How to make Essential Outdoor 2nd gen work with smart hub?

[jsmith432]

Does anybody know how to set this up? Support is not helpful; they have already suggested hard resetting everything and made no difference. The camera(s) work fine in Wi-Fi, but I wanted to pair them with the smart hub. I get an error when both camera and smarthub are blinking.

Fails on step 9: How to set up the Arlo Essential Outdoor Camera (2nd Generation)

VMB4000r3, Firmware 1.25.1.0_4598_1f1c874

VMC2050Aer1.4, Firmware 1.5.0_1048_85f53f3

Arlo SmartHub and Base Station Compatibility

Essential 2nd Generation devices are now compatibl... - Arlo Community

[StephenB]

FYI, you have a hub, not a smarthub.  The only smarthub models are the VMB4540 and the VMB5000.

So if your goal is to enable direct access to local storage, you will need to purchase one of those models.  The VMB4000 and VMB4500 support local recording, but do not support playback.  The only way to see the recordings with those bases is to eject the storage using the app and then connect it to a PC.

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@jsmith432 wrote:

Fails on step 9: How to set up the Arlo Essential Outdoor Camera (2nd Generation)

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Do you mean that you aren't seeing the option to connect to the hub?  Or that the camera isn't found?

[jsmith432]

I see the option. Both the camera and hub blink, but it just errors out. 

[jguerdat]

Have you rebooted or power cycled the base?

[jsmith432]

A few times by myself and a few with support. 

[StephenB]

Can you explain why you want to connect via the hub?

Obviously this should work, but it would be helpful to know what is at stake for you.

[jguerdat]

Has the camera ever been connected before to WiFi? I suspect it has old firmware from before they were updated to allow connecting to a base or hub. Connect it to WiFi, let it update the firmware, remove the camera from your account and re-add it, choosing the base/hub this time.

[StephenB]

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@jguerdat wrote:

I suspect it has old firmware from before they were updated to allow connecting to a base or hub. 

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Not according to the first post: 

• VMC2050Aer1.4, Firmware 1.5.0_1048_85f53f3

The base is running 1.25.1.x, which is newer than than the firmware version listed here:

• https://community.arlo.com/t5/Announcements/Essential-2nd-Generation-devices-are-now-compatible-with...

[jsmith432]

Yes, I connected to Wi-Fi and updated the firmware before removing it and trying to add it to the hub per the instructions. I can add it to Wi-Fi at will, it always works. 

[jsmith432]

Arlo has not been able to provide a solution yet, none of the three cameras I bought worked. 

I wonder if anyone has tried this with these devices? Are any secret buttons pressed?