topic Re: Power Outage Troubles in Arlo

Power outage at my house. Everything came back on except cameras. Turn back on remotely?

Cslaten — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 17:04:40 GMT

My power went out at my mountain house. When it came back on, everything turned on (internet, wifi , Arlo hub) but the cameras are offline. Is there a way to remotely get them back or does my home just go unprotected until I can manually reset the cameras? This seems like a fatal flaw.

Re: Power Outage Troubles

TomMac — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 01:29:15 GMT

Short answer ...Yes, offline till reset.

Long answer... When power goes out, sometimes the base doesn't come back in the right order with the router and stays offline... Or when power goes out,the cameras after a time loose sync.

Nothing to be done remotely if the cameras are off usually...you can try and restart the base in settings, that may help but not always.

If you have a remote location, the best thing you can do is use a UPS for the base unit.

This solves the base not coming back in order issue, and if the base is on the cameras will not loose sync ( and also record to the USB if you have that option )

Re: Power Outage Troubles

Cslaten — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:32:12 GMT

Thanks. I should have mentioned that I tried resetting the base unit several times. I’m not sure what putting the base on a UPS would entail, but convincing my wife that we should spend more money on gadgets is definitely a hurdle.

Re: Power Outage Troubles

TomMac — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 12:43:19 GMT

A UPS for the base is just a box that contains an inverter and battery... it auto switches over when the power goes out...

the base ac power cord just plugs into it. Prob in the $100-150 range. It will work for short term ( 3-5 hrs depends on size ) power outage.

( check out web on UPS for more info if needed )

Re: Power Outage Troubles

defilade — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 02:32:17 GMT

What I've experienced is that while the base station is offline, the cameras burn through the batteries trying to re-connect to it. So when your base station comes back on the cameras are dead anyway. If the outage is short it might not be an issue. A UPS might be a good solution but I'm tired of having to spend more money to fix an issue that Arlo should have already dealt with.

Re: Power Outage Troubles

TomMac — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 11:27:58 GMT

What I've experienced is that while the base station is offline, the cameras burn through the batteries trying to re-connect to it

Yes.... this happens. Sort of like a cell phone looking for a cell tower, uses more power when looking than normal which can drain the battery.

If the base stays online, the cameras stay connected and will also record if you have it armed and the usb drive function active.