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...

[jguerdat]

Since each order of batteries comes with a charger, you can easily charge many at once. Yeah, 4 batteries and one double charger is an issue but k bought double the batteries for my cameras so I'm always ready. That way you'll have enough chargers for a complete change while the other set is in use.

[demo58]

Great reading all the replies!

I do not have a charger yet, but after having read reviews etc I ordered a NiteCore D4 charger.

The chrger has yet to arrive, but I also ordered 12 Nitecore RCR123A rechargeable batteries. They have arrived and they breathe quality, so I have high hopes for the charger as well.

[plasmo]

Appreciate the reviews on your recharable battery experiences.

So far, i'm seeing people are using:

Nitecore RCR123A

and

GTL 2300mAh 16340 CR123A 3.7v Li-ions

Keep us informed how they last!

Unfortunately, I saw this review on the GTL 2300mAh 16340s, and it didn't get good reviews:

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/31806

[TomMac]

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So far, i'm seeing people are using:

Nitecore RCR123A

and GTL 2300mAh 16340 CR123A 3.7v Li-ions

Unfortunately, I saw this review on the GTL 2300mAh 16340s, and it didn't get good reviews:

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I knew from the start that the batteries ( GTL ) ( BTW also using UltraFire , prob same cell different wrapper ) could not be rated as highly as they spec'ed.

As stated previously most are lucky to come in at 1/2 the rating of a primary cell ( @ 1500mahr ) .

My quick tests seems to show that they seem to have higher capacity than the test listed but no where near the rating.

One of the main reason for orig purchase was that for testing rechargeables, I didn't want to spend a large amount out the gate till I was sure they would work well.( ie, they were cheap and had a charger I could use later )

Also, I'm running matched sets and that helps alittle too.

I had one dead cell from the start ( bad after first recharge for unknown reason , prob internal short )...but the other 7 cells running fine.

Still, today is 20-21days on a set and all isgood still...

But will still say, do your research, buy a good product, or you'll end up paying double when you have to buy again cause the orig were crap.

[Coltsbro84]

Could I get some help. Need links to buy batteries either through EBay or Amazon. Preferably Amazon since I have Prime. Also, I don't really want to wait a month or two for delivery since one of my cameras batteries are showing low from the lithium energizers that came with the cameras.

For gtl, 16340 or rcr123, I see many color options. Red, purple, black. For ultrafire I see blue, gray, and white labled batteries.

I love my nitecore, they run a solid 21 days on normal use and about a week and a half with heavy use. Still, really want to hear a review of the Olight 650mah, since it is basically a nitecore at half the price.

[TomMac]

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For gtl, 16340 or rcr123, I see many color options. Red, purple, black. For ultrafire I see blue, gray, and white labled batteries.

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I honestly think they're all the same... I have both gtl gray and ultrafire gray and thery run the same... the color is just a wrapper.

Any of the 16340's posted as 2300mahr are 1) prob more like less than half its rate 2) come from same manf , cause they're labeled as such.

I have never seen a rechargeable 123/16340 with a real higher rating than 800 mahr ( from good name branded company )

[Coltsbro84]

Thank you for your help. I went ahead and got these. Hope they work well.

Item: 12x 3.7V CR123A 16340 2300mAh Purple GTL Rechargeable Battery Cell Flashlight

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=121199269063&alt=web

[TomMac]

Anyone with any more info as to batteries... status updates??

I'm currently on day 27 with the rechargeables and all still fine, battery full. ( tho I know that when they go , they go quicker than regular batteries ).

Hitting the 30 day mark is what i wanted to get to running the camera as per spec usage.... looks like it will make it with the batery glich s/w update

So, i'm giving it a 4/5 stars and only 1 star less cause of the batteries false labeling ( not the camera ).

PS; I knew they were generous with the mahr label when i started and since they are aprox 1/3-1/2 capacity of non-rechargable, 30 days is good.

[BrockQuest]

Is there current battery technology were you put a set of batteries in a device and a cord comes out of the batteries so you can plug it into an outlet??  Obviously, this defeats the purpose of the wireless functionality, but it would save on battery use for people that have an outlet near their camera.

[TomMac]

Not to my knowledge... but maybe its something Netgear should make in the future

You shold post it in the request area. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/arlo-idea-exchange

[jguerdat]

In the FWIW category, I'm on day 15 of my first real test of my rechargeables.  The camera with the heaviest use shows 2 out of 3 bars but 239 minutes of recording.  The other shows full after 150 minutes of recording.  Both cameras are set on Optimized.  Not sure how nighttime recording affects battery life since the IR lighting gets used but the recordings are B&W at lower resolution.  I'd kinda estimate somewhere around a 50/50 split on daytime vs. nighttime recordings but that could be way off.

239 minutes of recordings would be about 60 days of normal usage at Netgear's specified 4 minutes per day.

[TomMac]

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jguerdat wrote:

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239 minutes of recordings would be about 60 days of normal usage at Netgear's specified 4 minutes per day.

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That's pretty great in my book too.

My first testing went ( old s/w months ago ) 58 days , so we're seeing sim results... then with the couple of sw changes down to 20, now back up to a good amount (with latest version of sw)

[RobertRosal]

Hi TomMac,

Would like to make sure that your tests were run off of these batteries? http://www.ebay.com/itm/251452806142?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[jguerdat]

Those are the ones I'm using> TomMac sent me the link so I would be using the same ones as he.

[RobertRosal]

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jguerdat wrote:

Those are the ones I'm using> TomMac sent me the link so I would be using the same ones as he.

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Hi jguerdat, thanks for the response.  So how has the life expectancy been with your use?

[jguerdat]

Check up this thread about 6 posts ago.  They're doing fine although my usage is heavier than many so haven't been in there long.

[TomMac]

For me 29th day...

Don't know if I mentioned it but to keep track of the rechargeable battery dates, I add the date to the end of the camera name ( so I don't forget when they were last changed )

[RobertRosal]

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Coltsbro84 wrote:
Thank you for your help. I went ahead and got these. Hope they work well.

Item: 12x 3.7V CR123A 16340 2300mAh Purple GTL Rechargeable Battery Cell Flashlight

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=121199269063&alt=web

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Hi Coltsbro84, so how are these rechargeables working out for you?

[Coltsbro84]

RobertRosal,

So far, so good. They take about the same time to fully charge as the Nitecore. I don't have a scale, but they feel a tiny bit lighter in weight. They are roughly the same size as a lithium CR123. When fully charged with my Nightcore V2 charger, they only last a day at a full three bars. I've had them in for what I would say is about five days now in my street view camera. This camera is the furthest away from my base, and does about 300+ videos a week at 20 seconds on standard quality. If they suddenly die tomorrow, I would be happy. I paid roughly $36 for my nightcore set of four, and while they have a consistent battery level, (test are usually something like four days full, four days medium, four days low, one day flashing red) if I can get a week of heavy use from these purple GTL then I'll be happy since they came to about $6 for a set of four. I have since put my nitecore in my front door cam, it sees about 70 videos a week at 15 seconds at standard quality, and I don't have numbers yet, but it should last between 30-45 days in that camera without being switched out. I feel like in that situation, the GTL maybe wouldn't last as long. I know a little bit about batteries but not enough to know what would cause one battery to be great for high performance being used all the time and a different battery to be great at less performance for a longer period of time? But I would recommend the purple GTL that I bought simply because as of right now, they are almost, if not as good as the nightcore, for a fraction of the price.

[jguerdat]

Are they actually purple or is it just from the picture? I methought mine would be purple but were gray. There was a not so good review of the gray ones so I had hoped mine would be different but no go...

BTW, my heavy usage camera just told me they're at 15%. Roughly 3 month's normal usage would be indicated so I'm reasonably happy. If the neighbors stop being stupid I could easily cut back.

[Coltsbro84]

jguerdat,

Yeah, the batteries I have are purple label and not gray.

I will add this. I have had the best luck in my experience buying batteries for my Arlo system from eBay. Maybe I just got lucky with a great seller, great price, and decent shipping of around 10 days. Amazon was fast with its prime shipping, but prices were high, whether it was the nightcore or Tenergy. I'm the least likely to order from FastTech again. Prices were okay, shipping time was unacceptable at almost a month. Customer service was subpar, and when they refunded me for the EVVA that did not fit the camera, they did not refund the full price, and it upset me to where I didn't even bother checking to see if it was for "shipping cost" or "service fees" but, either way I was unhappy. Spent $45 total on some EVVA, returned half of the ones that I could that I didn't open, received a refund of around $15.

Some curious questions for others. Can you see the exact percentage of battery levels, in the settings? If it is there, I can't find it.

Anyone use high quality video recording, and does it really affect battery life...dramatically or just slightly? I might give this a try.

Anyone use battery saver video recording? I may also try this too, on something like my front door cam where a lower quality doesn't really affect the overall video if I'm recording something from about 10 feet away.

[jguerdat]

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Coltsbro84 wrote:

jguerdat,

Yeah, the batteries I have are purple label and not gray.

Some curious questions for others. Can you see the exact percentage of battery levels, in the settings? If it is there, I can't find it.

Anyone use high quality video recording, and does it really affect battery life...dramatically or just slightly? I might give this a try.

Anyone use battery saver video recording? I may also try this too, on something like my front door cam where a lower quality doesn't really affect the overall video if I'm recording something from about 10 feet away.

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Just ordered the purple ones to compare.  Thanks for the link.

You can't see percentage - only when you get an email about low battery.  Dunno how it's calculated.  Mine were reported at 15%, 344 minutes recording (10 minutes in the previous hour - ouch!).  The weakest battery showed 3.38v, the others 3.45-3.48v.  Unloaded voltage, of course.  Charged ones show 4.05v or more.

High quality seems to be mostly a nighttime thang.  Optimized setting gives me 720p during the day but 640x352 at night. Last time I tried best quality gave me 720p for everything, as I recall.  I suspect it lowers battery life some but depends on how many low light videos are taken.

Battery saver sucks the resolution down (640x352?) on everything.  I wouldn't use it except in extreme circumstances.

[TomMac]

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Coltsbro84 wrote:

snip
Some curious questions for others. Can you see the exact percentage of battery levels, in the settings? If it is there, I can't find it.

Anyone use high quality video recording, and does it really affect battery life...dramatically or just slightly? I might give this a try.

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I've only ever used High Quality video... using the GTL and Ultrafire cells  ( matched sets ) today I'm on day 37 with the cam at 2bars.

The only time I seen % of batteries is in the email you get from a low battery situation.

[jguerdat]

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jguerdat wrote:

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Coltsbro84 wrote:

jguerdat,

Yeah, the batteries I have are purple label and not gray.

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Just ordered the purple ones to compare.  Thanks for the link.

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How long did it take to get the purples? Theoretically mine should have been delivered today (2 day shipping!) but all I've gotten is a tracking number that doesn't show any activity.

[RobertRosal]

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jguerdat wrote:

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jguerdat wrote:

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Coltsbro84 wrote:

jguerdat,

Yeah, the batteries I have are purple label and not gray.

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Just ordered the purple ones to compare.  Thanks for the link.

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How long did it take to get the purples? Theoretically mine should have been delivered today (2 day shipping!) but all I've gotten is a tracking number that doesn't show any activity.

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Hi jguerdat, it would be great to know if there are differences between the grey and purple batteries.  I assume Tom is using the grey ones?