C425 terrible battery life

C425 terrible battery life

C425 terrible battery life
C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-20 20:48:53 - last edited 2024-07-26 11:25:16
Model: Tapo C425  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.2.18

The C425 is supposed to have a huge battery but it lasts for just under 2 weeks. I've had to charge it twice now, this month.

My suspicion is that is is picking up constant movement in the kitchen. I've set both the recording settings and notification settings to only trigger between 23.30 and 6.00 the next day and that seems to work (I have no notifications or recordings outside of this time window), but my suspicion is that the camera is still detecting at all hours (just not notifying or recording) because I hear a little click when I walk up to the camera during the day (i.e. outside of the scheduled time).

 

I really want the camera to be in sleep mode throughout the day (unless I change the alarm settings) and only awake from 23.30 to 6.00 the next day.

 

I'm also a little bit confused about the difference between the settings I configure in the device, and the settings I configure in "Home mode" and "Away mode". I've set the home mode to the same settings as above, just to be sure.

 

I'd appreciate any ideas / assistance with this problem.

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#1
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1 Accepted Solution
Re:C425 terrible battery life-Solution
2024-07-22 08:36:15 - last edited 2024-07-26 11:25:16

  @Bondsc 

Hi,
Btw, if you turn on the privacy mode, the camera will be in sleep mode all the time, and you can set a schedule to turn on/off the camera's privacy mode via the smart action>automation feature.
How to create Smart Action (automation or a shortcut) of my Tapo devices

 

The home/away mode is the preset settings you configured for the camera, based on your description, you may not need to configure the home/away mode. 
How to edit Home and Away Mode for Tapo Cameras on the Tapo app?
 

Best Regards

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#4
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-21 19:14:26

  @Bondsc 

 

I have a similar issue. Haven't had mine as long as you, but I've gone down 12% in 3 days with 10-15 notifications each day. 

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#2
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-22 08:05:29

  @Bondsc  @Valdano 
Hi,
For the sake of power savings, the battery-powered camera is usually in a sleep state (low power consumption), however, if the camera is woken up frequently or maintains the ON state for a long time, it consumes power quickly.
You can refer to the instructions below to know how the battery-powered camera wakes up. 
What is the Wake-up Sensitivity of my battery camera/doorbell?

On the camera's Device Settings>Battery Status page, you can go to the bottom of this page to see the Wake-up Times to confirm if your camera wakes up frequently or not.

 

To extend the battery life of the camera, please refer to the following instructions.
How do I extend the battery life of my Tapo Camera/Doorbell?

Best Regards

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#3
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Re:C425 terrible battery life-Solution
2024-07-22 08:36:15 - last edited 2024-07-26 11:25:16

  @Bondsc 

Hi,
Btw, if you turn on the privacy mode, the camera will be in sleep mode all the time, and you can set a schedule to turn on/off the camera's privacy mode via the smart action>automation feature.
How to create Smart Action (automation or a shortcut) of my Tapo devices

 

The home/away mode is the preset settings you configured for the camera, based on your description, you may not need to configure the home/away mode. 
How to edit Home and Away Mode for Tapo Cameras on the Tapo app?
 

Best Regards

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#4
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-23 13:18:42
Thanks for the useful info. I'll try this out and report back on whether it improves battery life
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#5
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-24 09:43:14

  @Bondsc Thank you for your attempt and cooperation~

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#6
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-24 18:45:28

I've set a schedule to enable privacy mode at 6.00am and disable privacy mode at 23.30, so the camera is only capable of detecting at night.

I'll see how this impacts the battery life.

 

I had noticed that alarms and notifications could be set for certain hours, directly within the camera settings, and I hadn't considered setting privacy in a similar way, using automations. Nice :)

 

Simon

 

 

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#7
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-26 09:55:49

Enabling and disabling privacy mode via automation has solved the problem. I also found that by clicking "Battery status", I can daily battery usage per day and also see exactly when detection is triggered. This is really useful information and allows me to define my schedule times even better.

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#8
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-26 11:13:26

  @Bondsc 

Hi,
Thank you for your attempt and experience sharing, and glad to hear your case is solved~ smiley
Best Regards

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#9
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-28 11:56:12

  @Valdano 

do you mean it drops 12% battery every 3 days? or it drops from 100% to 12% in just 3 days?

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#10
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Re:C425 terrible battery life
2024-07-28 11:59:06
What type of automation do you use?
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#11
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