topic Re: Foresight in Arlo Video Doorbell Wire-Free

Arlo Essential Wi-Fi Smart Video Doorbell - Foresight

Whohaa — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:33:39 GMT

I have the Arlo Essential Wi-Fi Smart Video Doorbell, Battery Operated or Wired - AVD2001B-100NAS

Will the foresight work on this version if I have it wired instead of wireless?

Re: Foresight

jguerdat — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 14:56:56 GMT

I don't believe so since the power connection simply trickle-charges the doorbell battery. The transformer can't supply enough current to actually operate the doorbell but just keep the battery charged.

Re: Foresight

Art- — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:50:01 GMT

In case of Ultra 2, to enable the pre-roll feature it requires an external power to , which in fact does the same - recharges the battery. I hope, with Wi-Fi doorbell it works the same.

One caveat, which I found on the forum but could not confirm it anywhere in the documentation - Arlo Smart Hub is the the must have to enable the pre-roll. I'm waiting for the Ultra 2 to come to check that since my Pro 4 never got the Forsight even after hooking them up to a continuous power. That part must be clearly stated by Arlo team in their product descriptions. Pre-roll is a critical feature for certain scenarios. Its been advertised but customers don't know how to turn it on or to even confirm that it is turned on.

I hope to hear from Arlo support in regards to the Doorbell's Forsights

Re: Foresight

StephenB — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 16:40:38 GMT

@Art- wrote:

One caveat, which I found on the forum but could not confirm it anywhere in the documentation - Arlo Smart Hub is the the must have to enable the pre-roll.

I don't know where you saw that, but that is not correct. Pre-roll is essentially a camera feature, so it doesn't depend on the smarthub. In fact, some of Arlo cameras that support pre-roll can't be connected to a smarhub. The list of cameras that have it are here:

https://kb.arlo.com/000062053/How-does-the-Foresight-feature-work-on-my-Arlo-camera

AC power is required, because the camera always needs to be capturing and buffering video for it to work. That takes too much power for battery operation.

Re: Foresight

Art- — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 22:15:01 GMT

@StephenB wrote:
@Art- wrote:
One caveat, which I found on the forum but could not confirm it anywhere in the documentation - Arlo Smart Hub is the the must have to enable the pre-roll.
I don't know where you saw that, but that is not correct.

I have two AC-powered Pro 4 cameras. Neither of them has a pre-roll working, even though it says "Pro 3 (or newer)". There is no information in any manual on how to make it work. There should be a distinct toggle to enable or disable this feature. I find Arlo's instructions inconsistent and incomplete. Otherwise, I wouldn't spend time googling the solutions and ending up on this forum. I would happily spend this time on something else.

As for the Doorbell question - it does say that the "wired doorbell" has Foresight. To me, when connected to an external power source, the "wire-free" version of the doorbell should be no different from a wired version. The battery for some, like in my case, is not to have it running on battery but to have the battery as a backup for a few hours in case the power goes down. So if the wire-free doorbell is AC-powered, it must have the Foresight feature too.

Here is the thread where Pro 4 owners discuss that: https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-4/Arlo-Pro-4-Foresight/td-p/1833878. I'm waiting for Ultra 2 with Smartuhb to arrive to check if that theory holds.

If you own a Pro 4 or a Doorbell and Foresight works for you, please share your experience of how you enabled it.

Re: Foresight

StephenB — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 02:15:28 GMT

@Art- wrote:

As for the Doorbell question - it does say that the "wired doorbell" has Foresight. To me, when connected to an external power source, the "wire-free" version of the doorbell should be no different from a wired version.

I get that, but electrically it is different. The battery in the AVD2001 is trickle-charged from the transformer. In any event, the AVD2001 doesn't have foresight.

@Art- wrote:

Here is the thread where Pro 4 owners discuss that: https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-4/Arlo-Pro-4-Foresight/td-p/1833878. I'm waiting for Ultra 2 with Smartuhb to arrive to check if that theory holds.

Thanks for posting that link. My own Pro 4 (and doorbells) happen to be connected through a smarthub.

I'm tagging the mods ( @JamesC and @ShayneS ) so they can comment on whether a smarthub is required for foresight or not. If it is required, the KB article should be updated to say that. Though personally I think they should instead relax that restriction.

Re: Foresight

Art- — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 19:03:26 GMT

@StephenB wrote:
I get that, but electrically it is different. The battery in the AVD2001 is trickle-charged from the transformer. In any event, the AVD2001 doesn't have foresight.

Well, that's a bummer. Even if the charging mechanism is different, they should still enable it for a connected wire-free model since that should address the increased power requirements for the pre-roll. Thank you for explaining