topic Re: Detecting shadows from tall pine forest in Arlo Pro 2

Detecting shadows from tall pine forest

jnsnAZ — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 18:59:13 GMT

MY PRO 2 CAMERAS - WORKING PERFECT AFTER 4 YEARS. Happy!

EXCEPT they often react to shadows as wind blows tall pines and creates moving shadows. I cannot re-aim camera- no flexibility. Exactly how can I (a) reduce sensitivity to mere shadows??? AND, (b) sometimes small bushes near also trigger a report.

Re: Detecting shadows from tall pine forest

jguerdat — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 14:24:58 GMT

The cameras don't detect shadows - they detect motion changes in IR. Moving leaves and branches often reflect the sun's strong IR, causing false triggers as you've seen. For this reason, many of us use custom modes to reduce motion sensitivity during problematic times of day and then use the schedule to automate the switching. You must reduce the sensitivity in your modes and rules, not the motion test, to make it work.

https://kb.arlo.com/42/What-are-modes-and-rules-and-how-does-Arlo-use-them

Re: Detecting shadows from tall pine forest

StephenB — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 12:03:12 GMT

@jguerdat wrote:

The cameras don't detect shadows - they detect motion changes in IR. Moving leaves and branches often reflect the sun's strong IR, causing false triggers as you've seen.

Leaves are generally a different temperature than the surrounding air, so I don't think this is necessarily about reflection of the sun's IR.

@jnsnAZ :

FWIW, wind gusts can also trigger the PIR detectors, as the wind is often a different temperature than the surrounding air.

One of my cameras is aimed at pavement with is shadowed by a tree (though the tree, leaves, and branches are not in the field of view). I do often see false detections in the summer when the shadows are moving.