Essential Wireless Spotlight no longer records to SmartHub

[MCresmen]

I've had Arlo for years now. Last year I upgraded my base to the smart hub VMB4540 and my driveway camera to the essential wireless spotlight camera with solar panel charging. It's worked great for over a year. Now, suddenly since last month, it stopped recording to the smarthub. All other functions work. I have a USB inserted into the smart base. All other cameras are recording to the smarthub and I can see those on my smart phone. I used to be able to see my spotlight camera recordings the same way. But now it's not recording at all. Is this a known issue? I've restarted the smart hub. I've removed the USB and reinsert it. I've gone through all recording rules and local recording is set up properly. I was get a message that says "trouble getting your library" but now even that has stopped. Not sure what other trouble shooting I can do to get it record. All firmware is updated. Why do all other cameras record there but suddenly this one stops? 🤔 

[StephenB]

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@MCresmen wrote:

 Last year I upgraded my base to the smart hub VMB4540 and my driveway camera to the essential wireless spotlight camera with solar panel charging. It's worked great for over a year. Now, suddenly since last month, it stopped recording to the smarthub. All other functions work. I have a USB inserted into the smart base. All other cameras are recording to the smarthub and I can see those on my smart phone. I used to be able to see my spotlight camera recordings the same way. But now it's not recording at all. Is this a known issue?

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Are you saying that

• the essential camera is paired with the VMB4540
• it was recording locally with no subscription
• it suddenly stopped about a month ago

If so, I'd first eject the storage and connect it to a PC.  That will help sort out whether you have a recording problem or a playback problem.

[MCresmen]

Yes it's paired with the smart hub, it was recording locally without subscription until last month. I've never had to remove the USB to see videos. The camera itself now no longer has a little record button or snapshot button when in live mode either. I'm positive it's a recording issue.

[StephenB]

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@MCresmen wrote:

The camera itself now no longer has a little record button or snapshot button when in live mode either. 

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Manual recording is a subscription feature, so that icon suggests that a trial subscription was active.

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@MCresmen wrote:

I've never had to remove the USB to see videos. 

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Understood.  I am still suggesting that you try this test.  There is no other way to tell if you have a recording problem or a playback problem.

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[MCresmen]

@StephenB 

Manual recording is a subscription feature, so that icon suggests that a trial subscription was active.

This is not correct.  I have 6 cameras total. The only camera on a subscription is my doorbell because it wouldn't connect to the hub. One is currently on a trial (inside basement). All others have been off trial for a long time. The camera in questions (spot light driveway) was never on subscription. My other 4 cameras have both a snap shot and manual record button available that works. Just checked.

I removed the USB and plugged it into my computer. The last date anything was recorded to the USB is 2/21/24 that's for all cameras. When I log into the app, my other cameras are storing recordings via.the cloud. But my driveway spot light camera isn't recording to anything. Both cloud and hub are empty and say no recordings. I'm not sure if it's the USB or the camera at this point. I reformatted the USB and wiped it clean and reinsert to the VMB4540 smarthub so see if that helped. I went back into the app, hit record on one of my cameras (not on subscription) and it shows up under recordings in the app. My spotlight cam still has nothing. Even tho not 2 mins ago I got a notification of movement. Still no recording. I'm at a loss.

[StephenB]

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@MCresmen wrote:

@StephenB 

Manual recording is a subscription feature, so that icon suggests that a trial subscription was active.

This is not correct. 

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Whatever you are seeing, manual recording is in fact a subscription feature for the Essential cameras (and Pro 3/Pro 4/Pro 5/Ultras).

See this:

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it

Note: You can’t manually record or capture a snapshot to a local storage device. Manual recording and snapshots are only available when you record to the Arlo cloud. 

What are your other camera models? Pro 2???