topic Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day in Arlo Audio Doorbell

Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

kerry_federer — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 16:12:40 GMT

DON'T BUY THE AUDIO DOORBELL UNTIL THEY FIX IT.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Audio-Doorbell/Arlo-Door-Bell-Hourly-Motion-Detection/m-p/1698727

I get notifications daily at exactly 3:00 am, 4:00 am or 5:00 am. I just LOVE my notifications at that time every day.

Seems like this is a recurring problem. I started several supports and never got a fix. Everything that they recommended to troubleshoot did not work. Then They were going to send me a replacement, I filled out the RMA and NEVER received the replacement.

The first time, they wanted me to return my device BEFORE they would replace it, leaving me without a doorbell. So when I complained, they were going to send me a replacement before I returned mine. NEVER received, case closed for non response.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

JessicaP — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 17:06:31 GMT

Hi kerry_federer,

Let me reach out to you via private message to gather more information from you.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

vinella — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 02:51:17 GMT

I just got a new arlo audio doorbell and can confirm exactly the same behaviour at 3am and 4am exactly in my case. I have had to disable use of the doorbell motion detection. I have stored the videos. The doorbell is seen lighting up with absolutely no movement of any kind to be seen.

Please advise what the fix is for this !

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

kerry_federer — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 04:24:21 GMT

@vinella

For the false activation problem, they have sent me a new device, but it is a piece of junk. It will not detect motion once it is attached to the base. As soon as you tighten the screw, it stops detecting motion at all. As soon as you loosen the screw, the doorbell will once again detect motion.

I think that the audio doorbell has lots of problems. The false notifications has been reported before and I don't think that they have a solution.

Maybe they will eventually send me a device that actually works like it should.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

kerry_federer — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 22:47:57 GMT

New unit works better but still getting false notifications at 3 am and 4 am but so far, not every day. They have a problem with something with the audio doorbell as there are several posts complaining about it.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

jguerdat — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 13:47:03 GMT

Edit: removed my comment since this is the audio doorbell, not video.

One thing I did with my audio doorbell and associated camera was to turn off the doorbell detection and just use the camera nearby to detect/record.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

vinella — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 07:03:29 GMT

"One thing I did with my audio doorbell and associated camera was to turn off the doorbell detection and just use the camera nearby to detect/record."

You can do above but you lose the ability to simulate home presence which we like - just not at 3, 4 or 5am randomly Arlo !!!

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

VanPire — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:39:59 GMT

I have exactly the same issue, doorbell detects motion at either 3am 4am or 5am almost every night. What can I do to fix this? It's very annoying and wakes us up.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 01:29:54 GMT

Seems like a check for firmware check daily at 3:00am, then again at 4:00am, finally at 5:00am. If no update is made, then this check repeats next day. The chime rings through as it is moded with the camera. Will disconnect all and find another system. Worked well at first but this started around September 1st.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

VanPire — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 01:59:54 GMT

So a work around to the doorbell notifications seems to be to disable motion sensors on the doorbell. Typically people have a camera by their front door so you can rely on the cameras motion detection instead.

Not ideal, but then again neither is being woken up every night.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

K9hudson — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 15:23:28 GMT

Wow. Sorry to hear about this. We just installed the doorbell and are having the same issue... notification for motion detected at 4am. Have you found a solution for this issue yet?

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

K9hudson — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 15:24:10 GMT

We just installed the doorbell and are having the same issue... notification for motion detected at 4am. Have you found a solution for this issue yet?

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 22:59:20 GMT

I had the camera triggered the audio doorbell / chime .. somehow I think the problem exists due to some faulty firmware issue whereby either the audio doorbell is looking for an update or more likely the camera that is alive over the front door is seeking a firmware update and in the process is being turned on and in turn trigger the chime via the doorbell. I'll be l

I will try to use uncoule the camera from the doorbell and just use the the doorbell motion detector. The camera will probably continue to look for updates at 3 am, 4 am and 5 am but hopefully won't trigger the chime. My wife is ready to kill me since this has happened 3 nights in a row. The only fix, short of going with Eufy, is to unplug the chime at night and re-connect during the day (if I remember). I like the chime feature for Amazon packages and it works very well. So would really l ike to keep things as they are. This is a fairly recent firmware or Android app problem no doubt.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 23:57:56 GMT

If you check the devices that are for sale you will notice that the Arlo Audio Doorbell has been removed, so they are likely not selling it any longer. Perhaps that is their fix ? I would NOT buy the Video Doorbell. There is obviously a software firmware problem either with the app itself or with some errant firmware update. The signalling issue is originating from the Arlo server as the timing happens at exactly 3 am, 4 am and 5 am.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 15:43:29 GMT

Well my current solution is to unplug the chime so it does not ring at 4:00am. I also turned off the camera itself. I think the 4:00am or 3:00am notification is actually caused by either an Andriod app issue or by the base station. I have set schedule to exclude the time between 3-5 am but that does not help. The issue is stemming from the Arlo server which is forcing or interrogating an update.

BTW - I am using the original VMB 3000 base station and was thinking to upgrade to VMB4500 but that is going in the wrong direction. If I spend any more money to fix, improve or expand my system it will not be with Arlo products.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 15:59:57 GMT

This has been going on for many months but for me since I have the audio doorbell with connected chime, for some strange reason the chime sound is now triggered. I did not mind seeing the camera trigger at 3 am or 4 am or 5 am as the chime did not go off. So no chime usage during the night-time hours until there is a fix. As I mentioned earlier it appears they are no longer selling the Audio Doorbell device. They can say it was an interim product waiting for the video doorbell release so now no longer needed but what about us poor b&stards who bought the audio doorbell ? What are we to do ? Guess ?

Well it is not to upgrade to the Arlo video model, I can tell you that !!!

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 17:18:32 GMT

Kinda strange for a premium priced camera-security system Arlo provides such poor customer support for completely obvious and known problems. Actually, after 3-4 years technology changes and normally an upgrade to the latest system is expected and actually welcomed. However, this is done to secure more advanced features and benefits. I would never upgrade for more reliable operation.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 15:03:50 GMT

Naturally, after a week, support never got back to me. I hear this is normal operation. Here is my interim solution with regard to the false notifications which cause the CHIME to ring at 3 am, 4 am, or 5 am. I put the chime on a wifi smart plug and scheduled it OFF between the hours of 2:30 am to 5:30 am. In that way, it cannot ring and wake us between these hours. I don't care about the firmware negotiation process or having the latest firmware as long as the cameras work properly. My issue has been the CHIME going off in the middle of the night up to 3 times due to false notifications caused by the Arlo server. I'd rather have a thief enter the house with the Arlo system disabled than never get any sleep past 3 am. At least he / she may not wake me up as they rumpage through the house.

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 14:04:34 GMT

Good news ! No, I do not hear from tech support. Nothing happened last night. No server messages to negotiate the camera or base station firmware at 3 am, 4 am or 5 am. I had started looking at s-canning the entire system because if you cannot trust tech support to support you then what do you have with Arlo ? Just a very expensive seemingly elegant system that may work for a while or not at all. Best to go with a cheap solution and since I am an original customer and bought when the wire-free camera was just introduced in early 2016 nothing can be worse today after 4 years. I will soon get an upgraded system with more features and no expensive C123A batteries. BTW - I had the chime plugged in on a smartplug with timer last night. Living dangerously eh ?

Re: Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

Constant123 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 16:02:40 GMT

No false notification(s) last night. No response from tech support almost 2 weeks. How long are cases open ? I think it is a server issue which is causing the false notifications.

They will never admit it but if is the server then they quietly fix it.