products designed for outdoor use, have been complaining about problems with their use for a few weeks now. Both devices are powered by batteries and are in full swing in winter, especially on the other side of the Atlantic where Gulf Stream They don’t come, they find themselves suddenly out of service. The incident is such that Google was forced to publish a technical sheet, remembering that the battery does not like the cold.

Notably, the batteries in both of these devices can no longer charge at negative temperatures. The battery serves to power the camera or doorbell as soon as you drop below the 0° mark, but it won’t be recharged and autonomy will gradually decrease. Google adds that below -20°, both products may stop working completely, as we are outside the expected temperature range (between -20 and 40° C).

Problems arise for users of Nest Cam or Nest Doorbell without power. Even with a power supply, the smart doorbell can’t run on house current continuously and if its battery can’t be charged, it will eventually shut down if the temperature stays below freezing for a long time. The camera is better off and if it is powered on, it will function between 0 and -20 degrees even if its battery is empty.

Nest products aren’t particularly bad in this area, it’s hard to charge any battery in the cold. Beyond home automation, this is a well-known problem for electric vehicle drivers, who have to deal with reduced autonomy and slow charging during the winter. And try to charge your iPhone at -20 degrees, you will also notice that even a fast charger will have a hard time increasing the autonomy of the device …

If you want to set up a camera or a doorbell outside and you regularly encounter negative temperatures, it’s better to favor wired models, which are more complicated to set up but don’t have batteries.