Batteries are dying in two weeks, VMS3230-100 2 camera system with base station

[woodcutter60]

I purchased a 2 camera system on May 14th, 2016 at Best Buy.

One of my cameras started going through batteries very fast a few months ago. The other camera, which is further from the base station is still working fine and using batteries at a normal rate. I replaced the batteries on 4/2/18 and they were dead on about 4/21. I replaced them on 4/30. On 5/2 they showed 98%. On 5/15 they are dead. I am using new Panasonic batteries purchased from Digikey with expiration dates of 9/2027.

Both cameras are configured the same for video quality and sensitivity. The problem camera is not experiencing a higher amount of "trigger" events.

Coincident with the faster battery drain is a one bar signal strength on the problem camera.The base station is 15 feet from the problem camera. The good camera is 20 feet from the base station and the signal strength is 2 bars. The base station is located in a log cabin with one log wall between each of the cameras and the base station. There is no other building material, appliance or electrical signal generation source between the base station and the cameras. Nothing has changed. No phones or wireless device has been added or changed. It is my opinion that the wireless transmitter in the problem camera has significantly degraded and is the cause of this.

I would appreciate hearing your opinion.

Thank you.

[woodcutter60]

I should also mention that the firmware in both is the same. 1.2.16720

[jguerdat]

Try removing the camera from Settings, My Devices and resync. If that doesn't help, you may need to try resetting the whole system and start fresh. 

[woodcutter60]

I removed both cameras and reset the base station. I then synced the cameras up. There was no change. The camera that has been consuming the batteries so fast still has a signal strength of one bar and I suspect that the battery consumption will remain the same.

I swapped the camera locations and the camera with normal battery life is now showing one bar and the other camera shows 2 bars. This may prove that the base station's wireless interface has degraded.

I moved the 1 bar camera closer to the base station so that it too has 2 bars. That camera is now 10 feet from the base station with one log wall between them.

I will run it like this for a while and see what happens.

I am very disappointed that my cameras cannot be further than a few feet from the base station. Unless you have another suggestion, I will have to consider a different security system.

Thank you for the quick response.

[jguerdat]

 You can purchase a base separately for testing and return it if that doesn't prove useful. Cheaper than a new system.