Chime randomly disconnects from doorbell

[Nanookie]

System:

6 Pro2 cams (using vmb4000 base station)

3 Ultra Cams (using vmb5000 base station)

5 Lights (2x ABB1000 Bridges)

1 Audio DB

1 Arlo Chime

All base still firmware is current, all camera firmware is current, firmware for light bridges, DB and chime, is all current.

Issue: Chime will not stay synced to DB. And most of the time, the chime won’t even see my audio doorbell to sync to it from the list. Out of nowhere today, after once again removing the chime from the base station and re-adding, I was able to see the Doorbell and sync it up. Within a half hour, before I was able to even test it, it became unsynced again, and I could no longer see the doorbell in the chime DB list in the app. WTH. My DB is useless without chime if I’m at home unless my phone is on me at all times.

is anyone experiencing a similar problem? This has been ongoing a couple of months now and doesn’t seem to be related to any recent updates. I’d appreciate any help, please.

[West2]

Having exactly the same problem with mine, it is daily that the Chime forgets the doorbell and you have to remove and add the chime again to pick up the doorbell. Getting silly really and have moved by Chime around to be nearer base station and doorbell and nothing works. 

[Nanookie]

Responding to hopefully bump this up again. 

I actually have my chime located around 3 feet from the base station, but I don tthink this is a wi-fi connectivity issue, this is just the doorbell losing sync with the chime.

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@West2 wrote:

Having exactly the same problem with mine, it is daily that the Chime forgets the doorbell and you have to remove and add the chime again to pick up the doorbell. Getting silly really and have moved by Chime around to be nearer base station and doorbell and nothing works. 

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[mattstrom]

I have been encountering the same issue for several months (probably since I purchased the doorbell on December honestly). My doorbell disconnects from its associated chime as well as the camera that it is linked to. It rarely stays linked for more than a day. The doorbell, chime, hub, and camera are all within a 5 feet radius of each other, although there are walls in between.

[ShayneS]

Have you tried contacting customer support regarding this issue? I have attached the link here for you - Arlo Tech Support

[ShayneS]

The Arlo development team is currently investigating this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.

[johnboydavis]

If like me your door bell and chime keep loseing their settings I have now been told the problem as per email from ARO SUPPORT

Thank you for confirming that your Arlo Base Station, Doorbell and Chime are now holding onto their configurations.

We have received reports, which had similar symptoms as what you cited through this email exchange. After the investigation, we discovered a flaw on the recent base stations' firmware update. Though the last base firmware update came with security patches, it was later discovered that it broke the support for our local USB backup storage feature.

For now, most of the Arlo Pro/Pro2 base stations that will use the USB backup feature will most probably experience the same issues as what you noticed on your Arlo system.

We recommend that you temporarily detach the USB flashdrive out of your base station's USB port, while our engineers are still on the progress of creating the fix to this issue.

You may not be able to use the local backup feature as of now, since it may trigger a system wide connectivity and configuration (auto-revert) problems.

[johnboydavis]

Base station Firmware faulty AGAIN
If like me your door bell and chime keep loseing their settings I have now been told the problem as per email from ARO SUPPORT

Thank you for confirming that your Arlo Base Station, Doorbell and Chime are now holding onto their configurations.
We have received reports, which had similar symptoms as what you cited through this email exchange. After the investigation, we discovered a flaw on the recent base stations' firmware update. Though the last base firmware update came with security patches, it was later discovered that it broke the support for our local USB backup storage feature.
For now, most of the Arlo Pro/Pro2 base stations that will use the USB backup feature will most probably experience the same issues as what you noticed on your Arlo system.
We recommend that you temporarily detach the USB flashdrive out of your base station's USB port, while our engineers are still on the progress of creating the fix to this issue.
You may not be able to use the local backup feature as of now, since it may trigger a system wide connectivity and configuration (auto-revert) problems.

[Nanookie]

Thank you.

[pgalbavy]

This gels with what I have heard - and only got decent attention once I complained publicly on their Twitter feed.

The basestation hangs or reboots when you use local media (both HDD or memory stick) with existing firmware. When this happens there is a good chance the doorbell part of the config gets confused and loses the pairing to chime (and camera). You cannot re-attach the chime without re-pairing the doorbell in many cases.

I have had problems even aftrer removing local media - less reboots but even a recent forced firmware update (reboot) caused the doorbell to go away.

[West2]

Thanks for posting this, followed the advice and removed the USB local storage and reset teh chime. 6 Days in all working correctly with no drops of the chime. This was within hours or daily before so looking good. Just need the engineers to fix the root cause so I can use local storage again and all good.

[Nanookie]

Whats up, West2.

Ok, the moment I did that, the chime was able to sync again to the doorbell, and prior to that, it couldn't even see the doorbell. 

I will monitor for a few days and report back. 

I'd like to say i'm happy for a solution, but now that means I dont have the local storage set up, and that kind of sucks. 

One issue after another...

I'll keep you posted, thanks for the idea.

[johnboydavis]

well new firmware came out this week and was asked by Arlo support to test with USB flash drive to see if the problem was fixed. Plugged in thought I would format drive FAILED tried to safely eject drive FAILED. reset/rebooted base station still does not work. removed drive and its RED HOT after about 60 seconds. Drive works fine in PC and does not get hot. So new firmware FAILS to fix the problem

[pgalbavy]

The release notes for the latest release just mentioned HomeKit support - which is aimed at increasing sales, obviously, and not actually making the product work for existing customers.

[Mjmfla]

Same problem for me for months now.  Sick and Tired to having to reset doorbell and then attach with Chimes.    Doorbell shows as a recognized device on the base station, but the chime doesn't see it.  

[Nanookie]

Do you have local storage? Someone previously suggested disconnecting it. I did that, and it’s been problem free for 4 days now. With that said, I’ve now lost local storage, but my chime is synced and working.

[n1976jmk]

Hi Nanookie, does your statement apply to the Ultra base station with the micro SD card or the older generation base stations where you connect a usb harddrive?

Thank you!

[Nanookie]

My doorbell / chime are synced to a vmb4000, the pro2 base station. I had to unplug the local storage for my vmb4000 to get the chime to sync.

I have 2 base stations in my set up, one for my 6 pro2 cams and DB/chime, and my Ultra cams run on the smart hub.

[johnboydavis]

new firmware out today for base station thats fixed the problem with USB back up drive. now will format correctly. only time will tell if its fixed the problem with the bell settings being lost