Arlo for CCTV / Security

[hemmings001]

Hi All,

I've been doing a fair amount of research on this product, and i really am ready to go forward and purchase a 3 camera system..........and here's the BUT.

Battery life really bothers me, and as i would plan to have all 3 cameras in realtively high positions above the ground the thought of having to continually replace batteries really bothers me.

Question is; is 3-4 months battery life "really" a realistic statement OR is it more like 4-6 weeks? i would be using it in a "light" vehicle / foot traffic area, and i would plan to optimise cameras periods of activiation as much as possible BUT i want them to do the job for which they would be purchased.....SECURITY.

I just do not want to have to go through the aggravation of unpacking, installing and then being unhappy and then removing repacking and returning within a 3-4 week period.

Thoughts and feedback to help me with my decision making would be most appreciated.

Thanks all.

[jguerdat]

To maximize battery life, camera position is all-important.  You need to keep recording/live view time down to the ~4 minutes per day to get the rated 4-6 month battery life spec. Ensuring that false triggers don't happen require trial and error so your first set of batteries may be toast quickly but once you get a good setup it should be fine.  Note that you should have motion across the FOV, not directly towards it, and starting near an edge for best detection.   Too much scenery decreases what is detected and/or may lead to false triggers.  Note that you can use one camera to trigger another in the rules which may be useful for your situation.  There's also a thread here where someone came up with a PVC pipe "shield" to help limit detection of distant cars going by from being detected - search for "PVC" here to find the thread.

It's also possible that you can't get a good setup, depending on what's available to mount the camera on and what will be detected.  Since this is a motion detection system, it's all about the positioning of the cameras.

[Schorschi]

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hemmings001 wrote:

Battery life really bothers me, and as i would plan to have all 3 cameras in realtively high positions above the ground the thought of having to continually replace batteries really bothers me.

Question is; is 3-4 months battery life "really" a realistic statement OR is it more like 4-6 weeks? i would be using it in a "light" vehicle / foot traffic area, and i would plan to optimise cameras periods of activiation as much as possible BUT i want them to do the job for which they would be purchased.....SECURITY.

I just do not want to have to go through the aggravation of unpacking, installing and then being unhappy and then removing repacking and returning within a 3-4 week period.

Thoughts and feedback to help me with my decision making would be most appreciated.

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The official use-case scenario is 4-6 months battery life with a 4-minute clip per day per camera. That is not a far-fetched number.

Define "light vehicle/foot traffic area". Two pedestrians/vehicles per day? 20? 100?

I'll let you do the Math.

Also, high mounting (how high?) will not work well for night surveillance, as the reach of the built-in IR lights is about 15 ft at best. So, you would have to invest in external lights, either continuous or with their own motion sensor, if you expect night coverage beyond 15 ft from camera.

If the above doesn't already give you your answer, describe the intended coverage area and expected motion event frequency a bit more in detail.

[hemmings001]

Hi Thanks both for your replies. 

For clarity and average of 4 cars + 6 pedestrian movements per day MAX.

The key point you have made is the 15Ft night vision.....this in itself makes my decision clearer. I would plan to mount any camera at around 10Ft minimum as i wouldnt want any "would be" burgalar to be able to hit them or smash them with a stick or other object.

The attraction for me initially was the wireless self set up, and precieved ease of operation. what i couldnt accept would be such a short night vision range OR the mounting of a camera closer to the ground to improve this.

Will now most likely look at a wired solution, with motion activation and likely with a more robust and secure construction. Clear i totally realise that virtually any camera can be smashed or destroyed if you try hard enough, but by mouting cameras a little higher i hoped to hamper this option.

Thanks again.

[Schorschi]

Well, if you incorporate ~6 foot tall people into your calculations you could get an effective wider circle of coverage. That is, until the day you get attacked by midget ninjas that are only three feet tall.

Here are two sample night videos of cats that I posted recently for another purpose. Note that you can hardly make out the triggering cat in the first video. Not sure what the exact distance is between camera and cat, but is probably not far off of 15 ft. Camera height above ground is about 9-10 ft.

[jguerdat]

There's also the external IR floodlights you can buy. Lots of high powered ones for modest prices if range is needed. Outdoor lighting by itself helps a lot.