topic Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface in Arlo Secure

Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

rhiggsbear — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 01:07:35 GMT

I am at wits end with this new interface. Unfortunately, I was upgraded without my knowledge and now I am near the point of rearing it all out and throwing it away. They turned a fairly good system into a piece of junk.

Ok, now that I am done with my rant, here is why I am trying to do, copying what I used to be able to do, all under the "Arm Home" Mode:

Front door camera - armed & recording 24/7

Driveway camera - armed & recording 24/7

Side yard Camera - armed & recording 24/7

Back door camera - armed and recording - All Week - 9pm - 5am (otherwise, it does not record - disarmed)

Backyard Camera - armed and recording - All Week - 9pm - 5am (otherwise, it does not record - disarmed)

Now, I have the first three working fine but the last two will not disarm. They record 24/7 no matter what I do. Old interface work great doing this but this new piece of %$%#& doesn't seem to have any functionality!

Base Station VMB4500r2:

Firmware - 1.25.1.0_4548_1f1c874

Serial No. 5K33067MA07A0

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

StephenB — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 02:10:15 GMT

@rhiggsbear wrote:

I am at wits end with this new interface. Unfortunately, I was upgraded without my knowledge and now I am near the point of rearing it all out and throwing it away. They turned a fairly good system into a piece of junk.

Ok, now that I am done with my rant, here is why I am trying to do, copying what I used to be able to do, all under the "Arm Home" Mode:

Front door camera - armed & recording 24/7

Driveway camera - armed & recording 24/7

Side yard Camera - armed & recording 24/7

Back door camera - armed and recording - All Week - 9pm - 5am (otherwise, it does not record - disarmed)

Backyard Camera - armed and recording - All Week - 9pm - 5am (otherwise, it does not record - disarmed)

Now, I have the first three working fine but the last two will not disarm. They record 24/7 no matter what I do. Old interface work great doing this but this new piece of %$%#& doesn't seem to have any functionality!

Can you post details of the modes you have set up, and also the screenshots of the schedule automations?

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

rhiggsbear — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 03:18:31 GMT

Here you go:

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

rhiggsbear — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 03:33:36 GMT

More. Let me know if you need something else. Thanks

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

StephenB — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 12:29:48 GMT

@rhiggsbear wrote:

Here you go:

Yes, that approach won't work. I think there are bugs in the "customize device" actions in automations - though I haven't tested them for a few weeks, I was unable to get those particular actions to work. Switching modes, and recording one-time videos do work, if you want to do anything else I suggest that you test them carefully first.

What I recommend is:

Set up "Arm Home" and "Arm Away" to arm all your cameras
Set up "Standby" to arm the three you want armed 24x7 (front door, driveway, and side yard)

Then set up one schedule automation that switches to Standby at 5 am, and another that switches to Arm Home at 9 pm. These two screenshots are similar, only the times need to be changed.

Note the enable list (right below the automation name). This needs to be set so the automations are enabled in "Arm Home" and "Standby" - but NOT enabled in "Arm Away".

These automations will run your desired schedule as long as the system is NOT in "Arm Away". So you can arm all cameras 24x7 when you are on vacation by just switching the mode to "Arm Away" using the dashboard when you leave, and switching it back to "Arm Home" or 'Standby" when you return.

One drawback here is that you don't have an easy way to disarm all your cameras (since we've re-purposed "Standby"). But you can still just turn them on/off manually in the video settings. A variation is to modify "Arm Home" to only arm the three 24x7 cameras, and schedule switches between "Arm Home" and "Arm Away". Then you can easily disarm all cameras. But disabling the schedule (to arm all cameras 24x7) would be more difficult, and require you to disable the schedule automations manually. If you take that path, then you'd use "Arm Away, Arm Home" in the enable list (and NOT "Standby").

Arlo has acknowledged that they made a mistake by removing custom modes - they will be adding them back (though perhaps done slightly differently). No idea when, but when they do that you could create a custom mode that just arms the 3 24x7 cameras, and change "Standby" back to the defaults.

I think they also realize that the automations are just too complicated, so I expect they will also bring back a way to simplify scheduling.

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

rhiggsbear — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 14:21:08 GMT

Perfect. I will give it a try.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

rhiggsbear — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 03:35:51 GMT

Just an update - Works great - does what I want anyway! Thanks again.

Now if I could figure out how to get the cameras to trigger faster. LOL

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

Bushrod — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 22:48:16 GMT

I totally agree with you. This website is &^%$# dumpster fire. The website worked PERFECTLY BEFORE!! WTF. Why would they change it, SO stupid. When these cameras finally wear out. ARLO is out the window. Good riddance!

For some reason I can no longer schedule my cameras on and off. WHY?

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

Bushrod — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 22:50:37 GMT

You make ZERO sense. ARLO! Please let us go back to the old working website!

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

StephenB — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 22:51:01 GMT

@Bushrod wrote:

For some reason I can no longer schedule my cameras on and off. WHY?

If you want help, then post the details of the schedule you want.

Re: Help with scheduling Pro2 cameras with this so call new interface

Bushrod — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 22:53:32 GMT

Your explanation makes no sense. I dont want to have to **bleep** with cameras all the time. Your system sucks! I'm sure you know and are embarrassed to admit it!!!