Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

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Coltsbro84
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Star

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...

845 REPLIES 845
Pet1700
Apprentice
Apprentice
Battery life depends on factors specific to your situation... Meaning, how fast is your internet? How often does it disconnect and reconnect? Do you ha e a quality router? Do your cameras have at least 75% signal strength? Are recordings during the day, night, cold or hot days. All of this comes into play. I get about 20 to 30 days from my eagletec and I am happy. I keep a spare set so I always have a set charged and ready when it is time to change batteries.
Paul_FCCL
Prodigy
Prodigy

Pet1700 wrote:
Battery life depends on factors specific to your situation... Meaning, how fast is your internet? How often does it disconnect and reconnect? Do you ha e a quality router? Do your cameras have at least 75% signal strength? Are recordings during the day, night, cold or hot days. All of this comes into play. I get about 20 to 30 days from my eagletec and I am happy. I keep a spare set so I always have a set charged and ready when it is time to change batteries.

Yes I understand all those variables can affect battery life/performance. However I have other sets of EAGTAC in other cameras in same location/temp. conditions and they all average 60+ days.

For all the rest......yes is the answer, believe me it's either the camera or the batteries. Other cameras connect to same router etc. Only difference is the batteries.

 

Thanks.

Paul

MichaelRogers
Apprentice
Apprentice

All,

 

FYI - My current status update of Nitecore, Eastshine and Eagletac batteries in cameras ranging from ~5.4 minutes to ~0.0 minutes of recording per day.  All cameras are on highest recording quality setting.

 

 

arlo.jpg

MichaelRogers
Apprentice
Apprentice
mA is the rate of charge that your D4 charger is charging your battery and doesn't say anything about capacity. mAH is the capacity and higher mAH generally means longer life.

mA = milliamperes
mAH = milliampere hours


20mA simply means 20 milliamperes is required or drawn. mAH is a measurement of capacity - usually denoting batteries. Depending on the current being drawn, the time for the capacity to run out will vary. For example, 200mAH on a battery means if you draw 200mA you can run it for one H (hour).
TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

Very nice chart work Mike !

 

Usu my nitecores run about 40 to 50 days... But that's < spec use

 

I just change them out now at 35 for a safety factor since the cells are almost depleted at 3v and I try not to run them all the way dead...about 2.8v

 

 

Funny tho , we've talk about it before, in real low level use the OEM cells out run the rechargeable by a lot.

 

I still get 7 months on real low use cams.

 

Prob due also to self discharge rate of 5-10% / month for Li-ion.

 

 

 

 

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Morse is faster than texting!
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Paul_FCCL
Prodigy
Prodigy

MichaelRogers:

 

Tank you for the explanation!

alganon
Apprentice
Apprentice

Gentlemen ,

 

Has anyone tried one of these ?

 

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-premium-usb-dc-power-monitor/

 

Alg

CCNE37
Apprentice
Apprentice

What does it do for Arlo rechargeable batteries ?

alganon
Apprentice
Apprentice

I beleive you could use it to test the actual capacity (mAH) of batteries .

 

Alg

CCNE37
Apprentice
Apprentice

I suppose if you made up a test rig to use a buld or something to discharge the battery while connected to the device it could measure the mAh as the battery discharges.

 

I might be wrong (probably am Smiley Happy), but it looks like a monitor that would measure the power flowing through it. I am not sure how it would measure the mAh of a battery simply by connecting to it.

 

Colin

alganon
Apprentice
Apprentice

Product Description

This monitor can show the voltage, current, and total power output in real time from any USB socket or DC power cable upto 50V.

  • Shows readings in Volts (V), Amps (A), Power (W), Total Power (mWH or mAH), and Time Elapsed
  • Includes detachable cables to connect to a USB socket, cable screw-clamps to connect a pair of DC cables, and voltage tester cables.
  • Powered by a built in rechargeable battery and can be charged/powered from any USB socket. Does not use any power at all from the device being measured for the most accurate results.
  • Backlit LED screen for use at night.
  • Pause/Reset buttons to store the total power and time readouts.
  • Allows USB 2.0 data transfer and Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0/3.0 through the USB cable while taking measurements.

The monitor is useful for a wide range of uses: it can help you angle a solar panel to capture the most energy, see how much capacity a battery pack really has, how much energy it takes to fully charge your devices, test your household or car batteries to see if they are close to dying, and test your USB cables to see if they are causing slow charging.

Click here to download the user guide. We also offer a more basic power monitor for use with USB sockets only -click here to view.

alganon
Apprentice
Apprentice

I found this youtube video very thorough . 

 

https://youtu.be/PiNCFzNbVjQ

 

Alg

MichaelRogers
Apprentice
Apprentice

For what it's worth to those checking in on this thread from time to time, I broke out the battery life decay rate for my 13 Arlo cameras grouped into 4 broad categories.  (Note: 1 camera uses Nitecores; 5 use Eastshines;  7 use EagleTacs.)

 

Two of the categories are ultra low use (which include Eastshines and Eagletacs).  The time periods are different (27 vs. 55 days), but you can see the gist from the graphs below.  

 

The other two categories are closer to generally spec use (with a couple ulta low use mixed in).  One of those horseraces (August 13-September 9 or 27 days) has 2X4 Eagletacs, 1X4 Nitecore and 1X4 Eastshine in the comparison (all between 4.2 and 5.5 minutes per day).  It's interesting to note that the lowest average minutes per day Eagletacs (4.2 minutes) came in a distant last place even compared to the other EagleTac camera with higher use (5.0 min/day). However, a 5.0 minutes per day Eagletac grouping is beating a 4.5 min/day Nitecore grouping.  The Eastshines camera happened to have the highest minutes per day recording (5.5/day) and are coming in 3rd.  Would the Eastshines be ahead of the 4.5/min Nitecore or 5.0 min/day EagleTac if if the they recorded 30 to 60 seconds less per day?  I don't know.  Seems like a crap shoot to me.

 

I will say that the Eastshine outperformance (vs. EagleTac and Nitecore) in ultra low use cameras I observed early on appears to be persisting.  I have about 6 cameras that barely record anything because they're largely set to either record only late at night or in areas where motion should not occur (and if it does I need to know about it ASAP!).  4 of those Cameras use Eastshines and 2 of those use EagleTacs...  If we compare those on a drain rate per day, they come out the following:

 

Eastshine Cameras (drain rate per day):  1.0% / 1.0% / 1.1% / 1.1%

EagleTac Cameras (drain rate per day): 1.2% / 1.4%

 

The difference between a 1% per day drain rate and a 1.5% drain rate is the difference between batteries lasting 100 days vs. 67 days, so it's a meaninful difference.

 

 

In Summary:

1) I think I've seen enough to conclude definitively that Eastshines beat Eagletacs consistently in low use cameras because they appear to have a lower self discharge rate (as they sit idle).  I believe Eastshines best Nitecores as well in these low use examples (from prior observations with less robust data), but the data below does not cover that.

2) Eastshines are at least equal to NiteCores and EagleTacs in Spec use (~4.5 to ~5.5 minutes per day).

 

The only possible caveat is that Eastshines will drop out really fast compared to Nitecore and EagleTacs once they get below the 20-30% charged range, but I don't find that likely given they have a higher mAh than both of those, and that they've generally shown a lower battery decay rate when sitting idle.  However, I guess it's theoretically possible.  I'll try to go another week or so before swapping out and recharing batteries, but I generally swap them all out in a specific area rather than waiting for each individual camera to die.

 

 

 

Note for the Charts Below:  The chart legends (on the right) show the # of minutes per day recording / Battery Type / Install Date and Camera Name.  You have to look at the minutes per day for each in context with the graph.  For example, the 5.5 minutes per day Eastshine should be given some handicap vs. the 4.5 minute per day Nitecore...  For example, the Eastshine batteries are at 33% after 27 days (and 5.5 minutes / day).  The Nitecore is at 37% after 27 days (and 4.5 minutes per day).  If the two batteries were equal, one would expect the Nitecore to be ahead of the Eastshine given the 1 minute less per day of recording. 

 

Arlo1.jpg

 

Arlo2.jpg

Arlo3.jpgArlo4.jpg

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

 

Lots  of data to digest...

 

but it still seems to come out that the heavy use cams with rechargeable cells run longer than the OEM primary cells while in very limited use the OEM cells run up to 7 months.(out last rechargeables).

 

Self discharge seems to make a diff and shouldn't be discounted.

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Morse is faster than texting!
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Paul_FCCL
Prodigy
Prodigy

Have a problem with one camera, wearing out my rechargeable batteries. Have tried swapping batteries around with other cameras with similar location, amount of use etc. which proved it was the camera causing such quick discharge.

 

I brought this up earlier, thinking it was due to some bad batteries, however after going through all the testing it's become obvious it's the camera burning way too much battery juice (approx. 10-15% per day with an average use age of around 2 min./day).

 

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I may have to initiate a support call but thought about asking around here first.

 

Thanks in advance.

Paul

 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

I'd swap cameras around to prove it's the camera.  The position could be the issue even if the signal level seems fine.

Paul_FCCL
Prodigy
Prodigy

jguerdat wrote:

I'd swap cameras around to prove it's the camera.  The position could be the issue even if the signal level seems fine.


Did that as well....... still excessive battery wear from same camera. Really weird.

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Open a case for a possible RMA.

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

Paul_FCCL wrote:

jguerdat wrote:

I'd swap cameras around to prove it's the camera.  The position could be the issue even if the signal level seems fine.


Did that as well....... still excessive battery wear from same camera. Really weird.


Sounds like a need to contact Netgear re the camera Paul.... sometimes things just don't work.

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Morse is faster than texting!
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ctrack
Luminary
Luminary

Paul

 

I also recommend contacting Netgear.  I had one camera in a 4 camera setup, whose night vision would not work.  After resetting the camera and trying different locations, as requested by Netgear support, they replaced the camera. Though I could not get them to tell me if they sent me a refurbished or a new camera.  Regardless, the camera is still working.  The moral of the story is,  cameras do fail or do not work properly.

jelockwood1
Guide
Guide

UK choices for rechargeable CR123 batteries?

 

As far as I can see Eastshine 16340 batteries are not available in the UK, EagleTech also seems hard to find, however Nitecore does seem generally available including on Amazon.

 

Does anyone have any further recommendations for makes that are available in the UK?

 

By the way, I see some models listed on eBay with absurd capacities of 1500mAh or even 2000 or more!

 

With regards to the charger the Nitecore D4 is also available in the UK with a UK plug. I did see a notice about fakes of this charger. See - http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/product-recalls/2015/04/counterfeit-nitecore-d4-digi-charger...

 

I would suggest Netgear should have considered making the Arlo slightly bigger to be able to hold bigger more powerful batteries, or provided the option for wired power as well.

MichaelRogers
Apprentice
Apprentice

I'm just Swapped Cameras 1-4 today as Camera 4 fell below 15%.  I wanted to memorialize this for anyone interested before refreshing the batteries in those 4 cameras.

 

Also, the low use Eastshines (put in place on July 16) are still on pace for 100+ days.  

 

Arlo (9.16).png

brian82
Tutor
Tutor

i bought these rechargeables from amazon, because they have built in protection circuitry.

16340 Battery, EASTSHINE E07 700mAh RCR123A 3.7V Li-ion Rechargeable CR123A 4Packs

BUT, they were REALLY TIGHT to fit into the camera.  Worse, i snaked small wires in there to attach a solar cell.  I got it working, but it was pretty dicey because of that tight fit.  I don't recommend them because of the fit.  But i do like that they have protection circuitry so i won't overcharge them with the solar cell.

 

CCNE37
Apprentice
Apprentice

According to your link these are 34.8mm long, which from memory are the same length as the Nitecore. I don't find my Nitecores particularly tight - they are a little tight, but it doesn't feel like the cover is about to break when I close it.

 

 

brian82
Tutor
Tutor

Oh, not the height, i should have said it is the diameter that is too much.  They are squeezed in so tight now that i don't know if i can get them out.  Hopefully this hack keeps working so i don't have to take it apart...