All Cameras Offline + Base Station won't sync with cameras after reset (UPS at Power *restoration*)

[lawyerz]

This is a strange one. The base station VMB4000 + modem + router (Unifi Dream Machine) is connected to a UPS (CyberPower Systems BR1000ELCD) which has surge protections.

Everything works as expected when power outage goes down, and while the UPS still has battery and is still running, the power is restored. At the exact moment the power is restored, all cameras (All 5 Arlo Pro 2s) went offline and will not resync.

This is the 2nd base station I have of the same model after the first one was having similar issues of offline cameras and intermittent disconnection but this is slightly different because it completely will not sync and is not even detected.

I've tried them all. Base station reset. Hold sync on cameras for 15 seconds for 'reset', remove battery, remove power and turn off router and base station for a few minutes.

The base station will connect, and will activate. Two green lights, camera lights off. Camera blue blinking light does turn on when pressing sync, but after several minutes will quickly flash amber indicating sync failure.

I'm out of ideas and would appreciate suggestions. I've gone through the forums for all manners of fixes and tried many of them. The last time, a new base station fixed this issue but its ridiculous I'd need to change base station every time there's a power outage?

[Dannybear]

I know that some router modem equipment doesn’t play nicely with the arlo base stations.

When power is normally restored after a outage the base station will try connecting to the router and fails because the router has not completed the reboot and the base will not keep trying after the fail event. The usual workaround is to power cycle the base again after the router modem has finished rebooting.

Some customers recommend placing all the equipment, modem, router and Base station on ups power so there is no power disruption.

Some customers just use a smart plug on the base station to remotely restart the base since some ups units have limited battery capacity and who knows how long the outage will be.

The unfortunate problem is if the outage is longer than 24hrs the camera batteries run down flat as they keep trying to contact the internet.

Hence the best is to have both ups and smart plugs.

[lawyerz]

Hi Danny,

Thanks for your reply.

All equipment was on Ups. Outage lasted 10 mins and ups was still operational so no equipment experienced power outage, including the router.

I've power cycled everything. And cameras all have battery.

[Dannybear]

Did any of the cameras have Ac power connected?

If the isp provider equipment such as a street distribution hub suffered a power outage also it might explain why the system fell over.

[lawyerz]

Hi Danny,

No, all cameras were operating with battery. In addition, the power outage was the switch /fuse box deliberately turned off temporarily for some works.

The cameras continue to record and send motion alerts when power was cut, and only stopped working exactly when power was switched back on.

Pretty bizarre eh? I can't phantom how the switch from UPS to regular power has caused this issue.

[Dannybear]

Yes, would have to agree it is difficult to understand how it would cause the event.

To speculate if the ups type is just a switching ups where it uses a relay to switch between mains and the ups output it is theoretically possible to have the switching event occurring at the opposite Ac cycle causing an overload issue although momentarily and affecting the Base station.

I imagine you have already tested with another outage and was not able to duplicate it?

[StephenB]

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@lawyerz wrote:

Everything works as expected when power outage goes down, and while the UPS still has battery and is still running, the power is restored. At the exact moment the power is restored, all cameras (All 5 Arlo Pro 2s) went offline and will not resync.

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One of my bases (VMB5000) is connected to a different Cyberpower UPS and doesn't have this issue.

Can you reproduce this by pulling the plug on the UPS and then reinserting it?

I am wondering if the UPS isn't matching the phase of the mains power when power is restored.  That might result in the base restarting or otherwise misbehaving.

[jguerdat]

A couple of thoughts here:

1) The older bases have issues with power outages, becoming ready before the router and not retrying to get connected. A power cycle of the router and base, in that order, fixes this as does a UPS so power isn't interrupted.

2) While you mention using a UPS, some run off the battery the whole time while (most?) others actively have to switch from wall power to battery which could cause a power glitch that affects the base-router connection, as mentioned above.

[lawyerz]

@Dannybear@StephenB Yes I tried simulating another outage by turning off the outlet power for the UPS, then switching it back on. The base station works like normal except that it will not detect any camera.

@jguerdatI've power cycled the router and base station, including where the router is ready before the base station - to no avail.

So I went out and bought a new base station, called Smarthub now, VMB4540 - and while it detects the camera and allows the cameras to be added, it has its own issues. The moment I move the cameras even a little, or further than 1m from the station, the cameras (any and all 5 of them) appears offline - and will not come back online. This is very frustrating.

[lawyerz]

If I remove the battery and re-insert the battery into the cameras, even when the cameras are further away from the base station - they appear to be online again.... as long as I don't move them.

The moment I move them, even when I'm viewing through live view, I get either "the request timed out" then "your arlo device appear offline"

[Dannybear]

@lawyerz 

Just to confirm that the cameras go offline using the app immediately after you simulate a power failure by unplugging the ups from the wall and then repower?

Can you confirm that the cameras remain online ok using the app while the ups is operating in backup mode, then go offline when the ups is repowered.

Some things to think about,

the Base station should be at least 6ft away from your wifi router, ideally 10ft to prevent wifi overload. Same between cameras and between base and cameras.

The ups can also generate noise spikes on the ups output and these could cause interference to the base wifi.

The noise spikes would appear during the ups active mode and could remain apparent while it is being recharged, then disappear once the battery is recharged.

[lawyerz]

@Dannybear 

No, after the initial incident, all five cameras went offline and will not come back online. I did a hard reset on a base station, removed and reinserted batteries into the camera, and reattempted repeatedly to sync the cameras back to the base station to no avail.

I am not able to replicate the incident again as the cameras refuse to sync up with the base station.

I then went and bought a new base station because that fixed the problem for me last time but the new base station had it's own issues (cameras goes immediately offline if moved at all after sync, even when live viewing). 

The location of the base station and router has been unchaged for the past 4 years so it seems unlikely interference would suddenly appear now.

Current situation: with two base stations and zero working cameras. Contacted Arlo support.

[TomMac]

From the original post you stated you held the sync on camera for 15 secs, does not work on the pro2s... just battery removal.

Also the camera led light will be off if no cameras are synced while the power and internet are green ( normal )

Unplug base, then replug and let it come back online... about 30 secs or so

Power led should be green, internet led should be on/blinking if connection is to internet.

Then, Try a manual sync of cameras;

pull battery for 10 secs, replace.

you should see the camera blink blue led once

Then press the sync button quickly and the camera led should blink

then pres the camera sync button while nearby the base.

You should see camera slow blink blue go to fast blue flash showing sync.

As a trial, bypass the UPS on your base unit, tho I don't think this is the issue.

[lawyerz]

@TomMacHi Tom!

Well, thats what the factory reset page said, but I also did battery removal, many, many times.

[Original Base Station VMB4000] Unplug base, then replug and let it come back online... about 30 secs or so >> done that, a dozen times. power green, internet green and sometimes blinking green. no light on camera. Flashing green on camera only when attempting to sync. Does not detect camera, camera lights stop flashing. LED on camera flash orange quickly indicating failure to sync.

Also attempted a manual sync a dozen times - in exactly the manner you said. except that it continues to blink blue slowly forever before flash orange sync indicating sync failure after a few minutes.

The only thing that I hadn't done is bypass the UPS - which I just tried and yielded the same results above.

The new base station that I bought VMB4540's issues are equally puzzling. It CAN find the camera and sync but the moment I move it anywhere further than 1meter away, the cameras goes offline. All of them, consistently when I move it. I thought it was wifi interference so I moved the base station away (not to mention it's been in that spot for the past 4 years without issue) - still the same. This issue is repeatable at least but bizarre. It can find the camera, connect, and live stream indicating that the connection can be established. I found another forum topic on this without a solution https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo/Arlo-Pro-2-Cameras-go-offline-when-moved-away-from-the-base/td-p/...

I am stumped. Old base station won't find any cameras. New base station finds cameras but goes offline the camera is > 1 meter away. Nothing else has changed, router, network setup, camera placements, etc for the past several years. Was working fine several days ago with the original base station.

[Dannybear]

It might make sense to look at replacing the router, you have replaced the base and your still struggling to get a working connection to the cameras.

As a test turn off the router 2.4ghz wifi, maintain the 5ghz wifi for the mobile app, power cycle the base again and check operation.

Alternatively take the arlo kit to another location and test if same issues.

[lawyerz]

Hi Dan,

I run a Unifi Dream Machine and two Unifi AP Pro access points - it would be cheaper and easier to replace Arlo entirely with a different system, something I'm unfortunately having to contemplate especially given that it is Black Friday sales on now.

Every other device, including IoT devices like smart plugs, nest doorbell, PCs, phones, and tablets are functioning as expected. Even Arlo was working fine with the same router a few days ago.

I've power cycled my router a number of times now. I turned off 2.4ghz wifi and attempted the following below:

As a final test, I've moved the base station to a different room entirely, and attempt to add the camera to the original base station via the app and manual sync. No cameras found / unable to sync.
I reattempted this with the new base station, still the same issues mentioned above.

I think I've reached the end point guys, thank you all so much for your replies and taking the time out to try to help me. I'll wait to see what Arlo support comes back with, and then decide if it's time to switch out of Arlo. Thank you all once again.

[Dannybear]

No point flogging a dead horse, agree.

The only other similar issues I can recall was someone had a wifi printer that was causing an intermittent offline issue with the cameras and someone who’s Base station would fall over regularly needing to be factory reset.

[LutrYves]

I have EXACTLY the same issue and went through the same process (buying a new base 4540, etc...). And all this happened a couple of days ago, out of the blue, while everything was running fine since years! The only thing is that I cannot connect at all anymore the cameras (to the new or the old base). Both base are apparently working fine (leds are ok, I can see them online etc...). Support will revert back to me although I am not expecting anything. To me they issued a firmware that went bad.... I would be interested to know if you manage to solve this issue! 

[StephenB]

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@lawyerz wrote:

If I remove the battery and re-insert the battery into the cameras, even when the cameras are further away from the base station - they appear to be online again.... as long as I don't move them.

The moment I move them, even when I'm viewing through live view, I get either "the request timed out" then "your arlo device appear offline"

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FWIW, this is not something I see with my own VMB4540 (or my VMB5000s).

Hard to guess what's going on with the VMB4540 - maybe something wrong with the antenna system (MIMO)?

You could try exchanging it, or maybe contacting Arlo support.

[lawyerz]

@LutrYves @StephenB @Dannybear 

Y'all won't believe this, but it's working again. magically. by itself. I didn't do anything.

I've returned the new smarthub and every time I passed the base station I'd just try a manual sync like a hundred times before. It usually just blinks until it times out and then shows orange flashing led. today, it SYNCED.

then I tried the next camera, and the next, and the next , and all of them synced!

I moved them further than 1 meter, still connected (well this is the original base station, not the smarthub which had that issue).

I'm going to move them back to its original positions outside my house and monitor them overnight but what is this sorcery?

[StephenB]

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@lawyerz wrote:

but what is this sorcery?

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Not the first mystery with Arlo...

Let us know what happens when you put the cameras back in their proper locations.

[lawyerz]

Put the cameras back in, left them overnight, they did not go offline, and is now working as intended.  Bizarre. But uh it looks like it fixed itself for whatever reason after not being online and unable to sync for 3 days.

[Dannybear]

Will the system remain functional after a mains outage, seems to be the original trigger for the event.

[lawyerz]

@Dannybeara mains outage where the base station, router, modem, etc were on UPS and thus technically they did not experienced an 'outage' in the traditional sense. I'm no electrical engineer but electronics dont just magically start working again if they've been damaged or impacted in some kind surely.

In any case, so far they're operating like normal again - this was a really frustrating and time consuming incident but I'm glad it's working again.

once again, thank you all @Dannybear @StephenB @TomMac @jguerdat for your inputs and advice!

[Dannybear]

I don’t disagree with the thinking, only suggesting that the issue might be more interference related from another device.