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Set up camera schedules

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Tomcor
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 How do I set up different schedules for my cameras using the new app? I am so confused with this new app.

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StephenB
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@Tomcor wrote:

 How do I set up different schedules for my cameras using the new app? I am so confused with this new app.


Can you tell us what cameras you have, and what schedule you want?

Tomcor
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 I have arlo essential 2outdoor. I am trying to set up my doorbell and back deck on 24 hrs and my garage and driveway on 5pm to 8am 

StephenB
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@Tomcor wrote:

 I have arlo essential 2outdoor. I am trying to set up my doorbell and back deck on 24 hrs and my garage and driveway on 5pm to 8am 


So you only need 2 combinations of cameras 

  • all armed
  • only doorbell and back deck armed.

It is convenient to have an easy way to disable the scheduling, so all cameras remain armed 24x7 when you are away.

 

This can be easily accomodated by using

  1. Arm Away for when you are away (all cameras armed),
  2. Arm Home for evening/night when you are home (all cameras armed)
  3. Standby when you are home during the day (modified to arm the deck and doorbell).

Note that if a mode does not have a rule for a camera, then that camera is disarmed when you are using that mode.

So begin by

  1. Checking that Arm Away has rules arming all 4 cameras
  2. Checking that Arm Home has rules arming all 4 cameras
  3. Modify Standby to add rules for the doorbell and deck (but no rules for the garage and driveway) 

Once you have done this, you will need to add two schedule automations:

  • Schedule the system to switch to Standby at 8 am (so only the doorbell and deck are armed during the day)
  • Schedule the system to switch to Arm Home at 5 pm (so all cameras are armed at night)

Let's call the first automation "Morning" and the second "Evening".

 

Each schedule automation begins with conditions that have to be true for the automation to be run.  One condition is the time, the other condition is a list of modes the system has to be in.  For Morning and Evening you want that list to be "Arm Home" and "Standby".  Then the schedule will be disabled when you manually change the mode to "Arm Away", and remain off until you set the mode back to "Arm Home" or "Standby" when you return.

 

After that, the schedule automations have the action to take.  For Morning that action is to change the mode to Standby, and for Evening that action is to change the mode to Arm Home.

 

Note that since the doorbell and deck are active in all three modes, there is no way to disarm them.  That is probably ok for the doorbell, but there are times when you might want to disarm the deck.  One way you can do that is to manually turn off the deck camera in the camera settings.  The deck camera will then remain off until you turn it on again.

 

After you get the schedule working, you can add geofencing automations to automatically switch the mode to Arm Away when you leave the property, and set it back to Arm Home (or maybe Standby) when you return.  But I suggest making sure the scheduling is working before trying to do that.