Rechargeable batteries & my personal experience

[jonozz666]

I know there has been plenty of discussion regarding different rechargeable batteries, but thought this may be useful to some.

After using the stock Duracell batteries, I researched and bought a few different brands from the UK, namely - 

Efest 850mAh - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281651122924?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (£2.99 each)

Nitecore 650 mAh - http://www.dx.com/p/nitecore-rechargeable-3-7v-650mah-16340-li-ion-battery-black-yellow-374261#.Vlds... (£4.61 each)

Ultrafire '2300' mAh - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111631096261?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (£1.41 each)

The height differences vary greatly - 

Ultrafire are the same as Duracell and fit just fine, Nitecore are bigger and fit very tightly, but I couldn't get the battery cover to close with the Efests, even using a lot of pressure - they are just too big for the job 😞

Efest batteries are great quality and I use them in other devices with confidence, but for Arlo cameras I couldn't recommend them. Again with Nitecore; a trusted brand and they will fit albeit very snugly. But they are quite expensive.

Ultrafire are a budget Chinese brand and I would usually steer clear, but thought I'd give them a go - perfect fit and surprising longevity - I've had them in my cameras for over 3 weeks now and they are still showing full bars. Even though we all suspect the mAh rating to be wildly inaccurate, these would be my choice out of the 4 brands. Dirt cheap and actually work very well.

Hope this helps if you're unsure about which brand to go for. Until the wired 1080p Arlos come out in 2016 I think the whole system is the best on the market, but certainly getting good rechargeables is the key 🙂

[TomMac]

Ultrafire are a budget Chinese brand and I would usually steer clear, but thought I'd give them a go - perfect fit and surprising longevity - I've had them in my cameras for over 3 weeks now and they are still showing full bars...

Yes, as you found out, the manf's spec for sizes of 16340/123 cells varies enough so some just don't fit.

As to the Ultrafire, they test in the 500+ range and previous test they work well enough ... you should get aprox 35 days with them. But, one of the downsides of these is that they have no PCB ( protection circuit ). The PCB stops over charging/discharging ....  There is one case here on the board a non-pcb cell melted an Arlo camera so be careful.

[Feste97]

As a potential customer doing some research on the Arlo, this is very useful, thanks! A couple of related questions:

How quickly did you receive your NiteCore batteries from dx.com?

Which charger do you use?

Thanks again!

[Motobarbie]

My original Arlo batteries lasted about 10 months, looking at cameras once a day. Like others here, I looked into rechargeable due to the cost of non-rechargeables, long before I actually needed them, and made a purchase. Now the cameras have been running on UltraFire 16340, rated at 880MAH. The outdoor camera quit communicating on the first cold weather week, but returned to service when taken inside and warmed up. It was also being disturbed by a bird, so not really sure why it went quiet. At that point, the indicator bars were at 2 out of 3. I recharged them and let them rest for a hour or two before re-install into the cameras. The outside camera is staying connected after nights of 21-24F. The period between install and recharge was 8 weeks, but the recharge was not necessary at that interval. The NiteCore charger has a smart sensor and a way to specify slow charging; an option that I use. I leave the four pack In the charger overnight.

[Motobarbie]

I received my Nitecare charger and eight batteries from battery junction pretty quickly: within a week, if I remember right. I did end up having to unsubscribe from them due to the frequency of emails.

[TomMac]

One thing to try if you have more than one set of batteries and a voltmeter is to match the sets....

Put the batteries on charge and then after fully charged, take them off for an hour or two to let them settle. Then take a voltage reading of each cell and group the closest range cells in a group of 4.

Reason behind this is the Arlo battery meter tends to ( educated guess)  detects the start voltage of the cells and then determine when depleted after "X" amount of drop. Youi want all the cells close so one doesn't drop out quicker and cause a device shut down

[jonozz666]

Thanks; I wasn't aware some batteries have PCB protection. Much as I like the Ultrafires, I will be extra careful with them from now on!

[jonozz666]

Hi, my Nitecore batteries took roughly 2 weeks from dx.com, but the 12 I ordered (for 3 cameras) came in 2 deliveries due to some issue they had with the courier (Lithium is a high risk chemical so some airlines refuse to carry it)

I currently use the new Efest 6 bay charger - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Efest-Blu6-OLED-Intelligent-Charger/dp/B014VF8AUQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=144... which is excellent, but also have a 4 bay Nitecore - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nitecore-DigiCharger-Universal-Intelligent-Battery/dp/B00V0AQYPY/ref=sr_1_3?...

Personally I prefer the Efest 🙂

[Feste97]

Thanks for the details regarding dx.com - did you get hit with any customs charges by UK customs?  I'm wondering if I should pay a little more per battery and just get them from Amazon £6.95 each, but I currently only have one camera so there's not much difference for the peace of mind.

The Efest charger does look nicer - do you prefer it just because of the bluetooth app?  Or are there are other reasons?

[jonozz666]

The 2 deliveries of Nitecore batteries (4 & then the other 😎 for my 3 cameras got through without any customs charges. I think the delay was down to the courier and not dx.com, so can't fault them.

As for chargers, I just like the fact it can take 6 batteries at a time; I haven't even looked into the bluetooth aspect as that doesn't really interest me!

Both the Efest & Nitecore chargers are well made so it comes down to budget,convenience & personal preference.

When the wired 1080p Arlos come out next year I'll probably be getting a couple of those, so will only use the wireless where plug access is more awkward.

[TomMac]

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jonozz666 wrote:

The 2 deliveries of Nitecore batteries...

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How did the Nitecores work out for you?  # of days and typical usage?

[Feste97]

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TomMac wrote:

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How did the Nitecores work out for you?  # of days and typical usage?

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For me, roughly 40 days with 3 bars... still in place for about 5 days with 2 bars. That is with only about 30 seconds of recording every 1-2 days (we only turn on our Arlo system when we go out, and let motion detect when we come home to make sure the system still alerts).  

I see there is another thread about this so will put my "data" there.

Was going to  buy some more, but Amazon suggested some alternatives which look interesting (well the reduced price does!): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UORI31W/ - also with IC protection.  Just not sure if their dimensions will work in the Arlo cams. 

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

I would like to thank you for your posts and contributions! I want to make sure you take a look at an article outlining best practices when it comes to batteries. For those involved in this discussion I encourage you to review Remember these golden rules for your Arlo camera batteries along with BATTERY WARNINGS AND SAFETY.
 
Thank you for sharing! 
 
JamesC