Cameras going offline once a day

[hullan]

Hello everyone, first post here. 

So I work as an IT technician and kind of know my way around these sort of things 🙂

I bought an arlo system last summer (2019) consisting of a VMB4500r2 and two "Arlo pro 2" cameras and two "Arlo Pro (VMC4030) cameras"

I'm not exactly sure if my problems started with the 1.16.2.5... firmware in the fall of 2019 or if they always were there....

but basically I've been having problems with the cameras going offline at least once a day. Note that my base station is always online - it is only the cameras that are loosing connection with the base station.

So if I restart the base station from my app everything is up and running hopefully for the remainder of that day...

What I have done:

I have been sloppy by having my base station placed near my wifi router on the same shelf - BUT I have completely disabled 2,4ghz on my main wifi so that it's only running 5ghz - therefore there shouldn't be any congestion. 

However - a few months ago I moved the base station to my second floor (I have ethernet and real RJ45 outlets running through the house) but that did not make it any better. 

3 of my cameras have full connection to the base and one of them have 2 of 3 "pins"

Still once a day when I open the app my cameras are offline but I can restart the base station from the app and have them running again...

really dissapointed tbh... 

[Dannybear]

Have you checked the wifi for congestion near the furthest camera? While your local router wifi is disabled the base station channel could be getting swamped by the wifi from next door at the camera location.
You can choose which channel the base station uses by forcing the local router wifi to a fixed 2.4Ghz channel and reboot the base so it’s wifi channel will follow.
I have my base station located 6ft from the router without interference issue.
I do find that power cycling the base daily using a smart switch schedule keeps the whole system reliable anyway.

[hullan]

thanks for your reply

I might have been unclear. I have not totally disabled my main wifi on my asus router - BUT I have disabled the 2,4ghz on my main wifi.

So my asus router for my home wifi is running only at 5ghz. 

I live in a house with no neighbours close up to me. I don't see network congestion as a possible reason for this. 

to me it feels like flimsy firmware/software tbh. 

resynced all my cameras the other day - no problem - takes seconds. My base station is always online and can easily be restarted from the app when at work.

but for some damn reason the cameras and base station loose connection almost daily. 

when you say that you restart your base daily by a switch "to keep things reliable" - that kinda says it all. 

[Dannybear]

You were clear with reference to disabling the 2.4ghz wifi with the 5Ghz still active, I was referring to the 2.4ghz wifi channel that the base station uses to connect to the cameras which is matched to any local 2.4ghz wifi that’s about such as your router if it were active.

The base reset is just power cycling for 2min daily and yes it is a necessity for me as I believe the firmware still suffers from legacy bugs and runs amok. Similarly the same in the cameras and yes I power cycle these daily also to workaround video digital smearing bugs, except for the battery only cameras.
I would suggest that the current firmware is the best so far since I purchased the system a few years ago.
It is important to not overlook hardware or environmental causes but as I have exhaustively eliminated these in testing and fault finding as much as possible I just gave up and power cycle everything daily.

[hullan]

Thanks again

yeah well you know... your answer is actually as satisfactory to me as any other answer. Sometimes the best answer is just a confirmation from other users that they are also experiencing the same problems. 

I have highspeed fiberoptic internet going through an ASUS AC 1150 router. I have disabled 2,4ghz wifi on my ASUS router. I have Ethernet cabling and outlets running throughout my house and have tried putting the base station at different locations.

No matter where it is located - at least once a day when I fire up my Arlo app the cameras are dead with a message on screen saying they're offlince. I scroll down to the base station in the app and restart it from the app - and within 5 minutes my cameras are working again. 

I know this is a firmware/software issue and nothing else. 

[jguerdat]

I doubt it's a firmware issue but likely a display one. When I get this sort of issue, the first thing I do is force close the app and reopen it. The vast majority of the time the display is resolved. The few times it isn't turns out to be an issue with the base needing to be rebooted or an issue with the connection to the servers. Have you tried that at any point?

[hullan]

Yepp, sorry to say it but that is what I’m doing everytime hoping that it is just the app...