topic Re: camera offline in Arlo Essential Wire-Free Cameras

camera offline

French65 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:37:31 GMT

I think my camera is a 1st generation, but helpfully it does not say so on the camera which is about 3+ years old. I have found it impossible to actually contact/speak to anyone at Arlo other than a useless chatbot, which I think because I have a basic plan i.e no subscriptions, the bot is the furthest I can get. I can't help thinking that if I were to be buying something they would be all over like a rash! So the camera suddenly decides to go offline, I cannot sync it with the base station as it won't find it, I removed the device to reinstall it, but the phone (android), app will not recognise the QR code, I am going round in circles and going nuts, yes it is fully charged. Any suggestion from anyone please?

Re: camera offline

StephenB — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:28:01 GMT

@French65 wrote:

I think my camera is a 1st generation, but helpfully it does not say so on the camera

2nd gen Essentials

have a sync button on the top
use a USB-C port for charging
Have the VMCxxxx camera model printed on the back.

1st gen Essentials

have a sync button on the bottom (right in front of the charging port)
use a microUSB port for charging
have the VMCxxxx camera model embossed on the charging port flap (it is hard to see!)

@French65 wrote:

I removed the device to reinstall it, but the phone (android), app will not recognise the QR code,

Installing the cameras doesn't require the app to read a QR code. So I am puzzled on what you are doing. Normally you just go into "Add device" (being careful to choose the right model).

You could try a hardware reset - holding down the sync button until it flashes amber - about 15 sec.

Re: camera offline

French65 — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 21:19:45 GMT

Thanks for the reply, I have tried a factory reset, I've tried just about everything QR code and via base station, no joy, at a total loss, I think arlo is going to be ditched spent way too much time and energy on this. Thanks anyway.