Battery alternative for Arlo Wireless Cameras

[D0Miller]

Battery life is terrible.  Best Buy told me battery life would be about 2 years.  One camera's battery set ran down in two weeks; other three cameras within a month.  Too expensive and too much hassle to replace them and re-aim cameras that often.

Looking for alternative that does not require battery changes.  Potential solution(s):

1)  Use small 12V sealed lead acid battery hardwired in parallel with each camera and a charger.  Would prefer to find small enough battery to fit inside camera, but so far haven't found one that small.  Charger could be external and plugged into jack added to camera.  Camera would operate even during power failure, due to battery, but there would be no need to remove battery for recharge.

2)  Theoretically, I could alternatively use rechargeable CR123s with chargers.  But that's considerably more expensive, and I think the other problem is that the four cells are connected in series in the camera, but would need to be connected in parallel for charging.  So it's probably not possible to recharge them in circuit, unless there is some charger available that would work with them in series.

3)  Or if 9V would be enough, maybe 9V NiMh (rectangular) battery with charger would work (and fit in camera's battery compartment)?

Any suggestions of refinement of these ideas, or any other alternatives welcome.  Thanks much.

[TomMac]

There's been a couple of long threads on rechargables and mods, showing pics too. Search is your friend

like this; https://community.netgear.com/t5/Wire-Free-Installation/Easy-to-take-camera-apart-and-solder-leads-t...

But as per yr statement;

1) the system is really a 6v+ system (oem cells are 3.2v each when new and its two set in parallel )(( even tho it can handle 12v as some have done))

2)possible but add in a circuit limiter with li-ion cell to prevent possible fire, it will work with a solar panel putting out at least 9v with controller

3)don't use Nimh as they don't work well in lower temps

PS... Best buy doesn't know junk... even Netgear says 4-6 months most average 4 if their settings / usage / false triggers eliminated  / etc

Tho I did have 2 cams ( very lightly used ) make 7 months.

[rsan]

My three camera system was installed the first of April 2015 and was used quite a bit while setting up. I had to change one set of the batteries on November 17th (6 1/2 months) and the other two cameras are still on the originals as of 12/26/15. Two of the front cameras activate several times per day on the highest video setting for 20 to 30 seconds each and the other rear entrance camera not as often as the others. I turn them on when not at home and at night time. I bought rechargeable ones to replace them with to reduce costs in the long run but so far they have lasted longer than I expected. I have kept the false motions and sensitivity triggers at a minimum while picking up everything important. On a more active camera situation they may not last as long. They are not designed to be on all the time just when motion is detected and for that situation, they work very well for me. No one can get in my driveway, front porch, or back deck without being detected.

[WadeShuler]

The length the batteries last, depends on many factors. Temperature, length of time your recording for each time it goes off, possibly quality?, and how many times the camera actually goes off (false alarms, etc).

I have one camera that gets triggered twice as much as the other, and the battery life reflects that.

You could buy rechargeable CR123 batteries. While it is more expensive up front, it will probably be much cheaper in the long run. I guess it would pay for itself in about 6-8 months.

[southerncuban]

My batteries have been lasting about 15 to 20 days (high traffic area) so I bought the CR123 batteries. I too thought they would be worth the high cost in the long run but turned out to be a waste on money! The first issue is that they are slightly larger so they are difficult to change. The 2nd problem is that I have to change them everyday because the cameras suck the charge out of two of the batteries and leave the other two completely charged (not sure why this happens and have even tried loading the batteries in different ways to see if it would make a difference). At first I thought my batteries and or Chargers were defective but they were not. I would love to know what solutions others have come up with because these batteries are costing me an arm and a leg!!

[jguerdat]

Check the Buying Options and Tips forum for large threads dealing with rechargeables. After the up front cost they can save a ton of money.

[BlueArlo]

I'm using rechargeable batteries and they WORK GREAT! The only issue is that the battery icon is not calibrated to read rechargeables, thus, it will always read low to zero. I go for weeks and weeks! Since I don't have an indication of when they are drained, I just replace them every few weeks. I have back ups chaging at all times.

[jguerdat]

While I can't vouch for the accuracy of the battery indicator, I can say my rechargeables show varying numbers of bars as they deplete. What batteries are you using? I wonder if you're using the wrong ones.

[TomMac]

I believe he's using the 3.2 v cells while the battery meter was optimized a long while back for the 3.7v

[jguerdat]

That was my suspicion, also.