Arlo pro 2. How to use the mode option

[Smulle]

Is it possible to use the mode option in the following way: If the motion censor on camera 1 reacts, I want cameras 1, 3 and 5 to start recording. How do I do that? It seems to me that you can only select camera 3 OR camera 5 to react - noth both! Correct?

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@Smulle wrote:

Is it possible to use the mode option in the following way: If the motion censor on camera 1 reacts, I want cameras 1, 3 and 5 to start recording. How do I do that? It seems to me that you can only select camera 3 OR camera 5 to react - noth both! Correct?

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You can do that by editing the rule for the camera 1 in the mode.  You'll see an "add device" below the "Then do the following" section.  Click on that, and add camera 3 ( and then camera 5).

[Smulle]

Thanks! It worked.

[Smulle]

Another question I can't find the answer to: I have five cameras and in some situations I want to create a mode where just three of the five cameras are active. I don't want the setup discussed earlier in this conversation. I just want three cameras to be active in the same way that all five can be active using the setting "Activate" in the mode option. How do I do that????

[StephenB]

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@Smulle wrote:

Another question I can't find the answer to: I have five cameras and in some situations I want to create a mode where just three of the five cameras are active. I don't want the setup discussed earlier in this conversation. I just want three cameras to be active in the same way that all five can be active using the setting "Activate" in the mode option. How do I do that????

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Create the mode, and only include rules for the three cameras you want to be active.

[Smulle]

Hhmm.. I can't get pass defining a motion detection "trigger" unit. The only option after doing that is to define what the three choosen cameras shall do (nothing or record) all depending on the trigger cameras motion detection.  That's not what I want. I still can't find a way to create a mode with just the three cameras I have outdoors, activated.

[michaelkenward]

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@Smulle wrote:

I can't get pass defining a motion detection "trigger" unit.

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Not sure that I understand this "trigger" unit. It all starts with a camera (or light if you have that).

• Create a new Mode (call it Outdoors)
• Pick a camera (or other device)
• Go all the way through until you get to the screen that lets you Save the mode
• Do that
• Edit the Outdoors Mode.
• Add Device
• Go through the steps needed to get the camera to do what you want
• Repeat process until you have added all of the cameras you want in Outdoors Mode.
• Don't forget to Save the changes.

You will then have to create a Schedule that activates the Outdoors Mode or manually activate when you feel the need.

[Smulle]

Hhmm.. Are we talking about the same system? (Also my system is in swedish so I'm probably using incorrect terms).

If I follow your instructions I can make three (or more) cameras start recording when  the camera I picked first detects a motion. (I can also choose to do nothing with the three cameras.) Thats all I can do, and as I've tried to describe that is not what I want. I do not want my outdoor cameras being "trigged" by one of the cameras - I want all three to be active seperatly and when they detect a motion (seperatly) I want the camera that detected the motion to start recording. Or am I missing something????

[JessicaP]

Hey Smulle,

You should be able to choose the camera that you want to detect motion and trigger by using custom mode with the instructions that michaelkenward showed above. You can also refer to this article to see if that helps: How do I create a mode with different rules for each Arlo Wire-Free or Arlo Pro Wire-Free camera?

[Smulle]

Maybee this is the problem: In the article you provided a link to, it's said in statement no 7

"If you are using an Arlo Pro Wire-Free camera and you want the selected device to perform an action when motion or audio is detected, tap or click Next. Otherwise, clear the check box for the trigger that you do not want to use."

I have no such option. I can NOT clear the check box for the trigger I do not want to use!!! There's no such option at all! What I've got is shown in the att. file Screen2 (in Swedish)

[JessicaP]

I do not want my outdoor cameras being "trigged" by one of the cameras - I want all three to be active seperatly and when they detect a motion (seperatly) I want the camera that detected the motion to start recording. Or am I missing something????

You will need to save the first camera rule that you set first and go back to the custom mode that you created and tap on the pencil icon to edit and choose "Add Rule" to choose another camera to create a rule and continue to repeat that step until you have all the cameras in that rule.

I have no such option. I can NOT clear the check box for the trigger I do not want to use!!! There's no such option at all! What I've got is shown in the att. file Screen2 (in Swedish)

You must choose motion and/or audio detection in order to go to the next step.

[Smulle]

No can do. Firstly, I don't have a pencil icon, secondly it only results in the solution I don't want, namely to make all the choosen cameras dependent on the first (the trigger) camera.

I'm giving up my attempts to solve this and I will simply activate all my 5 cameras using the "Activate" option and then manually disconnect the two indoor cameras when I don't want them active, Unfortunaltly this means that I can't use them to watch indoors (without recording), but I'm ready to accept that! 

Although I'm looking forward to my contact in the Arlo US support to solve this, by using the mode option.

Thanks everyone for your attempts to help me with this - as I thought - simple matter.

[michaelkenward]

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@Smulle wrote:

Thanks everyone for your attempts to help me with this - as I thought - simple matter.

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It is simple here, but I admit that the concepts are not transparent.

It all starts here:

If you hit the Add Device button, you land here:

So you pick the next device that you want to do its thing.

Then click Next and you arrive here:

Repeat the process, using the Add Device button, the deal with What do you want the device(s) to do?, until all the cameras are triggered.

So, after you add camera 1, you go on to add camera 3, and then keep repeating the process to add camera 5.

When you come to the end of the chain, just save the rule.

You can set another set of rules that start with a different camera and activate the others.

[Smulle]

Hi  michaelkenward!

Thanks for your reply. As far as I understand it, your solution is still dependent on wether your first camera (Pro 2 shed) detects a motion or not(?). ("Based on your settings when (triggerDeviceName) is triggered which devices do you want to activate?")

If so, that's not what I want. As I've tried to explain, I want three cameras activated and work independent of each other. Exactly as if I only had three cameras in total, and used the default mode "Activate". As I said earlier, I can achive this by disconnect two cameras manually by using the "turn on/turn off" option for the two cameras, however it's a bit clumsy.

[JessicaP]

Once you created your first rule with the first camera, you can hit "Save" .

Then click on the arrow/pencil icon next to the mode you edited and tap on "Add Rule" to add another camera and follow these steps until you added all the cameras you wanted.

[ShaneLee]

I have my camera set up this way, and I have never been able to get the rules to work consistently. For instance, I have 2 cameras in the front, and 2 cameras in the rear of my house. 

Motion on Camera 1, should record on Camera 1 and 2. Motion on Camera 2, should record on 2 and 1. Same thing with the rear cameras #3 and #4. 

This feature does NOT work for me. It did for a while, but stopped shortly after we bought this pathetic system. I have been through resetting the entire system, adding the the schedules multiple times, adding rules multiple times. It simply doesn't work. 

[JessicaP]

Hey ShaneLee,

Try to delete the custom mode and create it again to see if that helps. Otherwise, contact the Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

[StephenB]

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@Smulle wrote:

No can do. Firstly, I don't have a pencil icon, secondly it only results in the solution I don't want, namely to make all the choosen cameras dependent on the first (the trigger) camera.

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If you are using the app for this, you might consider doing it in the web ui (my.arlo.com)

I suspect you have the concept by now, but just in case...

Each mode is a set of indedendent rules

Each rule starts with a motion detection trigger for a specific camera.  After you set up the trigger, you set up an action that happens (perhaps on another device) when the trigger is activated. In English that is in the "then do the following" section,  You can add additional actions for other devices.

So if you want to activate three cameras that work independently, you create three different rules, each one identifying the actions (recording, notifications, or activating the siren) for that specific camera.

If you want to activate three cameras when one detects motion, you create one rule, with three different actions.

In summary, the mode structure is 

Rule1:

If (Motion on Camera X)

   Then do the following

      Camera X (record video)

      Camera Y (record video) [if desired]

...

      Turn Alarm ON (checkbox)

   How would you like be notified?

      Push Notification (checkbox)

     Send Email Alert (checkbox)

Rule 2: (second structure)

...

You do need to keep track of where you are in the process (knowing whether you are adding a new device to the "then do the following" bit  or a new rule).  And you do need to be careful to save the rule - sometimes you need to scroll up or down in the web client to find the save control.