Aiphone Doorbell Battery Draining Too Quickly? Here's How to Fix It
The Aiphone series of wire-free video doorbells offers incredible flexibility and security for your home. However, if you're finding that you need to recharge the battery more often than you'd like, it's usually due to a handful of specific settings and environmental factors. This expert guide will help you diagnose the cause of the rapid battery drain and provide actionable solutions to extend the life of your Aiphone device.
## The Main Causes of Battery Depletion
A battery-powered doorbell conserves energy by remaining in a low-power 'sleep' state most of the time. It only consumes significant power when it needs to wake up to perform a task. The three main power-draining tasks are: recording motion, streaming live video, and communicating with your Wi-Fi network.
1. Wi-Fi Signal Strength:
- This is the silent battery killer. If your doorbell is far from your Wi-Fi router, the signal will be weak. The device then has to boost its radio power significantly to maintain a stable connection.
- How to Check: In your Aiphone app, find the device health or network settings section. It should show you a measure of the Wi-Fi signal strength (RSSI). A weak signal is a major red flag for poor battery life.
- Solution: The best solution is to improve the signal. Move your Wi-Fi router to a more central location if possible. If not, installing a Wi-Fi extender or a mesh Wi-Fi system can provide the strong, stable signal your doorbell needs to operate efficiently.
2. Motion Detection Settings:
- Every time your doorbell detects motion, it wakes up, records a video clip, and sends a notification to your phone. This is its primary job, but overly sensitive settings can cause it to do this job far too often.
- High Traffic Areas: Is your doorbell pointed at a busy street, a waving flag, or a rustling tree? These constant movements will trigger recordings and drain your battery.
- Solution 1: Use Motion Zones. In the motion settings, create specific zones that cover only the areas you care about, like your walkway or porch. Exclude public pavements and roads.
- Solution 2: Lower Sensitivity. Reduce the motion sensitivity level. This will make the doorbell less likely to trigger on smaller, insignificant movements like swaying branches or shadows.
3. Frequency of Use:
- Live Viewing: Every time you open the app and start a live stream to see what's happening, you wake the doorbell up and force it to use a large amount of power. While this is a key feature, frequent or prolonged use will have a direct, negative impact on battery life.
- Event Frequency: If you live in a busy household with people coming and going all day, or have a high number of deliveries, the sheer number of legitimate events will naturally lead to shorter battery life compared to a quieter location.
## Other Factors to Consider
### Cold Weather
- It is a fundamental property of lithium-ion batteries that their performance degrades in cold temperatures.
- If you live in a climate with cold winters, you will experience shorter battery life during those months. The chemical reactions that generate power are simply less efficient below freezing.
- Solution: While you cannot change the weather, you can ensure the battery is fully charged before a cold snap. A full battery is more resilient to the cold than a partially charged one.
By optimising your Wi-Fi signal, fine-tuning your motion detection settings to eliminate false alerts, and being mindful of your live view usage, you can dramatically increase the time between charges for your Aiphone video doorbell.