ARLO PRO 2 - Applying Activity Zones to modes?

[juzzle]

I am very disappointed to find out that Activity Zones (motion detection zones) ONLY work when plugged into AC! That's ridiculous - why is that the case? I mean, why does the specification of an activity zone suddenly need AC?

https://kb.arlo.com/000049471/What-are-the-benefits-of-using-my-Arlo-Pro-2-plugged-in

What is so power-intensive about activity zones that it suddenly needs AC power?!

[jguerdat]

Yup. Use of zones requires that the camera be able to monitor those zones for activity continuously. Batteries would go dead in short order.

[juzzle]

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@@jguerdat wrote:

Yup. Use of zones requires that the camera be able to monitor those zones for activity continuously. Batteries would go dead in short order.

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That doesn't really explain the reason for the excess power use. Why do activity zones manage so much more power?  I mean, the whole frame is monitored for movement by default - why should less of the frame make any difference to power draw?

[jguerdat]

Motion is detected by the PIR sensors, just as with other wireless cameras. That requires minimal power unlike the need to figure out zones. This is well beyond the scope of these forums - it's a technical issue that these user forums can't answer in detail due to lack of inside information and schematics.

[st_shaw]

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@juzzle wrote:

 That doesn't really explain the reason for the excess power use. Why do activity zones manage so much more power?  I mean, the whole frame is monitored for movement by default - why should less of the frame make any difference to power draw?

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Acquiring video uses a lot of battery power. Analyzing pixels for changes to detect motion uses more power.

Under normal operation, the camera is asleep and using very little power--just enough to operate the IR detector. No video is captured during this time.  When the IR detects something the camera wakes up and starts capturing video. As soon as it's done it goes back to sleep.

The Arlo battery is designed to operate the camera for about 5 minutes per day.  If the camera were capturing video continuously, the camera would be using 288 times more power than that, and the beattery would die in a few hours. 

See this KB: https://kb.arlo.com/291/How-can-I-extend-my-Arlo-Wire-Free-Arlo-Pro-Wire-Free-or-Arlo-Go-camera-s-ba...

"Arlo Wire-Free, Arlo Pro Wire-Free, and Arlo Go cameras are battery-powered and are not intended for continuous recording. The batteries in your Arlo Pro Wire-Free or Arlo Wire-Free camera last for about four to six months with normal usage, which is about five minutes of recordings a day."