Wifi Signal strength & Battery Usage

[EtheB]

Is there a direct relationship between the camera Wifi strength symbol (1, 2 or 3 bars) and the rate of battery usage?

The FAQ talks about a maximum 300ft (90M) to keep battery usage down, but beyond that is a bit vauge on the detail.

Obvioulsy with a couple of internal/external walls between the indoor base station and outdoor cameras, plus other neighbors wifi floating around, I'm guessing the range would be considerably less?

I have a 4 camera system, with all solid green LEDs on the base station, but 2 of the cameras (furthest) are only 2 wifi bars. If I was to reposition the base station to get all cameras up to 3 bars would that extend battery life or are those "signal levels" a bit meaningless.

[Schorschi · Accepted solution]

Yes, there is a correlation. That's why when turning off the base station, as some people seem to want to do, does not save on battery power. In fact, it does the opposite, it increases battery usage, as the cameras are hunting for the (non-existing) base station signal.

Likewise, the farther a camera from the base station, the harder it has to work to maintain the connection. Whether that's worth repositioning the base station for, is another matter. If you use rechargeable batteries, I don't think it matters much.

[EtheB]

Thanks but I wasn't suggesting turning off the base station.

What I am getting at is if a camera is reporting, say 2 out of 3 wifi bars, then that obvioulsy equates to a specific range of signal level.

Have those values been published anywhere?

Presumably the lower the reported signal level, the "harder" it is for the base station & camera to communicate.

This will relate to how much quicker a camera eats through its batteries when communicating, but just how much quicker?

For a set camera configuration (duration, sensitivity, etc), does each wifi bar equate to perhaps a month in battery life?

[jguerdat]

We don't have access to that data, if it exists. You can check the percentages in Settings, My Devices which theoretically would be more precise than the bars.  How any of it relates to battery life would require strict testing over a long period of time so I doubt anyone is interested in performing the test.  I suppose you could wire in equipment to shorten the test but it just gets more and more involved.