How do I extend the life on my Arlo Ultra system so that I can get the longest use of my batteri

[JudithAHawkins]

Just set the system up and my batteries last two days. Help. How do I set the system up so I get the most out of the batteries. Thanks so much. I’m a technotard..... thanks in advance.

[jguerdat]

Battery life usually boils down to one or both of two things - 1) signal strength/quality between the base and cameras and 2) the total number of minutes of recording and live viewing per day with <5 minutes/day being the spec.

The signal strength/quality can be due to distance, house construction (stucco and brick being prime suspects) or other wireless devices near the hub and/or cameras interfering with the WiFi connection.

[TomMac]

These are "motion detect then record " cameras,... As mentioned above, usage is very critical in battery life.

When just armed, they don't use much power, the heavy power usage comes from live viewing and recording.

( My Ultra normally runs 2 months )

Things to consider;

Use where you want to capture people, etc ... placement to eliminate a bunch of false recording is important.

Limit recording time to a lower amount... the camera takes about 15 secs or so to reset before able to record again In most cases, 30 seconds is plenty of time to capture.

[Hemanta]

My ultra camera battery is also very short. My ultra camera is fitted with solar panel. I made 100% charged with electric charge and I put solar panel. But after 2 weeks, it dropped to 10%. Even with solar panel it doesn't last long, only for 2 weeks. I have created activity zone, armed mode, it record only when motion triggers. Motion trigger more than 5 mins a day but not more than 8 mins a day in my driveway. Camera's instructions said will last for 3 to 6 months if less than 5min a day but mine last only for two weeks. It should last at least 2 months with solar panel and with 8 mins recording, isn't? Is there any thing I can do to make longer battery life?, is there any other stronger battery to buy for longer life for arlo camera? Last time arlo update new firmware update to correct the activity zones. It was good it corrected activity zones problem. Like that does arlo is going to update any new firmware to correct the battery life for longer battery life? Its hard to charge in every two weeks. I thought solar panel will help but not. Is there any thing we can make battery life longer?
Thnx.

[StephenB]

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@Hemanta wrote:
My ultra camera battery is also very short. My ultra camera is fitted with solar panel. I made 100% charged with electric charge and I put solar panel. But after 2 weeks, it dropped to 10%. Even with solar panel it doesn't last long, only for 2 weeks. I have created activity zone, armed mode, it record only when motion triggers. Motion trigger more than 5 mins a day but not more than 8 mins a day in my driveway. 

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Mine definitely lasts longer. 

Activity zones won't help for this - the camera streams on every motion detection (in and out of zone) because the activity zone analysis is done in the Arlo Cloud.

Reducing motion sensitivity might help.

[Hemanta]

I reduced the sensitivity as well but it didn't work. Battery life only last long for 2 weeks only. I have to keep charge in every 2 weeks with my electric charger even though it connect with Solar panel. Yes my motion activity is more than 5 mins but not more than 8 mins per day. At least it should last for 1 month or 2 months, isn't? But it last only for 2 weeks.   

[StephenB]

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@Hemanta wrote:

Yes my motion activity is more than 5 mins but not more than 8 mins per day. 

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That's with the activity zones, correct?  If you want to understand your battery life, you need to disable the activity zones as a test.  That's because the camera is streaming whenever motion is detected (in or out of the zone).  The cloud then decides whether to keep the stream.  But the streams it doesn't keep still take power.

[Hemanta]

If I disable activity zone, then it will send me the motion activity notification from every where, will receive many notification and also battery will go down. If I disable motion notifications then what's the point of motion camera, then I won't know who is coming infront of my camera?

I charged my camera again after one and half week. I bought this camera because of long battery life and activity zone. Activity zone work fine now after arlo last new update for activity zone. But battery life is not last long still I have to charge again and again even its connect with solar panel. Is there any things that I missed in my settings???

[StephenB]

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@Hemanta wrote:
If I disable activity zone, then it will send me the motion activity notification from every where, will receive many notification and also battery will go down. 

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Correct.  It will also tell you how many minutes per day your camera is actually streaming.  I suspect it is a lot more than 8 minutes per day.  Again, the activity zone just "hides" the streaming when outside the zone, but it is still happening and will  reduce the battery life.

After you've done this for a day or so, just reenable the activity zone.

[Hemanta]

Is there any Arlo's  planning for software/ Firmware update for Arlo Ultra Camera to improve the battery life ???????

Have to charge every 2 weeks which make me very hard to charge in very short period of time.  Have to climb and charge and again climb. It wont even last for one month.

Last update for activity zones, which worked very fine. Why not this time update for battery life ?

[Zachattack]

I agree. The problem is the cloud. If the camera was smart enough to ID motion in an activity zone... before recording... this is the solution. But right now it just records happy all day long and the cloud decides which clips respect the activity zone. It’s a mess and the battery and users pay the price.

[StephenB]

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@Hemanta wrote:

Have to charge every 2 weeks which make me very hard to charge in very short period of time.  

Last update for activity zones, which worked very fine. Why not this time update for battery life ?

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As I said earlier, the cloud activity zones are good for reducing notifications, but they can't help battery life.  Adjusting motion detection or camera position might help improve the battery life. 

There's no magic here, and there's only so much optimization for power that can be done.

@Zachattack  wrote:

 If the camera was smart enough to ID motion in an activity zone... before recording... this is the solution.

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The Ultra is smart enough to do that - but that still requires the camera to "wake up" every time motion is detected and process the video (checking if motion is in the zone).  So it wouldn't help battery life.  

In fact, if the processing is software based (which I believe is the case), the processing needed to check the zone is actually more than the processing needed to stream the video (since the compression is built into the hardware).  If so, this approach would actually shorten battery life.  I believe that's why the local activity zones require the camera to be powered.

[DucatiWiz]

I made a more powerful solar charger. The official ones just don't work well enough in a UK winter. Here's how I did it if it helps: https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Ultra/Higher-power-solar-charge-project/m-p/1742544#M8368