Very Poor Battery Life

[zepica]

Hello,

I have had my 3 camera system up and running for less than a week and I have one camera that is located inside that the battery meter is already down to one bar and is showing yellow.  I read a few posts about near to below freezing temperatures affecting battery readout, but this camera is indoors.  Did I make a huge mistake by buying this system?  Am I going to have to spend money hand over fist to keep batteries in these cameras?  I have a second camera that is also inside that had lost a bar already, too.   Please tell me that Netgear just supplied a bad set of batteries for two of my cameras.  

[TomMac]

Unknown of your usage habits...

Battery life is a product of usage... If you have heavy usage the battteries will only be short lived.

Most of my cameras last 4 months on best video... a couple made 7 months with very low usage.  Usage spec'ed by Netgear is 4 mins per day to get the listed life out of the OEM cells

If you have low usage, but still having batteries going quickly , contact Netgear an speak to them.

[zepica]

I have only had them operating for 6 days.  If that much drainage of battery for 6 days of usage could be defended by Netgear, I have made a horrible choice buying this product. 

[TomMac]

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zepica wrote:

I have only had them operating for 6 days.  If that much drainage of battery for 6 days of usage could be defended by Netgear, I have made a horrible choice buying this product. 

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You still didn't say HOW MUCH you operated.... I could kill a set of batteries quickly if I try and run the camera 24/7, prob in 1-2 days.

TIME of USE is the battery killer. Spec usage is 4 mins per day on optimized video.

[zepica]

They are security cameras and should be available at any time in the day.  I have them set to pick up motion.  Any security camera worth a darn should be able to do that.  And, if these are rated to only be available for 4 minutes per day, then they are garbage. 

[TomMac]

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zepica wrote:

They are security cameras and should be available at any time in the day.  I have them set to pick up motion.  Any security camera worth a darn should be able to do that.  And, if these are rated to only be available for 4 minutes per day, then they are garbage. 

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You may think so, but that's whatt the specs say... if they don't suit your needs , then maybe a wired system is what you really want.

More use equals less battery life.

[zepica]

That's pathetic.  Far too expensive for that poor of performance.  If they can only be used for 4 minutes per day, which is only .27% of the entire day, it should be in big bold letters on the outside of the box.

Warning, this product is only rated for use in .27% of the day, otherwise you'll burn through batteries.

I doubt they would sell very many if the told the truth on the box. 

[zepica]

I can't really schedule when there will be motion.  That's kind of the point of security cameras. 

[TomMac]

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zepica wrote:

That's pathetic.  Far too expensive for that poor of performance.  If they can only be used for 4 minutes per day, which is only .27% of the entire day, it should be in big bold letters on the outside of the box.

 snipped

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As I've mentioned, many have no problem with battery life to 4 months...This is used in a detection type mode for record.

If you want more of a 24/7 camera, maybe the Q cam which is ac powered would suit you better.

[zepica]

They are sending me a new set of batteries.  Either the set that came with the camera is defective or the camera it self is defective.  Out of three cameras that are all being used the same, one drained the batteries.  I am very much hoping that takes care of it. If the new batteries drain, I am going to swap out the camera for a new one.  I want to be able to use wireless. But, they will be usesless if they drain that fast. 

[Arl0]

I have 2 cameras that have been up for a week. One at 90% & 1 that is flat in 2 days. Firmware says no updates & both are disarmed in the day & if they do record anything it's maybe a couple of 10 second clips in the night due to wildlife. 1 has gone through 3 sets of batteries in a week. What can I do?

[jguerdat]

What's the WiFi percentage for the cameras when using the app (not sure why it's not visible on the web) in Settings, My Devices, pick your camera?  Maybe it's a poor signal causing the battery to die.  Could also have been a bad set of batteries or a bad camera which will require a trouble ticket to replace unless you can exchange the system for a new one at your store.

[Yel66]

Batteries on my cam drains too fast , only activating the cam (motion) from midnight to 6 am , and had to replace it in a week ? Changed settings already but still happens to just this one camera

[TomMac]

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Arl0 wrote:
I have 2 cameras that have been up for a week. One at 90% & 1 that is flat in 2 days. Firmware says no updates & both are disarmed in the day & if they do record anything it's maybe a couple of 10 second clips in the night due to wildlife. 1 has gone through 3 sets of batteries in a week. What can I do?

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swap the two cameras and see if the problem follows the camera.... If it does, then comtact netgear for a possible replacement

[timber1111]

I too am extremely disappointed in the battery life of my 5 day old Arlo Pro cameras.

Just bought 5 days ago, experimenting with different settings and camera placement and here are my results so far:

Camera 1 - high traffic from my dog in the backyard, however, not even close to 4 minutes of recording per day, after 5 days of use battery is at 59%.

Camera 2 - moderate motion detecting, a few detections per day, battery is at 68%

Camera 3 - aimed at 2 air conditioners, very little motion triggering, battery is at 68%

Camera 4 - mailman traffic 1 time per day, battery is at 80%

Added note:......I actually recharged the 59% battery last night to 100%. It's been less than 24 hours, only 1 recording/trigger and battery is already down to 92%. Temps outside all week where I am has been in the 70's in case someone wants to blame the temps.

On phone with tech support as I'm typing this.....doubt if I get anywhere, the tech barely speaks english and have had to repeat myself several times about everything.

If I was a betting person I would say I will be returning this system. Great idea, just over-advertised the true battery life if you actually use the camera.

[jguerdat]

Battery life is fine as long as the installation is within spec.  There's no way for us to really debug your situation over the Internet but both the number of minutes or recording as well as live viewing plus any WiFi issues, such as distance, signal blockage, 2.4GHz wireless interference, etc. all get in there.  SInce all your cameras are basically having the same issue I'd suspect something near your base blocking/interfering with the cameras' ability to maintain a good signal.  Repositioning the base, perhaps even a few inches, could produce a sigificant difference.

FWIW, I've never had that sort of battery drainage in the nearly 2 years I've had the wireless cameras and now a couple of Pros. YMMV.

[NETthisGEAR]

If you are having issues with the batterly life on the Arlo then can always contact support at support.netgear.com. It's always good to do this just in case something needs to be replaced, and also in case you need more help down the road.

Usage is what is going to cause the battery life to go down, so either it's triggering way too much, the recording is too long, the sensitivity or placement of the camera needs to be changed, anything along those lines.

The main thing I have been touting is that most people aren't aware that the original Arlo has rechargeable batteries available for it(not to be confused with the Arlo Pro which comes with them).

You can find the rechargeable batteries for the Arlo here. Of course you need the charger along with the batteries. You can buy more batteries separate if need be.

[bengler1951]

I have been having the same problem on my 4 cameras since I bought them the first week of Feb this year 2017. I have spent more time on the phone with Netgear and keep getting a run around.  

These were put out too soon, advertised as the batteries lasting 4 - 6 months. I live in a very low motion area. I live on a dead end street, with no trees, not even a mailman goes by.  I have to use one camera to charge the batteries, because there are no chargers to be found.  Now how is this for crap.

I also have been told by Netgear broken english speaking morons, that I should turn off my cameras when I am home. Are you kidding me????  There should be a large sign on the box and on each camera, do not expect to use these for then 4 minutes a day.

The over priced product is pure junk to me.  I have 800.00 invested and they won't do a thing about it.  Even Best Buy is having issues with what they are told to say about how long the batteries last.

Best Buy is willing to work with me if I can get an RA number from Netgear Corporate Office.  This was not thought out very well, no chargers and no waterproof outdoor cords as promised by Netgear Techs back in February.

One of the Netgear techs told me yesterday, if we can find a charger and send it to you, would that make you happy?  I said no, I am tired of climbing up a ladder every week to change three batteries. I cannot use the fourth camera, because it is used to continually charge batteries. 

When I get my answer tomorrow, I will be back on here with the results.  Poor product and poor product support.  

[bengler1951]

Is that cuz you kept them in the box?  You are one of the few who has not had any trouble.  What bunch of bull**bleep**.  Set them up to spec.  You are so dilusional.  Bet you work for them.

[manfredz]

Bengler.  Insulting forum members is not going to help you.

Wondering why you switched from Posting in the Arlo Pro forum to the Arlo Wire Free forum when you have the Arlo Pro

I see the charger advertised by sellers on Amazon - are none of those sources able to deliver?