topic Battery life in Canadian Winter in Arlo

Battery life in Canadian Winter

Ruralmeg — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 22:22:57 GMT

I bought the Netgear Arlo camera set to keep tabs on the exterior of my home while I'm away for a month in the Canadian winter. I have had it set up for 5 days now in temps hovering at 0 C at night and the batteries in one camera are almost spent. Another camera is at 68 %. At this rate the batteries are not going to last for the month, much less the promised 4 months!!!

It doesnt work through glass or I'd set it up to monitor through windows.

This isn't looking very usefull or truthfully advertised.

Re: Battery life in Canadian Winter

jguerdat — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:01:05 GMT

The advertising is truthful but you need to figure out what's up rather than to immediately blame the product.

The usual suspects for battery useage are distance, WiFi interference and number of minutes of recording/live viewing. What is the display for WiFi strength? Are there 2.4GHz wireless devices nearby that could be interfering? What about walls, ductwork, etc? How much have you been live viewing and recording in minutes? The temps aren't the issue - something else is.

Re: Battery life in Canadian Winter

Ruralmeg — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 01:27:25 GMT

Hello,
The distance from the Arlo base unit to the battery laden camera is 50
feet. The Wifi strength is two bars which is the worst of the four cameras.
The other three are full strength. I am also using a Nighthawk Wifi
extender and have it positioned to provide the best coverage. I don't think
I have used an excessive amount of recording or live time trying to set up
these cameras. I turned them all off for two of the five days that I've had
them and I disable the motion sensor until I am having a go at figuring out
how they work.

There is no mention in any of the directions that Wifi interference could
be an issue and unless someone can explain to me how that happens I am
still unprepared to remedy that if it's a problem!

Re: Battery life in Canadian Winter

jguerdat — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:11:09 GMT

The WiFi extender has no bearing unless you used it to position the base optimally. The cameras and base have their own network which an extender doesn't affect.

What do you mean by turning off the cameras? Using the Disarmed mode, the On/Off switch in Settings, My Devices, your cameras or turning off the base? The latter will deplete batteries rapidly since they're trying to connect to the now nonexistent base.

Interference can come from a variety of places. Microwave ovens, cordless phones, anything that uses the 2.4GHz band. House construction also gets in there since walls, wiring, ductwork, etc can all block the signal. Since it seems to be happening to multiple cameras, it may be something near the base.