Arlo Essential Spotlight (VMC2030) Tiggers Constantly with SOUND, and cannot be disabled...

[AndyP-NZ]

Anyone else with an Arlo Essential Spotlight VMC2030 having an audio triggering issue? 

So I have 4 Arlo Essential Spotlight cameras on a boat shed. They are constantly being triggered by the "Sound Detection" of wind, waves and cicadas. So as per my other Arlo Pro cameras I went into the Armed Mode to tweak the audio triggers. However there is NO AUDIO TRIGGER... The Arlo Essentials, according to my research, do not have an "Audio Trigger" feature, which is why there is no way to configure the audio trigger. i.e. I cannot decrease the sensitivity, nor can I disable it, because there are no admin controls for it in the app (nor on the website), because it shouldn't happen. But it does! In bad weather all 4 Arlo Essential cameras will trigger non-stop with "Sound Detected".

Now there is a "mic" config where I can turn that off, but then I lose the ability to record sound when motion is triggered, so this is not a great solution.  

I've raised a support case with Arlo, which is still open. 

Am I alone with this weird bug? 

(See post about how the Arlo Essentials do not have an audio trigger). 

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Essential-Wire-Free-Cameras/Audio-detection-feature/m-p/1837149#:....

NOTE: Hardware VMC2030AerH9 and Firmware 1.090.32.1_55_07e3402

[jguerdat]

Have you rebooted the phone and reinstalled the app? Have you tried a different phone? Have you tried the web client connect to my.arlo.com?

[ShayneS]

@AndyP-NZ Are you still experiencing this issue? Do you have a screenshot of the Audio triggered notification?

[AndyP-NZ]

Hi, yes I am. I'd say that between the 4 Arlo Essentials there is a "Sound Detection" every few minutes. 

I have an open support ticket, and I'm currently being told that this is not possible as it's not a feature, and that I need to turn down the sensitivity of the motion detection... * sigh *. I guess the bug could be a valid motion detection on 4 cameras, and the alerts are all broken by saying they're "Sound" and "Audio", and not "Motion". However on the video there is not much movement, but loud sounds, suggesting that the trigger was sound. 
Either way, something's broken... 

Screenshots attached. 

And all of these cameras are "Arlo Essential VMC2030" which do not have an Audio Trigger. Hence why there is no way in the app to disable... 

[AndyP-NZ]

Yip, yip, yip and yip. Even rebooted the cameras, and tried removing / re-pairing them... They seen insistent to do something they shouldn't. Updated the firmware too. 

[ShayneS]

@AndyP-NZ Thank you for the detailed feedback. I am going to notify the team regarding this. 

Which version of the Arlo app is this occurring on? 

Do you have the version of iOS on your iPhone and Watch OS as well by chance?

Thank you 

[AndyP-NZ]

Arlo app:

iOS:

Watch:

NOTE: when I log into the Arlo website then the recorded vidoes for these Arlo Essentials are all a mix of “Motion” or “Audio” matching the app. 

NOTE: my Helpdesk support ticket seems pointless… It’s been categorized under “clicking noise” which is not the issue at all, and all I get from the support team chats are generic links to “reset”, “restart”, “change the video trigger settings”. These are human response, not agent. 

Because it’s a genuine bug of some kind there seems to be no clean support answer to copy and paste…

 

[ShayneS]

@AndyP-NZ 

I'll manage this for you from here, don't worry about that case. I Already notified the team and I will report back as soon as I have more info to provide. 

Thank you for providing all the info so far. 

Shayne

[AndyP-NZ]

Info update from my side. 

My 4 Arlo Essentials created 103 “Sound Detection” alerts yesterday! 

On one camera I experimented with disabling the mic entirely. 
It still generated 18 of the above “audio” alerts, with the mic off… 

 

 

[AndyP-NZ]

Any update? 

Currently my Arlo Essentials are not fit for purpose. 

They create a constant stream of false-positive alerts, that I cannot control, configure nor turn off. 

All solutions of restart / reset have failed (funnily enough). 

I have no follow up on my support ticket, and it’s quiet from Arlo on this thread.

(Net Promoter Score 0, if anyone’s interested)

[ShayneS]

@AndyP-NZ I am checking in now. Thank you for the update. 

[ShayneS]

@AndyP-NZ 

Do you have the Smoke/Co enabled for the device? You can check the settings from these steps here: https://kb.arlo.com/000062224/What-is-the-Arlo-Smoke-and-CO-Alarm-Detection-feature-and-how-do-I-set...