Help with 8 camera Pro2 and 2 baby Arlo Complete system

[SomaQ]

Hello everyone,

I am plnning to invest in:
- Arlo Pro 2 set of 6 cameras with base station
- two additional Arlo Pro 2 cameras
- two Arlo Baby cameras

Questions I need help with:
- can all the cameras be synced in the app?
- where can I buy power cables for all the cameras (to keep them connected to power outlet)?
- are the cameras safe to use with 240V
- the house is 2 floors, any specific routers to ensure full coverage for indoor and outdoor cameras (2 will be outdoor mounted, 6 indoor ceiling mounted, and 2 baby Arlo) ?

Please let me know if I missed anything

[brh]

@SomaQ

A lot of questions to respond to.

1) Normally, the free subscription is for 5 cameras only, although if you purchase the 6 pack bundle and set up a new account. you will have a limit of 6 cameras. To have all the cameras active, you have two choices - upgrade the subscription plan to the premier plan, or set up two free accounts under two different email accounts and put the 6 cameras in one account and the other 4 in the second account. Then you must grant access from the first account to the secont account and grant access from the second account back to the first account. Also bear in mind that doing it this way, the two accounts must be armed/disarmed separately and to adjust the camera settings you have to log in to the account that the cameras are on.

2) The Pro cameras must be synced to a base station but the baby cameras connect directly to your router.

3) In a big house you will probably need a mesh router system and be sure that the satellites have at least one ethernet port available to plug either the base stations or baby cameras into. Personally, I chose the Netgear Orbi system with 2 satellites and love it. Each satellite has 4 ethernet plugs. Depending on placement of the cameras, you may need more than one base station for uniform coverage. The bases will plug into the satellites through ethernet cables and so will the baby cameras. Then you split the cameras up and sync them to the proper base station to get the best signal.

4) I don't know how many power adapters/cables come with the 6 pack system, but I would not be surprised if it only comes with only one power adapter and cable. The individual cameras and the baby cameras will each come with one power adapter and cable. You may find that the cables are too short for you to mount the cameras where you want. There are other manufacturers that sell longer cables, but they may or not work with your cameras. Also note that the Pro cameras need 5 volts to work, but 9 volts to cahrge the batteries if you use them. Therefore I would recommend sticking with with the Arlo brand power adapters and cables. They can be purchased from Arlo in the Accessories section or you can buy them from Amazon or Best Buy.

5) The Arlo power adapters will work with either 110v 0r 220v but if you live outside the US, look for the Arlo systems that are specific to your country.

Hope that helps,

Brian

[AncientGeek]

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@SomaQ wrote:
Hello everyone,

I am plnning to invest in:
- Arlo Pro 2 set of 6 cameras with base station
- two additional Arlo Pro 2 cameras
- two Arlo Baby cameras

Questions I need help with:
- can all the cameras be synced in the app?
- where can I buy power cables for all the cameras (to keep them connected to power outlet)?
- are the cameras safe to use with 240V
- the house is 2 floors, any specific routers to ensure full coverage for indoor and outdoor cameras (2 will be outdoor mounted, 6 indoor ceiling mounted, and 2 baby Arlo) ?

Please let me know if I missed anything

---

Arlo provides several different plans for systems above 5 cameras and greater than 7 days storage.  As I recall the top consumer plan supports 15 devices.  I monitor 32 cameras on the app, personally.  Most of those are shared access to cameras owned by another account.  

Arlo indoor power adapters are available for Arlo for $14.99.  Outdoor cameras need outdoor power adapters ($24.99) or solar panels.   You get two adapters with the 6 camera system kit and you get one with every spare battery (for some odd reason).  You also get one with the separate two battery charger. You should compare the price of two four camera systems rather than a 6 camera system and two add-on cameras.  Often cameras in packages are less expensive than add-on cameras and you get another base unit for added flexibility.

If you plan to power all of the cameras off an outlet, why buy the Pro 2?  Future flexibility as battery powered cameras?  Battery backup for power outages? (Though the base unit and your router would also need a UPS). Ability to create rules involving multiple cameras?  If you don’t need any of these, you could choose normally powered cameras (like the Q or Q Plus rather than battery powered cameras with power adapters for your indoor locations.  The Q-Plus can even be powered by Power Over Ethernet for another option in connectivity.

No special router is needed, but Arlo wireless cameras connect wirelessly to an Arlo base unit which must then be physically connected to a port on your router (or a network switch).  If you have a large location or lots of physical or RF interference, you might need two base units which I don’t think you can purchase separately.  I don’t know how Arlo Baby cameras communicate.  If it is like the Arlo-Q and Q-Plus, they talk directly to your Wi-Fi network.

i can’t find the power specs online, which appears to be a big omission by Arlo.  Someone else may know them or I can look at my equipment.  I believe I read something about this here in the Community.  If I recall correctly, they made a comment about the Arlo base not working on 240V.

[brh]

The base stations can be purchased separately and they are not too expensive. See:

https://www.amazon.com/Arlo-NETGEAR-Base-Station-Compatible/dp/B071LR42ZP/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=154...

For some reason my older brick home must be built well, because I could not get enough signal strength for the outdoor cameras at either end of my house. That is why I purchased the Orbi system with two satellites and an additional base station. All of my 10 cameras now have maximum signal strength.

I agree that for indoor use the Arlo Q or Q plus would probably make more sense.

Brian

[AncientGeek]

Personally, in your situation, I would consider a mixed vendor system.  It means you would have to check two different apps, but it would guard against a cloud or software failure turning off all of your “eyes and ears” at the same time.