Argus power consumption

papini.l

What's the Argus power consumption with PIR sensor activated?

Bob

Sorry but we don't have this data for Argus as Argus is batteries-powered. Anyway, what do you need this for?

papini.l

I'm trying to estimate the battery life in this condition.

Bob

Well, my opinion about this is to test for the answer. After all, estimate of battery life is too rough.

papini.l

I have made some measures of Argus camera consumption with an usb meter using a power bank as source.

When the camera is "awake" (that is when you use live view, you play video on the memory card or modify settings) the power consumption is about 1,05 W. This value is about twice when the IR leds are on. I noticed IR leds turns on in dark conditions even when you play video or access setting menu (with Android app). I think this is a bug that increases battery consumption.

When the camera is in stand by mode the power consumption is less then 0,05 W (I can't make a more exact measure cos is out of the range of my meter).

The consumption of PIR sensor is very low and I can't see differences when I switch it on and off.

I also noticed in the Android app that if you play a video on the memory card or access the settings menu, the camera remains in the awake mode even after you stop doing these tasks. You have to close the app to come back to stand by status. I think this is another bug that increases battery usage.

Anyway, with the above values everyone can make an estimate of the battery duration.

For example, if we consider an average use of 15 minutes/day in daylight conditions with the standard CR123 batteries, we should have:

1,05 W / 60 * 15 = 0,26 Wh/day (energy consumption when the camera is ON)

As I said in stand by mode the consumption is less then 0,05 W; lets take a value of 0,03 W:

0,03 W * 24 = 0,72 Wh/day (energy consumption when the camera is in stand by)

So the total consumption/day is:

0,26 + 0,72 = 0,98 Wh/day

The four standard GP 123 batteries have a capacity of 19,2 Wh (1,6 Ah * 3 V * 4).

The estimated duration of batteries is:

19,2 / 0,98 = 19,6 days

So, if the calculations are right, if you want your batteries last at least a couple of month you should use the camera no more then 5 minutes/day.