pro 3 battery charging duration

[tuscano]

What's pro 3 battery time to full charge.

Arlo mentioned that battery life is around 2 - 6 months. Is this charge duration? Or battery need to be replaced??

[DannyBearAgain · Accepted solution]

The charge time for the camera battery depends on the charging adapter capacity, 2A unit can take up to 4hrs, lower capacity adapters can take up to 24hrs.

Battery life or discharge time depends on the camera recording usage rates as to when to expect to recharge the battery. I.e. 6months is with no recording but the camera still constantly operating to maintain communication.

[StephenB]

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@DannyBearAgain wrote:

6months is with no recording but the camera still constantly operating to maintain communication.

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Arlo battery specs assume a usage profile with some recording and daily viewing  in the mix, so not "no recording". 

Unfortunately they don't publish that profile - although there was a summary in an Arlo reply to user question on Amazon a while back, I've lost track of where that is.

I don't track this very carefully, but I get about 2 months for most of my cameras.  I've upgraded some to XL, and those last much longer. 

[jguerdat]

The long-held battery life spec has been <5 minutes total per day of recording and live viewing. Don't forget that use of Arlo Smart may discard videos so even if the amount of recordings in your library or feed amounts to <5 minutes it may not be an accurate accounting. You would need to deactivate Smart on the camera to get a truly accurate account of recording time.  If you have local recording set up on your hub, you could use that to get the amount of recording time since Smart is done at the servers and the local recordings aren't affected by that.

Also, don't forget that distance, 2.4GHz interference from nearby wireless devices, house construction (stone, brick and stucco being among the worst), etc. can contribute to short battery life by causing the camera to struggle to maintain a connection to the hub.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:

The long-held battery life spec has been <5 minutes total per day of recording and live viewing.

It used to be that simple, but my recollection is that the profile changed a couple years ago.  The revised profile was less demanding - allowing Arlo to advertise longer battery life.  FWIW, also better aligned to what other vendors were claiming.  (IMO battery life is overstated by everyone).

I just found the Amazon reply (from Arlo) I mentioned earlier.  This was made in April 2021:

• https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/TxPLI12QPL2EBI/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza

The battery life on the Pro 4 is six months on one charge. This is based on usage of 4000 seconds per month, 30 seconds per stream, and day/night event splits 2:1 and will vary with device settings, use, activity captured and environmental factors.

So 6 months battery life assumes only about 2 minutes of streaming per day (both live viewing + recordings if I understand this correctly), with 2/3 of the activity during the day (spotlight off).

[DannyBearAgain]

The easiest way to test the camera’s battery performance is to turn off the camera (camera is still communicating) for 6months and see what the camera battery percentage says.

[tuscano]

Can't really turn it off for an extended time as that will be defeating the purpose of a security camera. Do u have info of any Arlo support email or phone number?

[DannyBearAgain]

The contact entitlements can be found in the mobile arlo app under settings support and selecting the camera.

[tuscano]

The only contact available is the bot on chat, totally useless

[DannyBearAgain]

You will not have access to arlo customer support without a subscription plan for that camera.

[StephenB]

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@tuscano wrote:

What's pro 3 battery time to full charge.

Arlo mentioned that battery life is around 2 - 6 months. Is this charge duration? Or battery need to be replaced??

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Maybe we should just circle back to the beginning.

• Is your problem that the battery isn't charging?
• Or is your problem that the battery life is shorter than you expected?

[tuscano]

I don't have a battery issue, just unsure what Arlo meant of 2 - 6 months battery life. I'm guessing it's the time the battery will retain it's charge. Needing to replace  battery after 3 to 6 months doesn't make sense.

[StephenB]

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@tuscano wrote:

I don't have a battery issue, just unsure what Arlo meant of 2 - 6 months battery life. I'm guessing it's the time the battery will retain its charge. 

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Correct.  Though in practice, the time between charges depends a lot on the amount of video the camera streams.

[tuscano]

Thanks for this insight,  I myself planned in installing a solar charger.  I expect charge retention will be extended

[StephenB]

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@tuscano wrote:

Thanks for this insight,  I myself planned in installing a solar charger.  I expect charge retention will be extended

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Another option is to get the XL version (or upgrade to an XL housing+battery later on).