Arlo Pro 2 Battery Life

[MikeMW]

My camera's (all 3) shut down when battery shows as depleted in the Arlo app. When I remove the battery and measure it, there is always around 6.0 volts remaining. The batteries charge to 8.3 volts and last about 2 months. I would think that the camera should still operate on 6 volts and the charge should last longer than 2 months.

[StephenB]

The voltage would measure lower if the battery were under load.  Did you try that?

[MikeMW]

Multi meter has a battery load test. Other than that, not sure how I would measure it under load as battery is enclosed in camera.

[StephenB]

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@MikeMW wrote:

Multi meter has a battery load test. 

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That was what you were using? 

I haven't tried to measure this myself.  But I think the discharge curve for a lithium battery typically holds the voltage fairly steady until the battery gets close to empty - then it drops off very quickly. 

See for instance the curves here: https://www.philohome.com/batteries/bat.htm The ~9 vt lithium batteries he was measuring started to drop like a rock around 6 volts.  Of course those weren't Arlo batteries, and their curves might be different.

[TomMac]

I would take an educated guess that the drop out on the cameras is just at  >6v.

Based on a lot of voltage study’s  I did on the older Arlo he cams that used 3v lithium cell. Actual voltage of the cell is 3.2v when new for 6.4 total.

Dropout was with cells just under 2.8v or 5.6v total

Li-ion cells can sag rapidly at end of use life under load,  but they also can rebound when load is lifted.

So it prob is the V dropout at just under 6 ... 

[MikeMW]

Perhaps the battery doesn't actually have 6V to offer at this point.

Bottom line, the camera's detect the minimum voltage required and shut down and battery needs to be recharged.

Thank you both for your interest and responses.