Doorbell battery life awful

[binarydreams]

This seems to be a theme on this board about the doorbell battery life.

I installed the doorbell and it started off ok and then after a a couple weeks the battery life was woeful and down to 20% in 24 hours! I don't have that much traffic outside the doorbell and its on trickle charge.

[jguerdat]

What changed in your house after that initial couple of weeks? New or moved 2.4ghz wireless devices? If you have activity zones, remove them so you can get an accurate total of the number of minutes and live viewing. The spec for battery life is <5 minutes per day so we need that accurate accounting. Also verify that the doorbell transformer is still within the spec for its output by use of a voltmeter.

[binarydreams]

I just wanted to add that my mum has an older Arlo doorbell not wired up and the battery lasts much better but only traffic is people and nothing else.

The same battery I used in my Arlo I used in my mums and its fine - so its not the battery.

[binarydreams]

Thankyou @jguerdat .

No, no change in wireless devices.

I will try the ideas you suggested.

[BrookeN]

Are you still having this same behavior?

[Gurre]

I have the same issue

[binarydreams]

Removing the activity zones had the same effect where the battery just wears out.

Now stopped recording and currently at 8% so I will take the battery out and leave it.

This makes the doorbell useless.

[binarydreams]

I dont have a voltmeter

[binarydreams]

yep.

[StephenB]

---

@binarydreams wrote:

Removing the activity zones had the same effect where the battery just wears out.

---

Activity zones don't affect the power drain - that is because the camera always streams to the cloud when recordings are triggered.  The cloud then determines whether the motion is in-zone or not, and supresses notifications and recordings if the motion is not in the zone.  So the doorbell operates exactly the same way with zones as it does w/o them.

Since the doorbell can't be aimed, all you can do to reduce power drain is reduce the motion sensitivity in the camera rules.

[binarydreams]

I cant see an option in the arlo app for the doorbell to change the sensitivity rules

[StephenB]

---

@binarydreams wrote:

I cant see an option in the arlo app for the doorbell to change the sensitivity rules

---

If your app shows "Feed", then this guide should help:

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

If your app shows "Libary" instead, then this guide should help:

• https://kb.arlo.com/42

[binarydreams]

An update!

I recently had a firmware update for the doorbell and that seems to have fixed it. The battery life is very slow going down so I will only have to top up rarely.

Why couldn't Arlo have told us they knew they had a battery issue with the doorbell so we knew they were working on it and not be so angry and getting ready to return the product.

Lack of communication needs to be fixed.

The only issue I have now is the doorbell not detecting any activity at all.

[BrookeN]

Did you set up the modes with what you want each of the cameras to do? 

https://kb.arlo.com/42/About-Arlo-Modes-and-Rules

[binarydreams]

Yes the doorbell is linked to the base station.

[StephenB]

---

@binarydreams wrote:

Yes the doorbell is linked to the base station.

---

Not really an answer to the question @BrookeN asked.

Did you check that the mode(s)  you are using still have the rules for the doorbell in them?

[binarydreams]

Yes, nothing wrong with the rules.

The doorbell is now slow losing battery as I expected. I won't need to charge for another week or so after these past few weeks.

So Arlo must have sent an update to fix it because I didn't do anything.

[jguerdat]

No updates since early December. You can always check for the latest updates at https://community.arlo.com/t5/Firmware-Release-Notes/bd-p/arlo-release-notes