arlo ultra 2 - Short Battery Life

[klowetx]

I upgraded my cameras from the original to the arlo ultra 2.  I get less battery life on the ultra 2 with all features turned off than I did with the original cameras.  It's a month or less with the utra 2 with all features (4K etc.) turned off.  Would anyone have a suggestion on improving the battery life?  If the larger battery is suggested, will that double or trip the current life of what I am getting right now?  And, would I be able to use the magnet mount for the larger battery?

[StephenB]

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@klowetx wrote:

If the larger battery is suggested, will that double or trip the current life of what I am getting right now?  And, would I be able to use the magnet mount for the larger battery?

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The XL battery upgrade will certainly increase the battery life.  The XL battery has 2.5x the capacity of the standard one.

• https://www.arlo.com/en-us/accessories/VMA5410-10000S.html

But you will need to switch to a screw-mount, as the magnetic one won't work.  The thread is standard, so there are lots of third-party mounts that will work (as well as Arlo's).

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@klowetx wrote:

Would anyone have a suggestion on improving the battery life?  

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You could also try adjusting the camera position and/or the motion sensitivity threshold to reduce the amount of video streaming.

On motion sensitivity, use the motion detection test while you are walking in the field of view.  Find the lowest threshold that detects you.  Then set the actual threshold in the camera rules (or default mode setting) to the something slightly above this threshold.

Shortening the recording length might also help improve battery life.

Note activity zones do NOT help battery life.  Whenever the cameras detect motion, they stream the video to the cloud.  The cloud figures out if the motion is in-zone (or not), and supresses recordings and notifications when the motion is out-of-zone.  So if you use activity zones, try removing them while you are working out the best camera positioning and threshold settings.

[CDRikel]

I turn off the camera on the Arlo Secure app, and the battery still runs down. Why?

[jguerdat]

That suggests an issue with signal strength and/or quality. If you have multiple cameras, swap them around to verify that it's the camera or location. If only one camera, try moving it either inside temporarily for testing or to a different location while still getting the coverage you need to see if that improves the battery life.