Different Brands of ULTRA batteries

[rdilauro]

I am wondering if there is any difference between the quality of batteries used for the ULTRA cameras.

The battery I am using:

Model A-4a
3.85 Volts

18.48 wh

4800Mah Capacity

Li-On rechargeable

I've looked at many different sites that offer this battery. Each of them have the same specifications.  But is there any difference in the actual brands in terms of quality and performance?

We have 10 Ultra cameras.  As back up, I purchased 8 more batteries plus a battery charger from AMAZON.

I've been noticing that these cameras are losing their battery availability quicker now.

I want to make sure its not because of the battery, especially since not purchased directly through ARLO.   They all have the same technical specs.

Or is it because of the cold weather?  When I took over managing our ARLO cameras, every one of the Ultra batteries were at 0% capacity, probably for a couple of months.  Some of the cameras needed to be factory reset, since they would no longer connect.   Doing that, these cameras were indoors until I could mount them outside.

While indoors, the battery status hardly moved (though not a lot of triggering events )  Now those same cameras are mounted outdoors and the batteries are draining quickly.  Example, a 100% charge battery has gone down to 30% in about 10 days.  Some quicker than others.  Same camera, same battery, almost identical locations, though with

different event triggers.

Should I be worried?  Or is this something I can expect in colder weather?

[StephenB]

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@rdilauro wrote:

Now those same cameras are mounted outdoors and the batteries are draining quickly.  Example, a 100% charge battery has gone down to 30% in about 10 days.  Some quicker than others. 

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FWIW, I have seen some really odd behavior with respect to charging over the past few weeks.

For example, my Pro 3 floodlight said it needed recharging (1% charge), then went off line.  I left it (the area was icy), but when the weather warmed, it came back on line by itself with an 80% charge.

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@rdilauro wrote:

Or is this something I can expect in colder weather?

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Extended cold weather definitely will reduce battery life (it's inherent in the battery chemistry).   So that is part of it, but maybe not all.

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@rdilauro wrote:

I've looked at many different sites that offer this battery. Each of them have the same specifications.  But is there any difference in the actual brands in terms of quality and performance?

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FWIW, Arlo doesn't recommend third-party batteries.

I haven't tried third-party batteries with my own cameras - hopefully people who have will chime in.

I have used them in laptops over the years with mixed results.  Generally they didn't last as long as the original manufacturer's batteries.

[dcfox1]

I bought a third-party battery and after a year its drained faster than Arlo and then could not charge even though it was not dead. I will stick with Arlo and pay a little more as you get what you pay for. People have posted here with problems with third party charging cables also. 

[rdilauro]

The only difference I could see with these batteries is that the ones I purchased from Amazon do not have the word ARLO imprinted.  They are made by: DONGNI

But in terms of model, they are identical VMA5400-10000S and have the same specifications:

ARLO ULTRA BATTERY		Specifications
MODEL				A-4a
VOLTS				3.85
CAPACITY			4800 mAh

But I still do have   8 original ARLO Ultra batteries.   I am going to have to inspect each of my cameras, check on the battery level and see if its the original ARLOs or from this other company.  My guess right now, is that I have a mix of about 50-50 in terms of which battery is being used.  Saturday morning, we are going up and taking down all the cameras to put in newly charged batteries, I can check then.  Some do seem to last longer, but those are also the ones that the solar charger is always on.   Some of the other cameras, based on how the solar charger was put in, I hardly ever seen the green charging light.

I just purchased three more ARLO Ultras along with the base station.  We need to add some security protection to another part of our club.