Battery Life

[2112]

Hi,

I've purchased an Arlo 4 camera set.  I've seen battery life reviews that are all over the map, from 1 week to 4 months.

Can I get a feel for what other's experiences are with battery life?

[CaptainDork]

Howdy, and welcome! I'm a noobie here, but I can share an extreme case of battery use.

I bought the 4-camera set and put 3 up for watchdog duty. I'm a photographer, so I labeled one camera, "Floater," meaning it would be put to creative uses.

I have an area where I've been feeding birds and squirrels for about 35 years. I put the cam on a monopole camera mount I got from Walmart for $15US. The Arlo cams accommodate the standard camera mounts.

I got very close to the bird feeding site and jammed the monopole into the dirt so I could get some closeups of the dove, cardinals, pigeons, sparrows, and blue jays.

The videos were fantastic and well received.

--

I let the cam run overnight and the dadburn thing recorded just about continuously! Rats and a racoon. See the "Caugt on cam" section of the Community forum.

Well, I was fascinated, so I recorded out the wazoo and connected lots of times for live streaming and stuff. I was brutal to the point of abuse, regarding the batteries.

They lasted 3 weeks.

The other three cams are cooking along with full bars. I don't know how long they will last.

Hopefully, others will chip in and give us a more realistic life expectancy.

Like you, I'm interested in knowing more about battery life.

Thanks.

[jguerdat]

You can check the various threads in Buying Options and Tips forum for info on rechargeable batteries.  Since they will deplete in a shorter time than the non-rechargeables, you can get a feel for length of time various batteries will last.  I'd estimate a 2x improvement overall for non-rechargeables but that will depend on usage and, perhaps, temperature.  The outlier could be the TangsFire batteries which are lasting noticeably longer than the others.

[TomMac]

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  I've seen battery life reviews that are all over the map, from 1 week to 4 months.

Can I get a feel for what other's experiences are with battery life?

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Battery life is very much dependant on usage... Arlo's spec call for 4 mins a day at optimized video setting ( middle quality I think ), I run at high quality.

I have 2 indoor cams I use lightly when away and have original OEM batteries since 2/24 , both still showing full levels.

I have other cameras running on rechargeable 16340 cells ( see threads ) and am averaging 45 days , but they are a good cost / value if you can access your cams for changing batteries... not much more $ than the OEM each, but good for 300 cycles

Most people will overuse the cams when new due to the learning curve and/or playing... usage drops after and battery life goes up.

In all, it depends on how much they're used.

[Fmtalk]

I just bought an Arlo 2 camera set up. Using it mostly to check on horses in backyard while away . If I have motion turned off are my cameras sleeping until I open the app and select camera therefore saving battery life?

[jguerdat]

Yes, unless the mode is "on" or you've manually activated live view/recording, the camera is asleep, using minimal battery.

[RobertRosal]

Running on the OEM Energizers with recordings averaging 7 minutes a day, I am seeing 50 to 60 days worth of use.

[2112]

Robert,

Thanks.  I realize the activation of the motion detectors is going to vary by location.  But what % do you have yours set to?

[2112]

Thanks.  Is there a setting that lets me set the motion detection for certain hours?

For example if I am using these for security when I'm closed, can I set up a daily schedule for the motion detectors to be activated?

[BrianL · Accepted solution]

Hi 2112,

The steps on how to modify the motion detection feature by schedule can be found here https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Knowledge-Base/What-are-Modes-amp-how-do-I-use-them/ta-p/32

Kind regards,

BrianL

Arlo Team

[RobertRosal]

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2112 wrote:

Robert,

Thanks.  I realize the activation of the motion detectors is going to vary by location.  But what % do you have yours set to?

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Hi Brian,

I have 2 cameras both monitoring outside, both set to Best Video and are set as follows.

From 12:00am to 6:00am Camera Motion Detection Test are set to 100% and sensitivity @ 95%

From 6:01am to 11:59pm Camera Motion Detection Test are set to 100% and sensitivity @ 100%

So cameras are set to record once motion has been detected 24/7.

I hope I have answered your question.

[BrianL]

Hi RobertRosal,

Thank you for your feedback. I believe this question was asked by @2112. Anyway, your motion detection settings are properly configured. Hope this would help@2112. 

[RobertRosal]

Oh ok, thanks!

[sherzberg13]

I have five cameras and they were all installed 7/12. Six weeks later only one of my cameras need the batteries replaced. The other four still have full batteries. I think it depends on how often they are used, but in this case I think they were just a bad batch of batteries.

[MacB]

I installed 4 camera package on July 28-15.  Received notification that 2 cameras require battery change, August 29-15.  I have all 4 cameras outside.  If batteries need to be changed every month or 2; that will be a problem; as it will be too expensive to maintain. 

[jguerdat]

Check out the rechargeable threads in Buying Options and Tips forum. Lots of good stuff there.

[HeatherABC]

I've had my 4 camera set running since 8/4. Just received an email that one of my cameras is at 9% battery. This one camera had its motion sensitivity too high when it first was set up which ran it down quickly. I have one other camera that shows 2 out of 3 bars so it will be the next to go. 

[Oaklandia]

Have two systems. One at home and one in the office. Home is has outdoor cameras with batteries that last 3 to 4 months and about a 10 motion recordings per day.

Office is indoors and have two cameras but they just lasts one to two days. Records only 15 motions per day (watches a hallway).

All equipment is the same firmware (basestation FW 1.42695 HW Version VMB3010r2). Use a pool of rechargable batteries that are fairly new.

Have changed settings to low sensitivity and low-res on the office camera and it doesn't seem to help. Took one of the office cameras home and that camera now lasts much longer (only did this a week ago, but that's longer lasting than in the office). So it appears the base station is somehow the culprit?

I've reset the base station and re-synched the camera to see if that helps. Anyone know how this could be and what else may be worth trying?

[TomMac]

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If the Office cams have more 'blockage' to wifi signals, thats a possible reason for the faster drain ( typical office structure is built diff from home using metal studs instead of wood ). I believe a cam with a poor signal will keep attempting to ping the base more.

Easy way to check the cameras is to swap One of the good cameras at home to the office location.  ( you just have to remove the camera from the first base and sync it to the new base )

With the rechargables of 3.7v li-ion you should get a min of a month to two, all other factors being the same.

[az57chevy]

I bought a set of four in July.  The two facing the street get the most activations and I repalced teh batteries two weeks ago from batteryjunction.com.  So they lasted nearly three full months.  The interior camera which only gets turned on when the house is empty is still full and the rear backyard camera whihc is on with e the two street facing cameras still is fully charged.

I think three months for frequently activated cameras (which records for 2 minutyes when activated) is fair.  The prcing from batteryjunction (whihc I foudn from a post here) is great especially if you can get teh free shipping by ordering enough batteries (38 in my case).

[TomMac]

As to battery life;

I have 2 cameras inside which are very lightly used... about 2+mins per week viewing and 5x week for security ( motion alert on ).

The OEM batteries were installed on 2/24/15 ( 7 months ! )

Well, it's coming to an end, yesterday and today both cams dropped to 2 bars. I est another week or two but who knows and only time will tell.

So no complaints here re batteries as the other two get normal use and run 3 1/2 months and the 2 rechargable cams I change out at the 40 day mark.

( all on high quality )

[TomMac]

Well it didn't last long as I was running some testing...

1 of the two cams went red in the battery area... email stated 7%.

So one left running on OEM since 2/24

[xbossanova]

My batteries are only lasting about 45 days.  Settings that extend the battery life, don't allow the camera to capture the video and motion that is happening in front of the camera.

[labladydi]

I bought rechargeable batteries they last about a day.

[jguerdat]

Sounds like you haven't read the various threads in the Buying Tips and Options forum.  Lots of good info there with test results.  Here's a good place to start:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Buying-Options-Tips/Rechargeable-batteries-for-use-with-Arlo-camera...

it's currently 20 pages long but you could start in the middle and get the current info.