Blink Outdoor 4: What Kind Of Batteries Do These Cameras Use & How Many Do You Need?

A lot goes into home ownership, from taking care of the house itself to the surrounding yard. With so much time and money put into your dwelling, you want to ensure your home and belongings are well-defended against burglars and unwanted critters alike. There are several major home security brands to choose from, each providing similar levels of protection at varying price points. If you’re just looking for a simple yet effective home security camera, Blink is undeniably one of the stronger choices out there, with the Blink Outdoor 4 camera being one of the premier options in its catalog.

Don’t let its small size fool you; the Blink Outdoor 4 is a handy little camera. On a Wi-Fi connection, it offers a live feed with 1080p video and two-way audio that you can access at any time with the Blink mobile app. The lens provides a 143-degree field of view and can even integrate with Amazon Alexa.

Perhaps the most convenient aspect of the Outdoor 4 is that you can put it pretty much anywhere. That’s because the camera is wireless and runs on batteries. Fortunately, it takes a pretty common battery type and doesn’t need a ton of them.

The Outdoor 4 runs on pretty common batteries

Three rows of batteries seen from the positive end.

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It doesn’t take much to power a Blink Outdoor 4. Going to the Blink website, specifically the section for Outdoor 4 support, it’s explained that only two non-rechargeable, 1.5-volt lithium metal AA batteries are needed per camera. To top it all off, a brand new Outdoor 4 includes enough batteries to have it up and running in no time.

According to Blink, you can expect to get roughly two years out of a set of batteries when using default settings. Custom settings, the environment the camera is in, and how much you use the camera can contribute to the timetable shifting one way or the other, though. Also, some of the battery brands out there rank better in terms of longevity than others, so your individual results may vary based on your chosen type. For those looking for a more definite estimate, Blink users have shared just how much use they realistically expect from batteries.

Various factors can contribute to battery life, according to customers

Six white batteries standing, positive side-up.

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In a thread by u/Sufficient-Cold-9496, u/TheBl4ckFox warned that the Blink cameras’ sensitive motion sensor can kill batteries faster than normal. “If your Blink is armed and constantly seeing motion, the battery will drain fast. Try setting up ignore zones in the app, or place it differently,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, Redditor u/Puzzleheaded_Run_263 warned that sometimes the batteries will drain quickly for no discernable reason. In their experience, parasitic draw — battery draining when the camera isn’t in use — occurred, making one of their three cameras less useful than one would hope. Contrary to what Blink recommends for its cameras, Reddit user u/MacGyver137 attested in a different thread by u/Unclebob843 that using rechargeable batteries with the brand’s cameras is entirely doable. In fact, they mention that they’ve used both Blink indoor and outdoor models with such batteries and found them to work just fine.

No matter the specifics of the batteries involved, odds are that once you put two AAs into your Blink Outdoor 4, you’ll be more than satisfied by what this little home camera can do.