Audio Doorbell False Notifications Same Time Every Day

[kerry_federer]

DON'T BUY THE AUDIO DOORBELL UNTIL THEY FIX IT.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Audio-Doorbell/Arlo-Door-Bell-Hourly-Motion-Detection/m-p/1698727

I get notifications daily at exactly 3:00 am, 4:00 am or 5:00 am. I just LOVE my notifications at that time every day.

Seems like this is a recurring problem. I started several supports and never got a fix. Everything that they recommended  to troubleshoot did not work. Then They were going to send me a replacement, I filled out the RMA and NEVER received the replacement.

The first time, they wanted me to return my device BEFORE they would replace it, leaving me without a doorbell. So when I complained, they were going to send me a replacement before I returned mine. NEVER received, case closed for non response.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

[JessicaP]

Hi kerry_federer,

Let me reach out to you via private message to gather more information from you.

[vinella]

Hi

I just got a new arlo audio doorbell and can confirm exactly the same behaviour at 3am and 4am exactly in my case. I have had to disable use of the doorbell motion detection.  I have stored the videos. The doorbell is seen lighting up with absolutely no movement of any kind to be seen.

Please advise what the fix is for this !

[kerry_federer]

@vinella 

For the false activation problem, they have sent me a new device, but it is a piece of junk. It will not detect motion once it is attached to the base. As soon as you tighten the screw, it stops detecting motion at all. As soon as you loosen the screw, the doorbell will once again detect motion.

I think that the audio doorbell has lots of problems. The false notifications has been reported before and I don't think that they have a solution.

Maybe they will eventually send me a device that actually works like it should.

[kerry_federer]

New unit works better but still getting false notifications at 3 am and 4 am but so far, not every day. They have a problem with something with the audio doorbell as there are several posts complaining about it.

[jguerdat]

Edit: removed my comment since this is the audio doorbell, not video.

One thing I did with my audio doorbell and associated camera was to turn off the doorbell detection and just use the camera nearby to detect/record.

[vinella]

"One thing I did with my audio doorbell and associated camera was to turn off the doorbell detection and just use the camera nearby to detect/record."

You can do above but you lose the ability to simulate home presence which we like - just not at 3, 4 or 5am randomly Arlo !!!

[VanPire]

I have exactly the same issue, doorbell detects motion at either 3am 4am or 5am almost every night. What can I do to fix this? It's very annoying and wakes us up.

[Constant123]

Seems like a check for firmware check daily at 3:00am, then again at 4:00am, finally at 5:00am.  If no update is made, then this check repeats next day.  The chime rings through as it is moded with the camera.  Will disconnect all and find another system.  Worked well at first but this started around September 1st.

[VanPire]

So a work around to the doorbell notifications seems to be to disable motion sensors on the doorbell. Typically people have a camera by their front door so you can rely on the cameras motion detection instead.

Not ideal, but then again neither is being woken up every night.

[K9hudson]

Wow. Sorry to hear about this. We just installed the doorbell and are having the same issue... notification for motion detected at 4am. Have you found a solution for this issue yet?

[K9hudson]

We just installed the doorbell and are having the same issue... notification for motion detected at 4am. Have you found a solution for this issue yet?

[Constant123]

I had the camera triggered the audio doorbell / chime .. somehow I think the problem exists due to some faulty firmware issue whereby either the audio doorbell is looking for an update or more likely the camera that is alive over the front door is seeking a firmware update and in the process is being turned on and in turn trigger the chime via the doorbell.   I'll be l

I will try to use uncoule the camera from the doorbell and just use the the doorbell motion detector.  The camera will probably continue to look for updates at 3 am, 4 am and 5 am but hopefully won't trigger the chime. My wife is ready to kill me since this has happened 3 nights in a row.   The only fix, short of going with Eufy, is to unplug the chime at night and re-connect during the day (if I remember).  I like the chime feature for Amazon packages and it works very well.   So  would really l ike to keep things as they are.   This is a fairly recent firmware or Android app problem no doubt.

[Constant123]

If you check the devices that are for sale you will notice that the Arlo Audio Doorbell has been removed, so they are likely not selling it any longer.   Perhaps that is their fix ? I would NOT buy the Video Doorbell.  There is obviously a software firmware problem either with the app itself or with some errant firmware update.   The signalling issue is originating from the Arlo server as the timing happens at exactly 3 am, 4 am and 5 am.

[Constant123]

Well my current solution is to unplug the chime so it does not ring at 4:00am.  I also turned off the camera itself.   I think the 4:00am or 3:00am notification is actually caused by either an Andriod app issue or by the base station.  I have set schedule to exclude the time between 3-5 am but that does  not help.  The issue is stemming from the Arlo server which is forcing or interrogating an update.    

BTW - I am using the original VMB 3000 base station and was thinking to upgrade to VMB4500 but that is going in the wrong direction.  If I spend any more money to fix, improve or expand my system it will not be with Arlo products.

[Constant123]

This has been going on for many months but for me since I have the audio doorbell with connected chime, for some strange reason the chime sound is now triggered.   I did not mind seeing the camera trigger at 3 am or 4 am or 5 am as the chime did not go off.    So no chime usage during the night-time hours until there is a fix.  As I mentioned earlier it appears they are  no longer selling the Audio Doorbell device.  They can say it was an interim product waiting for the video doorbell release  so now no longer needed but what about us poor b&stards who bought the audio doorbell ?   What are we to do ?  Guess ?

Well it is not to upgrade to the Arlo video model, I can tell you that !!!

[Constant123]

Kinda strange for a premium priced camera-security system Arlo provides such poor customer support for completely obvious and known problems.  Actually, after 3-4 years technology changes and normally an upgrade to the latest system is expected and actually welcomed.   However, this is done to secure more advanced features and benefits.  I would never upgrade for more reliable operation.    

[Constant123]

Naturally, after a week, support never got back to me.  I hear this is normal operation.  Here is my interim solution with regard to the false notifications which cause the CHIME to ring at 3 am, 4 am, or 5 am.    I put the chime on a wifi smart plug and scheduled it OFF between the hours of 2:30 am to 5:30 am.   In that way, it cannot ring and wake us between these hours.  I don't care about the firmware negotiation process or having the latest firmware as long as the cameras work properly.  My issue has been the CHIME going off in the middle of the night up to 3 times due to false notifications caused by the Arlo server.   I'd rather have a thief enter the house with the Arlo system disabled than never get any sleep past 3 am.  At least he / she may not wake me up as they rumpage through the house.

[Constant123]

Good news !  No, I do not hear from tech support.  Nothing happened last night.  No server messages to negotiate the camera or base station firmware at 3 am, 4 am or 5 am.  I had started looking at s-canning the entire system because if you cannot trust tech support to support you then what do you have with Arlo ?  Just a very expensive seemingly elegant system that may work for a while or not at all.  Best to go with a cheap solution and since I am an original customer and bought when the wire-free camera was just  introduced in early 2016 nothing can be worse today after 4 years.  I will soon get an upgraded system with more features and no expensive C123A batteries.  BTW - I had the chime plugged in on a smartplug with timer last night.  Living dangerously eh ?   

[Constant123]

No false notification(s) last night.  No response from tech support almost 2 weeks.  How long are cases open ?  I think it is a server issue which is causing the false notifications.

They will never admit it but if is the server then they quietly fix it.  

[Constant123]

Several false doorbell chimes during the day.  Finally, decided to just disconnect the audio doorbell and go with the camera / chime combo.  Hope this works better.  I will still turn off the chime using a Wifi smartplug during the 3-5 am period.   I will also get a new Essential camera for the door and retire the older 720p original model.  The C123A batteries (cost) are eating me alive and there are better options today vs 2016 when the original Arlo came out.

[vinella]

So last night i had my doorbell stolen.

I am really angry at the moment because this bug has meant I did not have detection on to simulate a home presence when someone walks up to the doorbell. I think if I had been able to have it on the guy would have been scared off before starting to pull it off the wall !!!

Arlo will you replace my doorbell under your "theft replacement program" ?

[gwm-1]

I have two Arlo Pro cameras that turn on every night on the hour at 3 am, 4 am, and 5 am on most nights.  They are synced to the first generation (Arlo) base station. They are not scheduled to turn on  and I do not use the scheduling at all.  I can't figure out how they are being activated on the hour with no object triggering motion or sound. Any ideas?

[jguerdat]

How do you know they turn on - are they recording? Using other cameras I can see various Arlo cameras turning on their night vision LEDs/spotlights briefly which I put down to checking for updates.

[JessicaP · Accepted solution]

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