I'm a bit late to the party, but just spotted this thread and its an area I'm a bit of an expert in.
NightJar said:
the batteries are supposed to last up to 6 months before a recharge, they lasted three days
It depends on how often an "event" happens. When something comes past, they "wake up", try and figure out what it is, and possibly send an alert. In areas where there is lots of action, like people coming past or cars going past. They have to do this much more. From what I recall, Arlo says something like 12 events is an average they base their battery life off. If your cameras can see a road they might be seeing hundreds of events, draining the battery very fast.
Alternatively, could just be a faulty battery from the factory.
Simmo said:
I am going to add a 2k camera in a strategic position to capture close up detail if required.
The 1080p is good, but not 'that' good.
In cameras, there is something known as the DORI distance. Detection, Observe, Recognise, Identify. What that means are the distances you can do each.
In your picture, you can easily Observe that people and cars are there, MAYBE even recognise who the person is IF you already know them, based on their haircut, clothes etc.
But at this distance, you cant Identify someone if you dont know them. Like, if some random approached to break in, you wont have enough detail to describe them.
A 2K camera will help, but usually its about the field of view. Ring/Arlo/Eufy have a field of view of about 114 degrees (2.8mm lens). This means their identify distance is about 9 metres.
Which leaves you two options, move one of those battery cameras within 9 metres, and ideally a bit lower (9ft is optimal) since they can be defeated with a baseball cap if they are too high.
OR, go a proper wired system (Dahua/Hikvision etc) with a tighter field of view. So 6mm lens or so which is about 40 degrees. Then you'll be able to identify faces at that distance.
Nightjar said:
Didn't record me driving out or back into garage but it did record me walking to letterbox?
These wireless/battery cameras use PIR sensors (like those old 80's security system motion detectors), and while the camera can SEE off into the distance, their PIR detection range is about 10 metres, and it angles down from the camera at about 30 degrees. So if its mounted to high it wont detect well, OR angled too much down its detection range will be shortened.
Lastly, they detect better when the object is going side to side, rather than straight at the camera. Just how the technology works, so if you can, mount it where someone would be moving left/right in its field of view.
