topic 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos in Arlo Pro 2

3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

BigTLT — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:18:16 GMT

I have 5 cameras setup at a house. One camera was not capturing motion videos and not notifying on motion. The motion sensitivity tests all passed. Thought it was camera, so swapped two cameras, saw the same problem on the swapped camera. So concluded not camera issue. After deleting the devices and rediscovering, still same issue. this camera is the closet to the base station, so that is not issue. What I discovered was that, on this camera, it was the only one that had 3 activity zones setup. When I rediscovered the device, with no activity zones set, motion was detected, captured and reported. When then going in and adding the 3 activity zones back, the motion was no longer detected, captured and reported. I removed one zone (so only 2 zones), and then motion was detected, captured and reported. added 3rd zone back, motion was no longer detected, captured and reported. this is the only camera that had 3 zones defined. the others had 1 or 2 zones defined with no issues. Has anyone seen this same issue with 3 activity zones defined? How do we open a trouble ticket to Arlo to resolve this issue?

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

ChrisGood — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 22:40:18 GMT

We are not picking up motion and when we make changes it says we must be connected to AC power which we don't have a we are tied to solar? Any solutions. Can't take it in the house as our zones would not make sense?

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

jguerdat — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:32:39 GMT

If not on AC power, you need to subscribe to Arlo Smart for zones to be available.

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

BigTLT — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:55:17 GMT

I have Arlo Smart account subscription, it would be the only way any of the zones would report. My proble is when I have 3 zones on a camera.

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

Dannybear — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 01:18:46 GMT

@BigTLT
I don’t recall anyone being able to successfully use three basic activity zones at a time. Have you tried using the smart activity zone with your subscription?

Regarding the error saying it needs to be connected to power, have you tried resyncing with external power applied? This is a requirement for both smart and basic zones.
I would like to help test but every time I use activity zones it corrupts all my system settings.

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

BigTLT — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 04:52:50 GMT

So my Subscription is Smart Premier.

If I did not have this subscription, i could only setup activity zones on plugged in camera.

Since I have Premier, I can setup up to 3 activity zones on all cameras, even those not on AC power.

On the cameras on this base station, I have 5 cameras, 1 with AC power, 4 on battery.

On 2 cameras, i have 1 activity zone defined, on 2 cameras I had 2 activity zones defined and on one camera I have 3 activity zones defined. On all cameras, except the one with 3 zones defined, the camera is working fine, no issues in detecting motion, or reporting motion, or capturing video on motion. The only camera with problem is the one with 3 zones. If i reduce to 2 zones, everything works fine. If I add a 3rd zone, nothing is reported or captured. Only with less then 3 does it work. If I did not have the right subscription, I could not define any zones... the problem is with 3 zones. Has anyone ever had 3 zones work and detect and report motion and capture video? I tried this with two cameras with same result, if 3 zones no capture or report, but with 2 zones or less capture and report works fine. This is not a subscription problem, it is activity zone problem.

this is what my subscription allows:

Arlo Smart Premier
Up to 10 cameras and 30 days of video playback.
Enhanced Notifications
Activity Zones
Person Detection
e911 (Available only in US)

I truly wish the zones were better then just rigged rectanglar defined, but unfortunately to ensure not to capture street activity and only yard and driveway activity I need 3 zones to cover the whole area.

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

BigTLT — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 04:54:54 GMT

I had to get Premier plan to use activity zones on non-AC powered cameras. Purchased when the premier was on 40% off special.

Re: 3 Activity Zones set not capturing motion videos

Dannybear — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 05:22:33 GMT

What I was meaning is that it is not working for anyone.

“The Arlo development team is currently investigating this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community. @ShayneS”

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Smart/3-Activity-Zones-Causes-The-Cameras-To-Stop-Recording/td-p/1672617