arlo batteries

[jwhitman]

My Arlo batteries, Panasonic CR123A Industrial Lithium, are depleted. Panasonic does not indicate that they have more such batteries. Buying in bulk (10-12 packs) seem only available on Etsy (I'm concerned about reliability). "Industrial" seems to be key, as reviewers say alternatives run down quickly. What's going on? What are my options for replacing these batteries?

[TomMac]

Any Known name brand of cr123 type cells will work fine.

I buy mine for about $1.40 per from online battery supply house

batteryjunction is the site, but do a search

[jwhitman]

But is Industrial required, or better performing?

[TomMac]

Not any better that I'm aware of.....my OEM unit came with energizers 123 cells

batteries are rated by the voltage and mahr capacity, all specs Of the 123 are close enough not to make any differences 

ps online test stated,

The performance of these batteries is basically the same as the retail version.

[Flashfox]

I pay a bit more but buy a USA made product from "SureFire". This way I avoid risks of cheap sub-standard cloned imports from you know where (you never know what you get).

http://www.surefire.com/batteries.html

As these batteries have a shelf life of several years I order the 72-pack, which results in a ~$1.86/battery cost. More than the cheap clone/imports but at least I know where they are made, reputable... and I also support a USA based manufacturer 🙂

[jwhitman]

Thanks for being so helpful! I ordered a box of 12 Surefire batteries, which appear to work well. However, when I tested the "depleted" Panosonics that came with the Arlos, they all tested solidly in the green "good" range on the meter (for 3V lithium). The new Surefires tested only slightly higher.

[Flashfox]

Lithium primary batteries should not read higher voltages. They maintain a fairly constant voltage until they become depleted. That's one of the key features of these types of batteries along with power density. Once they are depleeted, the voltage drops quickly.

The SureFire batteries are just as good as other "known brands" like from Duracell, etc. Those I don't trust are the "too good to be true price" versions you find on E-Bay and elsewhere. With those you realy don't know what you are getting and with the proliferation of low quality and unsafe knock-offs from China, who knows how safe or reliable those batteries are.

My main reason why I agree to pay a bit more for SureFire batteries is that they are "Made in the USA". So I am encouraging a homegrown company in place of sending my money to China.

As SureFire's main business is weapon illuminators/lasers, these batteries are used by many law enforcement users. If they trust their lives to SureFire then I should have no hesitation doing so too 🙂

[TomMac]

A OEM cell will read 3.2v when new....

they are fairly well dead at 2.8 v or so