Rechargeable batteries for use with Arlo cameras

[Coltsbro84]

I am looking for the best rechargeable CR123 batteries that I can find, for use with my Netgear Arlo four cam system. I bought the green stripe Tenergy that claim to have 750mah power. Six batteries with a charger run about $25. I'm not happy with these batteries, because when fully charged (only takes about an hour to charge with a 500mah charger, from what I understand, it exerts as much energy as it stores, so I'm thinking that these batteries are more like 200mah) but back to the story, when fully charged, these batteries only show the camera as being half charged, with a day's use putting it into the low battery icon, and only lasting about a week.

I have since then ordered four Nitecore batteries, rated at 3.7 volts and 650mah. Now the volts are 0.5 higher than what's to be used with the camera, I'm hoping that this does not affect the camera. 650mah is probably true from the reviews and the steep price tag they are asking of around $10 per battery. I'm hoping that they are quality batteries and worth it, and I purchased a Nitecore charger to go with it. I'll be able to test them out here in a few days and get back with everyone on performance.

I just want to know, has anyone tried the rechargeable batteries that I have mentioned? Or do you have other suggestions?


Tenergy (link here: http://www.amazon.com/Kits-RCR123A-LiFePO4-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B001EYHO9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&a...

Nitecore (link here: : http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-RCR123A-Protected-Rechargeable-Battery-Black/dp/B00D2OCQB2/ref=pd_sim...

Nitecore charger here http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-IntelliCharger-i4-Battery-Charger/dp/B005UAI372/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&am...

[Vallorie]

I just go another message from EdisonBright - someone gave out wrong info - this is what they said

On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 1:53 PM, EdisonBright® - Amazon Marketplace

<0yyy554t7g1k8cd@marketplace.amazon.com> wrote:

Hi, You are looking at incorrect post there. Somebody has posted type 18650 information and saying they are not compatible. Our EBR65 is 16340 type and they work perfectly with Arlo cameras. Could you please edit your posts there as so many people are going to get misinformation. 

As I had said before I thought their product was great - I should not have listened to whoever said their batteries would not work

Vallorie

[Vallorie]

I just ordered 8 Pack EdisonBright EBR65 type 16340 RCR123A 3.7v rechargeable protected li-ion 650mAh batteries - they work for Arlo camera -- great folks to deal with

Vallorie

[CCNE37]

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Vallorie wrote:

You said OH COME ON - I wrote that because in the Manual  IT SAYS CHANGE ALL BATTERIES AT THE SAME TIME - that is why I asked ==

Vallorie

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Vallorie

I think the manual is referring to changing all 4 of the batteries in each camera at the same time. It is not saying that the batteries in multiple cameras must be changed at the same time, because obviously they don't all discharge at the same rate because some cameras are more active than others.

I think that is why you got the response that you did 🙂

Let us know how your new batteries go.

Colin

[Vallorie]

I put the streamline batteries in on camera - I read somewhere where you should use same type batteries which made no sense -- the camera is the basement is working just fine

Vallorie

[TomMac]

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Vallorie wrote:

I put the streamline batteries in on camera - I read somewhere where you should use same type batteries which made no sense -- the camera is the basement is working just fine

Vallorie

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that statement prob means the same BRAND..( not necess the same as supplied )  and not to mix as there are slight differences in capacity among the major brands.

[Vallorie]

I used a different brand in one of the cameras and it works just fine -- I don't see why they say that - no need --

Vallorie

[MichaelRogers]

Hi Tom,

I'm late to the party and tried to follow the conversation from the start, so I'm sure you've already answered this so I apologize in advance. I just ordered 48 Nitecore CR123s and the Nitecore charger. Is it important to charge these fully before first use then discharge them completely before recharging? As I recall with some past rechargeable batteries I've purchased, this has been important. I suspect the "protected" nature of the Nightcores means fully charging and discharging first is not critical, but I just wanted to confirm first.

P.S. - Thanks to everyone on this thread for contributing. It's been very helpful to free riders like me.

My Arlo cams have had good battery life with the OEMs, but the thought of replacing batteries all the time makes me stingy on using them as I want to especially in my high traffic areas (where swapping them out isn't so bad).

[RobertRosal]

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Vallorie wrote:

I used a different brand in one of the cameras and it works just fine -- I don't see why they say that - no need --

Vallorie

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I think you are missing the meaning.

Basically it is trying to tell you, within each separate camera, the batteries being used for that 1 camera, should not have different brand batteries inside of it.  So your 1 camera uses 4 batteries, they should not have 3 being energizers with 1 being duracells.  It is normal to use either all Duracells or all Energizers.  Regardless of what brand you use for each camera, make sure they are a good brand and all the same for each camera.

Which is typical for any device that uses batteries, it is bad to mix and match different brands within that 1 device.  Also bad to mix old batteries with new with that 1 device.

Hopefully I have made it clear.

[CCNE37]

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Vallorie wrote:

I used a different brand in one of the cameras and it works just fine -- I don't see why they say that - no need --

Vallorie

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Once again Vallorie, I think they mean the same type/brand of batteries in a single camera (ie. don't mix rechargeables and single use in the same camera). You can put ten different types/brands (4 of each) in ten different cameras.

Colin

[CCNE37]

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MichaelRogers wrote:
Hi Tom,

I'm late to the party and tried to follow the conversation from the start, so I'm sure you've already answered this so I apologize in advance. I just ordered 48 Nitecore CR123s and the Nitecore charger. Is it important to charge these fully before first use then discharge them completely before recharging? As I recall with some past rechargeable batteries I've purchased, this has been important. I suspect the "protected" nature of the Nightcores means fully charging and discharging first is not critical, but I just wanted to confirm first.

P.S. - Thanks to everyone on this thread for contributing. It's been very helpful to free riders like me.

My Arlo cams have had good battery life with the OEMs, but the thought of replacing batteries all the time makes me stingy on using them as I want to especially in my high traffic areas (where swapping them out isn't so bad).

---

I would suggest charging them fully before using. Typically lithium batteries arrive with a storage charge (which is about 60% charged), so they will not last too long if used like that.

As for charging when they are fully discharged, that is actually bad for lithium batteries - they have no memory effect and prefer to have more regular smaller charges to get the most number of charging cycles from them. Ideally around 50% is best, but with these cameras the charge indicator is not very accurate (unlike a cell phone, laptop, or some digital cameras), and it can be a bit of pain to change the batteries (ladders, re-aiming camera etc), so probably best to run them down to around 1 bar and then charge.

Colin

[phattrance]

When you guys charge your Nitecore batteries with the nitecore D4 chargers, do you choose the slow charging feature or the standard?

[RobertRosal]

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phattrance wrote:

When you guys charge your Nitecore batteries with the nitecore D4 chargers, do you choose the slow charging feature or the standard?

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Standard for me, no issues so far.

[TomMac]

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phattrance wrote:

When you guys charge your Nitecore batteries with the nitecore D4 chargers, do you choose the slow charging feature or the standard?

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If you have the time, always use the SLOW charge method... If not go with regular.

In charging batteries, heat is the big killer of a long life. ... a quick charge is more heat which is why the slower is better ( less heat )

Tho, In the real world with todays batteries, you may not see much of a difference

[MichaelRogers]

I see numerous references to tracking the number of minutes a camera has recorded during a specific time period. Where can you find this function in the Arlo iOS app? The only way I could see doing it is filtering the camera in the library by day and manually adding it up the minutes each day then summing them up (which would be quite onerous), so I'm guessing there is another way.

[MichaelRogers]

Tom,

I believe the Nitrecore D4 has a slow charge preset, but I ordered the Nitecore i4 not realizing it was different from the D4, and I don't see a slow charge mode although the product spec says "Features three charging modes (CC, CV and Trickle Charge); Optimized charging design for IMR batteries."


Full product features description for the Nitecore i4:

Features
Capable of charging 4 batteries simultaneously; Each of the four battery slots monitors and charges independently
Compatible with and identifies Li-ion (26650, 22650, 18650, 17670, 18490, 17500, 18350, 16340(RCR123), 14500, 10440), Ni-MH, IMR and Ni-Cd (AA, AAA, AAAA, C) rechargeable batteries
Features three charging modes (CC, CV and Trickle Charge); Optimized charging design for IMR batteries
Automatically detects battery status and selects the appropriate voltage and charge mode; Made from durable ABS (fire retardant / flame resistant)
3 Color LED displays charging progress for each battery; Automatically stops charging when complete; Features over-charge prevention to protect batteries; Features temperature monitoring to prevent overheating; Features reverse polarity protection

[Pet1700]

I use the I4 charger... No issues.. Don't need slow charge

[Pet1700]

Plus, trickle charge is slow charge.. 😊 😀

[Pet1700]

Included on i4

[jguerdat]

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MichaelRogers wrote:
I see numerous references to tracking the number of minutes a camera has recorded during a specific time period. Where can you find this function in the Arlo iOS app? The only way I could see doing it is filtering the camera in the library by day and manually adding it up the minutes each day then summing them up (which would be quite onerous), so I'm guessing there is another way.

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You got it - onerous. If you track it every day, it's not bad. You already know how many seconds each video is from your rules so just count the number of videos and multiply.

[TomMac]

yes... we use to track every day and use a spreadsheet... no simple way in program.

[MichaelRogers]

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jguerdat wrote:

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MichaelRogers wrote:
I see numerous references to tracking the number of minutes a camera has recorded during a specific time period. Where can you find this function in the Arlo iOS app? The only way I could see doing it is filtering the camera in the library by day and manually adding it up the minutes each day then summing them up (which would be quite onerous), so I'm guessing there is another way.

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You got it - onerous. If you track it every day, it's not bad. You already know how many seconds each video is from your rules so just count the number of videos and multiply.

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There apparently is an easier way than doing it purely manually with an excel spreadsheet.  Using the Arlo website, I found that you can select all the videos (just select at the top and scroll down) on any given day on the camera library page (after applying all the cameria filters) then "paste values" into excel.  It gives you a format like below assume you "paste values" into "Cell B8".  Then in column C, D & E you can add the following formulas next to them (then copy and paste these formulas down a few hundred or thousands of rows depending on the recording activity of your cameras).  Then you can create formulas in excel in the column to the right to filter hours, minutes and seconds recorded.

In Column C =IF(LEFT(B12,2)="00",MID(B12,1,2)/1,"") gives you hours (and zeros out the cells that don't have time units)

In Column D =IF(LEFT(B12,2)="00",MID(B12,4,2)/1,"") gives you minutes (and zeros out the cells that don't have time units)

In Column E =IF(LEFT(B12,2)="00",MID(B12,7,2)/1,"") gives you seconds (and zeros out the cells that don't have time units)

=Sum (C: C) gives you all the hours (assuming there are any that long - probably not!)

=Sum (D: D) gives you all the minute

=Sum (E:E) gives you all the seconds

I then take minutes + seconds (converted into minutes by dividing by 60 and then hours into minutes by multiplying by 60.  Then you can sum the converted units (of time) from the column C, D and E to get your full day total (in minutes).  

You can also included "=Count(E:E)" to get the total number of recordings if you want as every recording presumably has at least 1 recored second.

Sorry, I would just share the excel template itself, but I don't see the functionality to upload an excel document on this board.  In any regard, It makes doing the monitoring in weekly increments fairly quick (just a few minutes to do) and very tolerable (rather than doing it every day).

Cell B8	Cell C8	Cell D8	Cell E8
	Hrs	Min	Sec
6:56 PM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:57 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:56 AM
00:12:10 Motion	0	12	10
10:50 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:45 AM
00:01:33 Motion	0	1	33
10:42 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:38 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:37 AM
00:00:15 Motion	0	0	15
10:31 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
10:29 AM
00:00:20 Motion	0	0	20
10:04 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
8:27 AM
00:00:13 Motion	0	0	13
7:48 AM
00:00:15 Motion	0	0	15

[dan801]

Hello, I'm looking at purchasing some of the recommended batteries with no luck here in Australia. They don't seem to be available. I've checked on eBay and they are all international sellers with huge postage fees $40Usd etc. Any suggestion on a Australian available rechargeable battery?

[CCNE37]

Dan

There is not much available in Oz.The problem is that not too many overseas shops (and none that I have found from the US) will ship lithium to Australia.

I initially ordered from FastTech and after about 9 or 10 weeks of waiting I got PayPal to cancel the order. I then ordered some Nitecore RCR123 from Gearbest and they arrived within 3 weeks from China. They were about US$5 delivered each, which was quite good. They have been out of stock for a couple of months though.

My next best option was on eBay;

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-x-OLIGHT-rechargeable-RCR123A-16340-3-7V-650-mAh-Lithium-Ion-Batteries-...

I don't have any experience with Olights, but they seem to get quite good reviews. This is just under AU$52 for 6, and no additional shipping fees if you order more than 6, so it would work out around AU$8/battery (under US$6/battery which is not too bad). Supposedly in South Australia as well.

Colin

[alganon]

I bought 16 (4 X 4)  here  . eBay item number:

311393607118

They arrived in Canada in ~ 35 days . I've only just installed them so I don't know how long they last yet . 

I made an offer of $72.US and they accepted . They say they ship to OZ for free .

Alg