Arlo doorbell battery life

[Retired_Member]

What’s the battery life for the Arlo doorbell under normal use?

[skingspan]

I have two doorbells installed three months ago.  One that gets very little acivity one that gets lots of activity.  The doorbell that gets very little activity, battery life is at 73% after three months.  The doorbell that gets more activity I believe has dead batteries.  The last time I checked, a couple weeks ago, the battery life was around 18%.  Now I am getting a message that the doorbell can't sync and the motion sensor light is not coming on.  Maybe it is just needs to be reconnected but I have a feeling the batteries are dead.  Not good after three months.

[RChobby]

That makes sense. I like the LED blinking light as one approaches the doorbell, but it must consume quite a bit of energy. My Arlo doorbell batteries are 18% after 84 days.

[skingspan]

Confirmed....my arlo doorbell batteries died in three months on my active doorbell.  Replaced the batteries and the doorbell reconnected. 

[RChobby]

Thanks for the update.
Arlo, your literature should state 3-4 month battery life with average use.

[Terminal3]

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@Terminal3 wrote:

20 Days and my battery is at 86%.  I am not impressed at this point.  It is hit or miss as to whether you will get a connection to the camera after the button is pressed.  Mostly miss at this point.

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Just as a followup I am now at 80 days and my battery is at 63%.  My doorbell gets activated probably on average 2 or three times a day from motion, maybe once a week it gets pressed.  So I will probably get 6 months looks like. 

Getting to the video and speaking to someone at front door is still doesn;t work all that well.  However, we always get notified if someone is there.  When my wife and I are both at home and someone rings the bell with both phones and all the Alexa devices and the chime going off we are definitely not going to miss someone coming to the door.

[RChobby]

87 days to total battery failure. Less than 3 months.
Very light use, one button push per week on average, 2 people in the household. Doorbell faces woods, very few motion detections. Doorbell is 20 feet from base station with one wood wall for signal to pass through, good signal strength. Disappointed.

[lnkaye]

Are you in the part of the country that gets cold below 32 degrees? If so, I've been using lithium batteries for the past 2 months and they're at 98%. They work much better at colder temps. They're a little more expensive than alkaline, but much better. I use them in my outdoor weather station also.  If you're getting lousy battery service, it's a good chance it's due to the cold weather and batteries that are not intended to be used in cold temps.

[Delid]

You mentioned that the doorbell sensor level can be turned down????

Where do you do this?  I've looked all through the settings.  I can't find a sensor level

for the doorbell or a slider that can be adjusted. But as far as battery level, i do believe that's

the main culprit for battery draining especially since like you said, there is no need

for a sensor on the doorbell since one of your cameras is already pointed in that

direction with a sensor.  The main road in front of my house is only about 60 ft.  Any

vehicles the size of a Van or larger sends me a notification. If i could turn off the

sensor or at least lower it to the lowest level that would greatly increase my'

battery life.  Arlo needs an update to add a sensor slider bar to adjust door bell sensor

sensitivity.  I've had the door bell for only 2 months and i'm showing 18% Battery level. 

Definitely will not make it a year as advertise.

[hbax450]

That's easy.  Bought mine at Christmas, batteroies died last week--with no notification of low battery from the system.

Where is the old Arlo that put out great products?  Between the Ultra and Doorbell, I'm looking elsewhere for similar products.

[hbax450]

Not sure I'd be buying another product MacGyvering it just to get the Doorbell to do what it is supposed to.

It seems that the Doorbell marketing was way out to lunch.  A huge fail.

[redcbx78]

After my Arlo doorbell issues, I ended up switching to the Nest Product. Nest doorbell (with camera built in and connects to the chime power supply) and a couple of cameras. The cost was a tad bit more and  you do have to run power to the cameras (but you never have to replace batteries). I do pay $15 per month for the three devices - but I do have 24hour a day video. The doorbell quality and battery issues is what finally made me switch. I haven't regretted the decision one bit. Arlo really should have released a better doorbell product.

[RChobby]

Bottom line:
Whoever is in charge at Arlo is incompetent and or negligent.

[Panther6834]

@Delid I never said the sensor could be "turned down".  What I said was to cover the sensor with electrical tape.  Remember, the sensors arlo uses are infared (heat signature), not motion detection, so the electrical tape, essentially, insulates the sensor.  The sensor is the biggest drain of the doorbell's battery, but, if the sensor is not able to detect any heat signature, then the battery drain is greatly minimalized.  As such, even though my doorbell was installed over three months ago, the battery is still at 85%.

[Delid]

Apologies, although i'm pretty sure i read that somewhere, perhaps in one of the other threads.  However, I didn't realize that the doorbell sensor was only looking at heat register.  Having said that, i also didn't realize how far away this was possible.  When i'm sitting on my couch and i see a bus or large garbage truck go by 2 seconds later i get a doorbell sensor message on my phone.  No one else in the front yard.  So i'm pretty sure it senses large vehicles going by and the road in front of my house is a good 50 to 60 feet so is the sensor really getting a heat register that far away?  I'm guessing turning the notification off in my app will do nothing since the doorbell will still sense a signature whether i want a notification or not. In other words, large vehicles are draining my batteries????    :o/  I understand your electrical tape concept and i'm sure it works, albiet ghetto and defeats the purpose but i definitely will consider it.  🐵

[Panther6834]

Actually, it's not ghetto, not at all. Some time ago, I posted a photo...not of the actual electrical tape in place, but using a yellow Post-It as a "placeholder", just so people could see where to place the electrical tape. Once again, here's the directions:

Before you start, take notice of the location of the microphone, on the front, near the bottom, as you'll need to poke a hole there. Next, cut a 2" long piece of electrical tape, & attach it to the lower portion of the doorbell's front, making certain the sensor is covered (so that it's not "ghetto looking", make certain the tape is parallel to the ground...crooked tape IS "ghetto"). Then, using an X-Acto knife, carefully cut along the inner curve, between the white & black plastic, so that the cut electrical tape matches the curvature of the black plastic. Finally, using a straightened paperclip, poke a hole through the electrical tape where the microphone is located...but DON'T poke to deep, or you might damage the microphone.

There you go...a non-ghetto looking "modification" that will help prevent the sensor from draining your battery.

[hbax450]

The device was designed and marketed to use the integrated sensor, while getting the battery life that was claimed. . Nowhere in the marketing materials did it tell me I would have to put tape over the sensor to extend the battery life. The device, like all of the others out there, needs to perform as it was claimed by Arlo that it would. The bottom line is that it doesn’t.

[Delid]

Sweet,  I'll try it.  Thanks for replying Panther.   Good looking out.

[Panther6834]

@hbax450 I'm not arguing that point. Yes, the marketing department screwed up...but, they're only providing the information that the R&D department provided them, thus fault is work R&D more than marketing. The point is, you can live with the excessive battery drain (until Netgear comes up with a realistic solution and/or faces a major (possibly Class-Action) lawsuit), you can return it & go with some other company's product (in which case you're virtually guaranteed to pay a monthly fee, which you don't have to do with Arlo products), or you can follow the suggestion I provided. I'll say this one final time, then I'm done work this thread - I installed my doorbell 3 months ago, and after putting my electrical tape idea in place, my battery is at 85%...that's an average of only 5% drain/month. If my electrical tape idea holds to this drain percentage, I can expect to get up to a 20-month battery life, leaving the camera's & LED security light's sensors to detect everything (the camera & security light are both plugged into outlets, thus NO battery drain).

For those who chose to not follow my suggestion, which has already proven useful, I'm ok with that...each person can make up their own mind. For those who only want to complain, you have no one to blame but yourself, as you have been provided with a solution that, while it doesn't solve the problem on Netgear's side, it DOES solve the problem on the user's side.

[Miller1]

This suggestion sounds dangerous; one could either damage the doorbell with the razor or paper clip. Besides, you bought a $60 doorbell so it could have cool features.

From my personal experience, I can confirm this product is junk. I have been through three doorbells. Each time Arlo customer service determines they’re defective and sends a new one. Major problems in manufacturing must have caused all these flaws. Arlo needs better quality assurance.

[RChobby]

Installed the free replacement 1.3 hardware version Feb 2.  One month later, the battery is at 95%.  My opinion:  Better volume, much better battery life with version 1.3.

[lnkaye]

How do you get the 1.3 hardware replacement for free? I've had the doorbell since 10/26/18.

[RChobby]

I called Arlo CS and complained of low volume, and asked for the 1.3 hardware replacement. It arrived a few days later

[Miller1]

After cycling thru 4 doorbells, I can confirm the 1.3 hardware WORKS.

It solves the battery drain, low audio, and phone call sent to your phone after the doorbell is pushed.

Check on your app for hardware 1.3. If you don’t have it, call arlo and have them send to you. It’s under 1 year manufacture warranty.

[Kumfer]

I was VERY disappointed when I installed this and figured out it doesn't use the existing 24V wiring to draw power - seems like a big fail in my humble opinion.  My doorbell has been installed for 3 months and is on it's 3rd set of batteries - I'm using standard non-rechargable alkaline AAs.  The doorbell sees very little activity - far enough from the road that it's not triggered by cars and we get 3-4 visitors a week.  It seems like a lot of people are having this issue.

Maybe I missed it but I don't see any solutions in the thread.  What's Netgear's response?  How are they explaining the descrepancy between reality and their 1 year battery life claim?  How can I get more than 1.5 months out of one set of batteries?

[Miller1]

Check hardware version on your app. You need 1.3. If you don’t have the latest hardware, call arlo and have them send under the 1 year manufacture warranty. I’ve had 1.3 for about a month and it works flawlessly (battery still at 97%)