Camera detects motion but won’t record

[testarossa]

my essential camera detects motion but does not record. I don't have a subscription but it is connected to my base station so it should still record, right? My older pro 2 cameras all record just fine. I bought the essential camera as an add on to have more cameras but it isn’t recording any video. It used to record just fine but sometime more recently it just stopped recording. What is causing this and how do I fix this? Thank you. 

[StephenB]

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@testarossa wrote:

It used to record just fine but sometime more recently it just stopped recording. What is causing this and how do I fix this? 

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Likely the trial subscription expired.

Legacy cameras like your Pro 2 were sold with 7 days of free cloud storage, and Arlo still provides that.  Many users mistakenly think that the recordings they see for their legacy cameras are stored locally, when in fact they are stored in the Arlo cloud. 

Arlo stopped including that feature with new camera models 5 years - all currently sold cameras (including the Essentials) require a subscription for cloud storage.

As far as the base goes, whether it changes anything depends on the base model.  You can find a VMBxxxx label somewhere on the base.

VMB4540 and VMB5000 are the only bases that support playback of local recordings in the app, but there are a lot of caveats.  Likely you don't have either model.  BTW, there are a lot of limitations to that feature - if you decide to buy one of these models to get direct access to local storage, then you should ask about those limitations here before you purchase.

Other models (including the VMB4000 and VMB4500)  support local recording - but they do not support playback of those recordings.  You need to eject the USB storage from the base and put it into a PC for viewing.  

[testarossa]

So in order for me to see video off that single essentials camera, I would need to pay a subscription? Does this subscription benefit my other pro 2 cameras in any way? Can I also get the essential camera to trip the base station alarm instead of emitting its own internal alarm?

[StephenB]

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@testarossa wrote:

So in order for me to see video off that single essentials camera, I would need to pay a subscription? 

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Correct.

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@testarossa wrote:

 Does this subscription benefit my other pro 2 cameras in any way? 

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A single-camera subscription would of course only apply to the Essentials camera.

A multicamera subscription would apply to the Pro 2 cameras and would add

• increasing retention from 7 days to 30
• providing activity zones when on battery power
• providing smart notifications.

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@testarossa wrote:

Can I also get the essential camera to trip the base station alarm instead of emitting its own internal alarm?

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Not sure on this, as my bases don't have a siren.