Arlo doorbell & Essential not recording

[maparker1]

I have 4 Arlo Pro 2 cameras that are set up to record to my base unit.  We added an  Arlo Essential Spotlight at the end of November and Arlo doorbell at the end of December. Everything recorded to the base unit without any issues. Once the 3 month free subscription ended for the Spotlight and doorbell they stopped recording to the base. I have unplugged and resynced everything but still can't get these to record. Does anyone have any ideas? I read that I didn't need to pay for a subscription if I had the base to record to which is why I purchased these.

Thanks

[dcfox1]

On your VMB4000 base you listed you can not access base recordings on the app. Only cloud recordings with a subscription. Any cam newer then the Pro2 need a sub for the cloud storage. The Pro 2 and older still have the free 7 day storage like you were seeing on your Pro2's.  You can eject the USB and view in a computer but not as ideal. The cloud with a sub is much simpler. 

How do I set up local storage backups on a USB device using my Arlo base station?

[maparker1]

So I can record to the USB on the base station for only the Pro 2 cameras but have to pay to record for the spotlight and doorbell?

[dcfox1]

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@maparker1 wrote:

So I can record to the USB on the base station for only the Pro 2 cameras but have to pay to record for the spotlight and doorbell?

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No you can do it to the USB on all cameras connected to the base. Is your Essential and door bell connected to WIFI instead of the base? If Wifi it won't record to the base as you would need a sub for cloud recordings.  You may be confusing base and cloud recordings. Two different  things. Your Pro2's have free 7 day cloud storage so you would see the without viewing the USB. 

[maparker1]

I just had a new internet provider set up and wanted to see if this helped. Unfortunately it didn't. I resynced all of my cameras to the base. All 4 of the Arlo 2 cameras are recording to the USB that I have in the base. The doorbell and Essential camera are not.  When I purchased them the description said that I could record to the base that I have so don't know why they aren't but right now they are pretty useless to me. Do I need to purchase a new base to get them to record?

[maparker1]

I forgot to add - the base is set up directly to the router per the manual

[StephenB]

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@maparker1 wrote:

I just had a new internet provider set up and wanted to see if this helped. Unfortunately it didn't. I resynced all of my cameras to the base. All 4 of the Arlo 2 cameras are recording to the USB that I have in the base. The doorbell and Essential camera are not.  When I purchased them the description said that I could record to the base that I have so don't know why they aren't but right now they are pretty useless to me. Do I need to purchase a new base to get them to record?

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Your Arlo 2 cameras are recording to both the base and the cloud.  When you access via the app or the web interface, you are accessing the cloud recordings.  The only way to see the USB recordings with your base is to eject the USB drive and connect to a PC.

The doorbell and essential cameras likely are also recording to the USB drive.  But recordings won't be saved to the cloud w/o a subscription - and that means you won't see any recordings in the app or the web ui.

[maparker1]

Thanks, I checked my USB and found that it was recording to that. Problem is that I can't see the recordings on my phone if I am away.

I signed up for the $0.99 subscription for my doorbell and  Essential camera and it is now recording to my phone again. I like the cameras and being able to view live on my phone but not sure if I will stay with Arlo as I have the doorbell and Essential camera that needs the subscription and we plan on adding more cameras so price will be pretty steep.

Thanks for helping me on this!