Arlo Pro battery capacity (80% = 100%)

[keeponlooking]

Two of my three cameras drained the battery in less than two weeks without any obvious reason. I'm now unable to charge my Arlo Pro batteries to full capacity, 100% battery level displayed when less than 80% of the expected 2440 mAh is reached.

I measured the voltage and current when the battery was charged.

Readings at start:
9.3854 V
1.0706 A

Readings when the 100% LED lit on camera:
9.2725 V
0.0016 A
1.7586 Ah
16.496 Wh

Is the battery or camera broken?

[TomMac]

When the battery packs are in the camera and charged, they really only go to 80% even tho it will say 100%.

This is due to the possiblity of leaving the cable plugged into ac all the time ...so it won't overcharge the pack.

When charge outside of the camera ( in the yet to be released charge tube ) they will be charged to a true 100%

[keeponlooking]

I can accept that but before I recharged the battery I received an email which indicated some sort of camera problem.

"Your Arlo Batteries Are Tired - Your Arlo camera is running low on power. It’s time to replace the batteries in: Back yard: 15%"

I checked the battery level a couple of hours later, using the android app, and it was 2% but I could not see any recordings in my Library.

The second camera drained the battery completely without giving a notice.

[keeponlooking]

This happened at the same time when my cameras drained the batteries.

My Arlo camera is offline

"‎2017-03-30 04:44 PM
Earlier today, we experienced some technical issues with the Arlo environment and some customers may have been unable to connect to their cameras. We have restored full functionality and you should no longer be experiencing issues. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

JamesC"

[jguerdat]

If the cameras are disconnected from the base for any reason, they try to find the base repeatedly, wearing the battery down. Other reasons for poor battery life include any reason that the cameras have a weak signal between them and the base, including distance, house construction, ductwork, other 2.4GHz wireless device interference, etc. Moving the cameras and/or base can be useful to determine the real cause.

[keeponlooking]

I appreciate your input, but as a software developer myself (which takes great pride in my work) I can not grasp that some one actually has written a software that drains the battery in those circumstances... perhaps if there are limited resource available in the camera... absolutely need for improved software quality!

My third camera that is farthest away from the base station (6 meters) still shows 87% (not yet charged by me).

[TomMac]

---

keeponlooking wrote:

I appreciate your input, but as a software developer myself (which takes great pride in my work) I can not grasp that some one actually has written a software that drains the battery in those circumstances... perhaps if there are limited resource available in the camera... absolutely need for improved software quality!

---

It works very similar to a cell phone trying to reach a cell tower,,, if no cell,  it broadcast more power trying to connect and drains very quickly

[keeponlooking]

I'm just a bit disappointed that it only takes a few hours to drain the battery.

[Chillmiester]

Maybe you got your recording too high and continually armed in a high traffic area?

[keeponlooking]

The cameras are armed but there is no high traffic in my back yard, I saw a cat once, caught on camera 😉

I'm going to move the base station further away from my wireless router tomorrow.

Maybe I will also try to shut down the base station and see if the camera battery life is affected.

[jguerdat]

While you're at it, verify that your firmware is up to date compared to what's posted in the Release Notes section here.

[keeponlooking]

I have now moved the base station and verified that firmware is up to date.

Pro Base Station FW 1.8.9.0_11528
Pro Camera FW 1.092.0.1_11504

My battery was charged less than 80%, it only went to 72%, will it still last 4-6 month?

[jguerdat]

That will depend on the amount of recordings and live viewings are happening.  I would charge the battery again to get it up to an indicated 100%.  I've had a few time where it stopped just shy of 100% but unplugging and trying again finished the charge completely.

[keeponlooking]

100% was shown when it stopped charging.

------------------------------------------------------------

Readings when the 100% LED lit on camera:
9.2725 V
0.0016 A
1.7586 Ah
16.496 Wh

------------------------------------------------------------

1758.6 / 2440  = 72.1%

Will it still last 4-6 month (use/recording ~5 minutes per day)?

[jguerdat]

There's an initial drop in percentage shortly after installing the battery but then it should level out. It's hard to predict how long the battery is going to last due to various factors. I'd just keep an eye on it for the time being in case it turns out to be a bad camera or battery. You can always swap batteries between cameras to help narrow it down.