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DazJones21
Tutor
Tutor

By the time someone shows up at my door, the camera catches movement, and I get a notification, it’s like 10-20 seconds. They are gone. Anyone have tips on speed? My internet is not the issue

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JessicaP
Arlo Employee Retired

Hey DazJones21,

 

Have you tried raising the motion detection sensitivity to see if that helps and to see if you receive notifications faster? You can read here on how to adjust the motion detection sensitivity How do I change the motion sensitivity on my Arlo camera?

DazJones21
Tutor
Tutor
My sensitivity is at 85%. Any higher, and every blade of grass that blows set off the motion. My battery runs out in less than a few days. Do you have any other advice? I see a lot of people who write reviews about Arlo with the same issue and it always has the contact support. What are some resolutions? Thanks in advance.
Jintek
Guide
Guide
Is your camera placed in a position where the subject walks across the camera field of view and not directly towards the camera?

These cameras can be tricky for instance my camera can pick up motion from a passing car 30 feet away yet miss the amazon delivery man walk up the front door and drop off a package. It will record him walking away though. This is no good as you want to see people’s faces in order to catch thieves.

I think what you need is to buy a power cable to run your camera full time. That way you can use the 3 second look back function which is very helpful and since your camera is powered on all the time you won’t have issues with setting your motion sensor to 100. Also, depending on your neighbors you may want to increase your sound detection. Setting your sound detection to a level 5 will start recording quickly. I cannot have this setting because my neighbors kids are loud they play outside and it will record every yell, scream, dog bark, passing car.

You can also add additional cameras and set up modes. For instance one camera can detect a motion or sound and will alert the second camera to start recording . This way you get ahead of the subject. I have 5 cameras but really only need three to cover the front of my home.

If you don’t want to run a wire on the backup cameras but still keep them at level 100 motion detection, use the Arlo solar panel to keep them topped off. I use the solar panels myself and receive anywhere from 350- 650 motion detections notifications a day. By 5:30 my camera is still charged from 87-100%. The solar panel will charge your camera about 35% a day.

I set my cameras to Record Until Motion Stops. So my recordings are anywhere from 11 to 150 seconds long. I believe the max it will record on a single clip is up to 300 seconds. But I’ve never had a clip record that long. Also, I noticed that keeping the setting at Record Until Motion Stops. Allows, the camera to reset and start recording again faster. I’ve had three separate recording in under 1 minute. While some people on here complain that there cameras can take an entire 1-2 minutes just to reset and begin recording again.

Anyways, hope my experience helps.
DazJones21
Tutor
Tutor
Thanks for your detailed response.

Yes the cameras are at an angle, not directly at the pathway.

I don’t want to use a power cord. A major reason that I bought these was because they were battery powered and rechargeable. Wiring them into my house would be very difficult. As far as the solar panel, it’s not just that the motion is always in detection, it said I am getting constant five minute videos of a bush blowing or shadows moving with the sensitivity turned up.

Mine are also set to record until motion stops.

Thanks for the ideas, I may reach out to Arlo directly.
StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@DazJones21 wrote:
As far as the solar panel, it’s not just that the motion is always in detection, it said I am getting constant five minute videos of a bush blowing or shadows moving with the sensitivity turned up.


If the pro 2 camera(s) are in a position where they can take advantage of solar panel(s), then they would still help slow down the battery drain. I have an Ultra camera that frequently trigger on shadows, and the panel does keep it charged most of the time.  But the panels won't enable the 3 second look-back window - that requires more voltage than the panels supply.

 


@DazJones21 wrote:

Yes the cameras are at an angle, not directly at the pathway.  ... it said I am getting constant five minute videos of a bush blowing or shadows moving with the sensitivity turned up.


This of course is the real issue - you get constant recordings, but are still missing the onset of the motion you care about.

 

One thing you might try is changing the setting on "record until motion stops".  I believe there is a delay between the time one recording stops before a second recording will start.  If you have too many recordings, that might be one factor in missed motion.  So perhaps experiment with fixed-length recordings (15-30 seconds) and see if that helps.

 

The camera is more sensitive to motion at the bottom of the field of view.  So if the "interesting" motion is happening in the top of the field of view, then another thing you could try is inverting the camera, and using the 180 degree flip in the settings.  That might also let you raise the motion sensitivity w/o getting all the false notifications (depending on where the shadows and bushes are).

 

Not sure if these ideas will help or not - unfortunately the ideal fix is to provide AC power, which of course isn't practical for you.

 

 

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