ARLO Go 2 LTE

[rdilauro]

We really like our new ARLO GO 2 Cellular LTE cameras.   We needed them to protect a large area where over 120 boats are stored.   That can represent a value of over $2 million dollars.  Up until this year, there was no camera monitoring.

I justified getting two cameras.   I have one monitoring who comes in the ballfield where the boats are stored.  Its a narrow 30' spot so I can see anyone coming in/out.  I also have a heavy duty cattle gate fence that secures the area.

I can view all of our boats, our wave runners and more through one of the cameras.  This is such a big plus for our community.

Now that I have had the cameras running for about a month and a half, I did find some little annoying problems.

1.  The battery drains very quickly.   Once a week we have to recharge the batteries

2. I have solar chargers on each of these, but when the temp goes below 32, they stop charging.   For the past two weeks it has been under 32 and the forecast indicates the same for the next week.

3. This will be so much better when the weather warms up.  In fact when I first put in the solar chargers, I did not have to worry about the batteries.

4. However, our cellular coverage is less than adequate.  I can get no more than 2 bars on the scale.  I understand from reading some articles, that its best to have at least 3 bars.  Less then that, the batteries work harder.

5. We have no electrical hookups in this area.  And only one indoor shed.  I've talked with our cellular provider and they said they can provide a booster.  It has to be away from any weather conditions and it needs power.   I can provide the indoor environment, but running electricity to this area may be costly.

So for now, we have to go on a weekly climb up the ladder, take the batteries out charge them, put them back in, again and again.

6. I have tweaked these cameras to little motion, no activity zone, low light, minimal brightness, all the things I read on how to improve battery life.

7.  Do I have options?

The point of this post is, first to say these cameras are great, but also to say that depending on where you are going to use them there are a lot of other considerations that you need to take into account.

[rdilauro]

I have had the cameras optimized for best battery life for a while.  But what I did notice, is that since the weather is getting a bit warmer (40-55 degrees most of the time, with a few 32 degrees mixed in), the batteries are lasting longer.  I was away on vacation last week.  When I left the batteries were at 98%, came back and one of them is at 68%, the other a bit lower.  

But most of January and February, the batteries would drain from 100% to 25% in a couple of days.

 Batteries HAVE to like the warmer weather.  It will be interesting to see come Spring and Summer.

[StephenB]

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@rdilauro wrote:

Batteries HAVE to like the warmer weather.  

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Yes, that is driven by the basic chemistry. 

I've seen some graphs that show a typical lithium battery will have about 1/2 the capacity at 15F than it does at 85F.