Arlo Pro 2 outside cameras not enough signal strength

[iowathumper]

Have a Hughesnet satellite dish gen 5 using there supplied router and Arlo system above VMB4500 & 4 Arlo Pro 2 1 Arlo Pro 3

I have a full poly steel built home ( 2" foam on each side and 7" concrete in the middle) with log siding Open main floor with open loft above. Router is on a desk open to main floor below with Arlo base station 10 ft from router also open to main floor.

I am mounting 4 cameras on the outside of the house so signal basically has to go through one concrete wall to reach a camera (Plenty of windows in the main floor)

Here is the issues I can remote Live into every camera video quality is Awsome except basement walk out door camera. I can record manual picture or a video all recording end up in the library,

If you look at the signal strength of each camera most are seeing 2 bars only one is seeing 1 bar (Basement walk out Cam) 

All cameras will send a notification alert when something triggers a camera 90% of the time and will show a video clip 50% of the time.

Talking to Arlo support they said the signal needs to be better. I have switched cameas out seeing if one might get a better signal then another, little help with one camera.

Tried moving the base station to main floor trying to get base closer to cameras, No help.

Question what if I were to move base station out to the garage which is built out of 2x4 and within 20 ft of house. I would think that would give great signal to all outside cameras.

Can the arlo base handle temps down to -10 - 90F?

Any other suggestions?

[ShayneS]

@jguerdat @TomMac @StephenB

[StephenB]

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@iowathumper wrote:

Question what if I were to move base station out to the garage which is built out of 2x4 and within 20 ft of house. I would think that would give great signal to all outside cameras.

Can the arlo base handle temps down to -10 - 90F?

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I'm not seeing enviromental specs on the VMB4500 base, but it's certainly not intended for outdoor use.  The specs I am seeing for other bases are 32° to 122° F (0° to 50° C).  Though it might well run at colder temps anyway, so shifting it to the garage is worth a try (and you'd at least be able to see if the connections are better).  Powerline networking is one way to get ethernet to the garage (though of course that also might not work if the temps are too low).

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@iowathumper wrote:

Have a Hughesnet satellite dish gen 5 using their supplied router and Arlo system above VMB4500 & 4 Arlo Pro 2 1 Arlo Pro 3

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If you are consistently seeing good quality video with live streaming, then motion detection should also work reliably.  Perhaps try some testing with only one camera armed, and see if that makes any difference with the missed motion recordings.  Maybe also connect a USB thumb drive to the base, and see if that has any recordings that aren't in the cloud.

Your HushesNet has a 3 mbps uplink, correct?  That will result in some dropped recordings when multiple cameras trigger simultaneously.    On paper each Pro-2 needs 1 mbps of uplink, and the Pro-3 requires 2 mbps (6 total for your setup).  https://kb.arlo.com/000062043/What-are-the-minimum-requirements-for-installing-and-using-my-Arlo-sys...

I suggest making sure your cameras don't have overlapping fields of view (particularly the Pro-3).  Using timed recordings instead of "until motion stops" might also be a good way to reduce the odds of simultaneous recordings.

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@iowathumper wrote:

Any other suggestions?

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If you have good mobile network coverage, you could deploy an Arlo Go at the basement walk instead of a Pro-2.  That would eliminate the need for a base for that camera.  That would require paying for a mobile plan, so monthly costs would be higher.

You can deploy more than one base (connecting some cameras to each).  So keep that possibility in mind when you experiment with base station locations.

If you have an Android phone or tablet, you can also find some free apps that will give you WiFi signal strength.  They will see the base station WiFi network, so you can use that to get a second estimate of the WiFi signal strength at the various camera locations (or possible locations).  Though it's a bit awkward, you can also measure signal strength with free utilities using a laptop.  Unfortunately Apple doesn't expose the needed hooks in iOS, so this isn't possible with iPhones or iPads.

[TomMac]

Would think this location may require more than one base ( allowable on any account, only cost of base ).

Also, I found moving my base up to the loft area in my home allowed a better signal all around ( signal now only going thru roof to some ares ).... tho only testing at your location would show if this works.

( the raising of the base allows me to get a signal out to 100 ft (pro2) working reliably )

[iowathumper]

Thanks for responses. All good ideas.

I am actually getting full signal strength in walk out basement cam pro2  after bringing Base station down on main floor. Had my wife walk out this morning couple times to trigger camera. She went twice only got the 2nd time one notification and one recording. She said the first time she was out there longer, and nothing received.                                

The 2nd base station might be a option to try. Since I have one Arlo 3 camera I would want to buy the VMB4540 Base station correct to get full features of the Arlo 3 camera??

How does a 2nd base station plug in? Through the Hugesnet Modem?

Another idea I had after searching for solutions to problem. Would this item work to fix outside signal strength and has anyone tried it? https://www.radiolabs.com/wireless/wifi-networking/outdoor-wifi-access-points/extend-wifi-range-boos...   This makes sense to me, not sure how it would wire up though.

[iowathumper]

Another question? The 4500 bas station has a USB port to put a card reader in there. Would you have to remove the card reader to view videos? Or would you be able to access them from your phone?

[StephenB]

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@iowathumper wrote:

The 2nd base station might be a option to try. Since I have one Arlo 3 camera I would want to buy the VMB4540 Base station correct to get full features of the Arlo 3 camera??

How does a 2nd base station plug in? Through the Hugesnet Modem?

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Or the VMB5000 (which would need a microSD card, not a USB thumb drive).  The VMB5000 supports 4K with the ultra (which isn't something you have now of course).

The 2nd base also needs ethernet - so it would plug into the HughesNet like the existing base.  If it doesn't have enough ethernet ports, you'd need to get a small gigabit switch to give you more ports.

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@iowathumper wrote:

Another idea I had after searching for solutions to problem. Would this item work to fix outside signal strength and has anyone tried it? https://www.radiolabs.com/wireless/wifi-networking/outdoor-wifi-access-points/extend-wifi-range-boos...   This makes sense to me, not sure how it would wire up though.

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The Arlo base stations create a closed WiFi network for the cameras, and this device won't work with that.

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@iowathumper wrote:

Another question? The 4500 base station has a USB port to put a card reader in there. Would you have to remove the card reader to view videos? Or would you be able to access them from your phone?

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You do need to remove it today.

They are providing access to USB storage through the app and web ui for Pro-3 and Ultra cameras, but it's not out quite yet.  Constraints aren't available yet - but I doubt it would be available on the 4500 base.  It would be available on the Pro-3 base, but perhaps not with the Pro-2 cameras (we'll need to wait and see).

[iowathumper]

I plugged in a storage card to the USB port on the 4500 base station.  It recorded a lot of footage that was not on the Cloud, missed a couple I know someone walked past. But very nice to see it work detection wise.

Is the 4540 base station going to give be any better signal strength to the cameras?

If I had 2 base station being used 4500 & 4540 WilL I be able to put 5 cameras on each base station? Or do I only get 5 cameras between the two base stations?

Do I have to have 3 bars on ever camera in order to get 100% satisfaction as far as cameras recording to the cloud?

Hugenet does offer a signal strength booster for $100 Anyone tried this? Results

[StephenB]

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@iowathumper wrote:

Is the 4540 base station going to give be any better signal strength to the cameras?

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Likely not, though it should be about the same.

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@iowathumper wrote:

Do I have to have 3 bars on ever camera in order to get 100% satisfaction as far as cameras recording to the cloud?

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I think 2 bars should also work ok - it depends on both the strength and the quality, so it is hard to say.

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@iowathumper wrote:

If I had 2 base station being used 4500 & 4540 Will I be able to put 5 cameras on each base station? Or do I only get 5 cameras between the two base stations?

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You can put five on each.  If you are thinking about the subscription pricing, then that applies to the total cameras on the account (it doesn't matter what base they use).

[N4KHQ]

I have tried several extenders, they all worked but the new Mesh wifi products is the way to go in my opinion. You have only one wifi login with a mesh system and through put is much much better. I use Linksys but Netgear is probably just as good. Just google MESH WiFi,  You will have a better solution with less cost

[StephenB]

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@N4KHQ wrote:

I have tried several extenders, they all worked but the new Mesh wifi products is the way to go in my opinion. You have only one wifi login with a mesh system and through put is much much better. I use Linksys but Netgear is probably just as good. Just google MESH WiFi,  You will have a better solution with less cost

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FWIW, I use Orbi myself.

But I don't think a mesh will help here, as the poster can put the base station(s) where he wants them.  Getting good signal through the poly steel construction of the home to the outdoor cameras was a concern in the beginning, but seems to have been solved now.

The limited ISP uplink seems to be the only remaining issue.  It's possible that the soon-to-be-released direct access to local storage might be enough to overcome that, but it isn't clear whether that would be available with Pro-2 cameras (assuming they were connected to a Pro-3 or Ultra base).  We'll have to see on that.