Arlo Essential loses connection all the time

[Stevesteffen]

Arlo Essential loses connection all the time had this for less then a week and it was great the first 3 days, but now it stops working without a notice and the signal strength is all the way strong like the other 6 i have they are older but work good. 

also when i try to use the live function it just spins for infinite time and never connects, then out of the blue after missing many events and for hours ive noticed it will pickup an event.

i tested this last night and walked all around for 30 minutes and it never saw a thing.. totally worthless to me. and ide like to return it till you get them to work better.

[JamesC]

Stevesteffen,

The symptoms you describe indicate an interference or signal strength issue. Is the camera connected directly to your home network or is it synced to a Base Station or SmartHub. How far  away is it?

JamesC

[Stevesteffen]

The camera will not connect to the base station and i was told it would, it is not a signal issue because it says full strength at all times and the old pro camera never had a single issue with signal as well, i already thought and troubleshot the simple stuff. i am an IT person and not a beginner i have had Arlo for 2 years and setup took me minutes to complete and has worked decently for those years. 

this camera just stops working and still says connected for hours then works again. the app just circles for infinite times when it stops working, it is the only one that does this and its only 6 days old

[JamesC]

Stevesteffen,

I recommend that you contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[CrowleyNG]

Did you ever get this resolved? I have the exact same issue. Signal str indicates full str, but the camera continues to lose sync. I have to actually remove the device and reconnect the device and set up my rules again. This happens about 1x per week. I'm connected to the base station.

[CM8]

I have the same issue always having to resync cameras. Did either of ya'll find a solution. I have contacted support many times for this they get it to work and then week later I'm back on phone with support

[JamesC]

CM8,

How far is the camera from your base station/router? What does the signal strength icon show?

JamesC

[Stevesteffen]

After trying 3 cameras the battery on all 3 never lasted more then 2 weeks,and it lost connection so much i missed 7 package drop offs in all i returned the last camera and will not be using Arlo anymore. apologies for giving up on them but its very important now days to have your packages kinda protected. Knowing they came and being able to keep an eye on them till home was the main reason i got the Arlo setup. thx for the help i did get but i was always asked the same questions and no one ever really listened to me. i am a tech/PC networking person and there was never issues on my network, distance and signal was very high and i have a mesh system with 4 points. just a note.

hope others have netter luck then i did with the essentials cameras.

[SLIMJOE3]

Im having the same issues, 5 arlo essentials connected direct to router, all have strong max connection, they worked perfect for the first 2 months and then in the last month they have just been constantly dropping out seemingly randomly, no change to my network.

Sometimes they show offline and no connection to any network and then just reconnect a minute later or an hour, other times they stay disconnected until i hard reset the camera and resync it to the router.

Honestly so dissapointed with the product, especially when paying for a monthly subscription to the service.

[JamesC]

SLIMJOE3,

Please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[1scorpion]

I’m in the same boat. My two Arlo Essential Spotlight Cameras loses connectivity every two weeks since I have them. I thought the issue with my first one was resolved so I purchased a second one. I’m really regretting replacing my Arlo Pro 2 cameras with these. I liked the color night vision but not at the expense of unreliability. I fear that when my Essentials are offline, someone will commit a crime on my property and it won’t be captured on video. I feel the Essential Spotlight Cameras are a product failure and hope the there is a fix for them.

[1scorpion]

Just to be clear. Only my two Arlo Essential Spotlight Cameras have this connectivity failures not my Pro and Pro 2 cameras. They are all connected to the same base station and in the same environment.  I have contacted customer support but they fail to understand this.

[JamesC]

1scorpion,

What does the signal strength icon show for the essential cameras? How far from your base station/router are they?

JamesC

[franticfreddie]

I get the same thing.  I have six cameras.  I replaced a couple with arlo essential spotlight cameras and they basically disconnect ever few weeks which requires a resync (I climb on a ladder and reset).  One is literally 10 feet from the base station with full bars on signal strength.  Only the essential cameras have trouble.  The pro cameras work fine.  As near as I can determine its a software issue that they won't resync automatically if they somehow lose signal, or they are crashed.  My recommendation would be don't buy an essential camera - I'm going to try support, but this forum indicates nobody knows what's going on, and it would be easier to return them.

[1scorpion]

On both cameras, the signal strength is at full bars. One camera is about 20’ and the other 10’ from the base station (VMB4000)

[1scorpion]

In my troubleshooting process I swapped out the base station with the same model (VMB4000) to see if my original base station was beginning to fail. During the setup process I rebooted my router so I have a fresh install. Everything was working great for a day and I thought I found my issue.
Then this morning both my Essential Spotlight Cameras froze up again and then one by one, they went offline. Again I was deeply frustrated. I stared at my camera and started to look around then I noticed that my neighbors on both sides of me also have Arlo cameras.
Is it possible that I have a WiFi conflict with one or both of them?

[RoyL]

I have 1 essential and 4 pro 3 cameras. My essential keeps loosing connection, but only if powered at all times. It does not show the issue when running on battery only

[1scorpion]

Thank you for your input. Like you I also have a combination of Arlo wire-free cameras. I started with two Pro's then I upgraded both them to Pro 2's. Eventually I purchased another Pro 2 as I am impressed with them. Then recently I acquired my first Essential Spotlight Camera and was so impressed with the color night vision, I purchased a second one. 

I shuffled my cameras around and placed the two Essential Spotlights to replace my main Pro 2 cameras and now I am frustrated at the unreliability of the first Essential Spotlight. It continues randomly goes dead. Offline and no power. This only happens to the first one. I have tried many combinations with full time power cord and just battery and always it's the first one that goes dead.

I have been in contact with Arlo Support since around 01/17/2021 almost a dozen times. I followed their suggestions to no success. I believe the Essential Cameras are budget priced and to make that happen, the quality of the electronics are budget quality. Simply unreliable at this point. I even replaced my gutter downspouts that were near those cameras due to their aluminum material that can cause interference Eventually we both agree that this one Essential Spotlight Camera is defective and they are emailing me the RMA for replacement. So the waiting game begins... 

[Morizio0077]

I have the exact same issue. The camera was made terribly. Do not buy the arlo essential. I have two arlo pro 2s and arlo pro 3 haven't had any real issues yet but this essential is complete trash. Connection strength is strong and I'm maybe 10 feet from base station but signal drops can't connect and then tomorrow I'll connect and then 10 mins later nope no connection. No amount of troubleshooting will fix a faulty model.

[JamesC]

Morizio0077,

Try swapping the location of one of your cameras that doesn't have any issue with the essential camera and test to see if you still experience the same behavior. This will help isolate if the issue is with the camera or it's location.

JamesC

[Stevesteffen]

I tried everything you can say also I am in IT 12 years and all other cameras in that location worked fine only these flawed x 3 new essentials never worked like the pro and pro2
Also they wouldn't last 2 weeks before dead x 3 as well absolutely broke my use of Arlo I gave 10 cameras 3 bases away now so this is my last post
Only because support wouldn't listen to me and kept telling me to try the same things over and over it just got exhausting so I gave in and moved to New system and company and have had a few issues with great support and 4 months later only minimal issues I would expect from full wireless cams.
I am not trying to be 100% negative here and all that I stated was full truths

[1scorpion]

Yup I’ve tried everything that the Arlo Customer Service techs thrown at me. Even changed my gutter downspouts aluminum to vinyl thinking that the metal is causing interference. It did not change the offline issues. I swapped locations with another camera but that didn’t do anything either. I am frustrated beyond belief. The last correspondence with customer service tech was they are going to replace the one I’m having the most issue with. They are processing the RMA for me but I’m still waiting. It’s been nearly 3 weeks now. At this point I think everything related to Arlo is ineffective. Spent a lot of money on their products and now I see it was all wasted.

[BTurgidson]

Any answers to this? It seems to be a widespread problem.

I too ONLY have the issue with the Arlo Essential camera. It loses connection to the base station and though you can see the charge level and settings, it will no longer record or connect. It currently has full signal strength.

Please advise.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

If you're still experiencing an issue after the troubleshooting posted in this thread, please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate.

JamesC