Arlo Wireless Camera Battery Experiences (Continued)

[MikeBravo]

I continue to be puzzled by the battery life experiences with my eight Arlo wireless cameras.

The latest example was  getting an email telling me one of my cameras was down to 4% battery life and that I needed to replace the batteries. What is odd is that just the day before the camera read 45% battery life on original (not recharageable) batteries when the camera was installed three months ago. Two other cameras had to have their batteries changed out prematurely and both of those showed battery life reducing gradually as advertised, not a sudden drop.

This camera also is one of my low usage cameras recording well below the advertised usage for four to six month battery life.

Like one of the other two cameras that ran out of juice early, when I checked the batteries I found that only two of the four were fully drained so how could the camera overnight go from 45% to 4% with two good batteries? The other two showing plenty of life, when I replaced the two dead batteries now the camera is reading 98%. 

So this begs the question, if two of the batteries were still full of life, how could the camera read only 4%?

I second question I posted before and cannot recall ever getting an answer on was how is it that only two of the four batteries can drain leaving the other two with good charges? Does that mean you actually only need two to run the camera?

[jguerdat]

You got it. The camera uses two sets of 2 batteries, front and rear. The camera will switch between them to maximize battery life. You can test this by using only two batteries - the camera will show ~50% capacity but will work fine.

It would seem that the camera switched from a good set of batteries to a bad set, hence 45% to 4% seemingly quickly. When changing/installing batteries, be sure to only place the batteries in their slots - don't push them down. Let the battery door do the pushing. Of course, on occasion you may get a bad battery or four so testing voltage levels is a good idea before just assuming they're good or bad.

[bhusband]

I use the Tenergy Universal Battery Tester T333 it tests all different types of batteries.   I like the LCD display too.   The Tenergy rechargeable batteries last good and Netgear recommends it for the Arlo Cameras.

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

You got it. The camera uses two sets of 2 batteries, front and rear. The camera will switch between them to maximize battery life. You can test this by using only two batteries - the camera will show ~50% capacity but will work fine.

It would seem that the camera switched from a good set of batteries to a bad set, hence 45% to 4% seemingly quickly. When changing/installing batteries, be sure to only place the batteries in their slots - don't push them down. Let the battery door do the pushing. Of course, on occasion you may get a bad battery or four so testing voltage levels is a good idea before just assuming they're good or bad.

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So, since I tested all batteries before installing them (I don't push them but let the battery door do that) it seems logical then that two of the batteries had a defect that was undetectable until stressed, right?

That being the case, since already two other cameras failed prematurely, am I the victim of a whole series of bad batteries?

[jguerdat]

It's unlikely but possible. Did you check the voltage of the bad ones right after taking them out?

It's also possible that it's the contacts on the door not making contact with the battery properly. Check them closely for damge, misalignment, corrosion, etc. Also, if you have known good batteries, swap them into the camera to see what happens.  That should help nail down the issue.

[MikeBravo]

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jguerdat wrote:

It's unlikely but possible. Did you check the voltage of the bad ones right after taking them out?

It's also possible that it's the contacts on the door not making contact with the battery properly. Check them closely for damge, misalignment, corrosion, etc. Also, if you have known good batteries, swap them into the camera to see what happens.  That should help nail down the issue.

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I did and the two that came out were basically flat lined. The contacts looked pristine to me but from this point on I'll be more aware and examine them  more closely the next time I have to pull a camera down.

BTW, I pulled on camera down because it was showing completely black recordings. It was the only camera I had up that I hadn't put a skin on and when I opened the battery case, the rim around the top was filthy from dirt leeching in through the cover. I didn't think that would happen since the cameras are supposed to  be weatherproof. I put a skin on it and remounted it.

Finally, Costco is offering a three camera Arlo Pro system over the black Friday holiday for $399 which is $100 off.