Battery life

[LarsBerg]

Switched one of my Essential Spotlight with a Essential 2. gen. Got another Essential Spotlight as well

I charged both cameras to 100%. Both got super wifi connect.

Both cameras got a Factory Reset. Not changed any settings.

After 24h the Essential 2. gen is down to 42% battery. The "old" Essential Spotlight reads 100%.

What should I expect in batterylife on these 2. gen cameras??

[jguerdat]

Swap cameras around, assuming you have at least 2 mounted and in use, to see if it's the camera or location. Otherwise, bring the camera closer to your router or hub for testing to see if that improves battery life.

[LarsBerg]

The new 2. gen is closest to the router already. In the app testing connection it show Strong. The place this camera is mounted is same location as the old Essential Spotlight was. Never a problem with that. Battery lasted for 1-2 months on that one. Something is very wrong with the 2. gen camera. 

[jguerdat]

It's always possible the new camera is faulty. Swapping at the store is the fastest way to resolve that but if outside the return policy, use the app to go to Settings, Support and choose your doorbell to start the process of seeing what official support may offer, including an RMA.

However, to further troubleshoot the issue, swapping cameras around may still give you useful info about the location. Signal strength is one potential issue which you state is great but then there's signal quality caused by interference from another wireless device nearby that uses the 2.4GHz band. Without performing this step, you don't know whether that's an issue.

[LarsBerg]

I now tried my second 2.gen Arlo outdoor camera. Charged to 100% and left it indoor in the livingroom. It's down to 60% battery in  14 hours. My 1. gen cameras is still at 100% hanging outdoor. What is the issue with these 2. gen camera? Do they connect to wifi in a special way? Is that why both 2. gen loose power. 

[StephenB]

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@LarsBerg wrote:

Charged to 100% and left it indoor in the livingroom. It's down to 60% battery in  14 hours.

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How many minutes of video streaming (combined livestreaming and recording) was the camera doing over that period?

Note if you have activity zones set up, you need to remove them to estimate the amount of video streaming.  The activity zones are applied in the cloud, and therefore conceal the true amount of streaming?

[LarsBerg · Accepted solution]

Found a solution on the 2.gen cameras. They can't deal with my wifi running on smartmode (switching 2x5GHz-2.4GHz). I purchased a 4540 Hub and connected the two 2. gen cameras to this instead of my wifi-routers. Now there is no problem with the batteries lasting long.