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Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

Hello

 

Iv set up my Arlo Pro 2 cameras, one out back garden, and the other covering my drive way and path. The back garden motion sensitivity regardless if its set to 1 or 100 works well, back garden quite small.  Front drive way is where all the problems start.

 

The camera is set up about 8ft high and angled to the right to get the whole drive way and path.  After setting this up I tried the motion detection and got nothing what so ever, even with sensitivity at 100%.  Im in motion detection set up mode at this point, no orange led is working untill Im about 7 feet away in Yellow zone (see image below). 

 

Software Lock up:

 

I tried to change angle so the path is horizontal to camera then the software locked up showing motion detection as Busy.  I tried the following to get back online. (When I refer to zones, I am refering to the screen shot which I have drawn over to make it clear for visualisation only, I am not using zones for the camera, its battery powered)

 

1: close software and restart

2: using another device to view it on

3: turn off/on camera

4: Remove and re sync camera ( was a pain as I had to get laders out again)

 

Motion Detecction works, or does it?

 

After I removed and  re synced the camera which by the way has full strength bars, then I could go as far as the far top corner of the image in the Green zone. and the Orange light would show.  It worked all the way down the path shown in Blue zone, I still have good daylight. (Im not using zones for the camera its running off batteries) It got darker and I had to go out, I was expecting to get a notification but didnt as I walked down the path.  I turned back on the motion test setup and nothing, I got no detection what so ever apart from in the Yellow zones in picture shown. *It was not dark enough for Night visioin at this point.

front cam edit.jpg

 

 

 

Next day, full daylight same thing, no detection in blue or green zones what so ever.  Now its stated that the motion can be picked up at up to 20 feet, mine only works at 8 feet at best?  Can somone help with this please?  My battery is fully charged, I have fully wireless bars, there is no other moving objects in background, the pathway(blue zone) is Horizontal to camera and is well within the 20 feet specified range.  Latest Formware.

 

Thanks, Dan

 

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st_shaw
Master Master
Master

 

The issue is likely due to the way you have the camera mounted.

 

Passive Infrared (PIR) detection requires side-to-side motion across the field of view to trigger.  PIR works by detecting changes across a few vertical zones in the field of view.  The way your camera is mounted, you will not get much side-to-side motion, except in the yellow areas, where PIR is working.

 

This is how PIR detectors work in general, and is not specific to Arlo.

 

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13 REPLIES 13
brh
Master
Master

@Rectro33

Two things come to mind here for you to try.

1) Have you tried swapping the cameras?

2) Have you tried your test when the automobile is not present. Automobiles reflect a tremendous amount of IR - much more than people do, especially when the body of the automobile is hot. Try testing without the automobile being present.

 

Brian

st_shaw
Master Master
Master

 

The issue is likely due to the way you have the camera mounted.

 

Passive Infrared (PIR) detection requires side-to-side motion across the field of view to trigger.  PIR works by detecting changes across a few vertical zones in the field of view.  The way your camera is mounted, you will not get much side-to-side motion, except in the yellow areas, where PIR is working.

 

This is how PIR detectors work in general, and is not specific to Arlo.

 

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

Thanks for reply @st_shaw.

 

I tried to adjust camera last night to get more of the area I wanted into the frame.  Its odd however, as it picks up people walking on public path which is further away, (red zone bottom image) yet wont pick anything up in (blue zone bottom image) next to my car?  My problem now is im getting constant triggers as passers walk by, even the odd car triggers it off.  Adjusting sensitivity does not effect the distance the motion gets detectedm just the overal sensitivity which means if I go low as to avoid cars, I get nothing even up close either?

 

I can see why the Pro 2 was the best bet as I do have the option to make zone when I get the extended power plug for outdoors.  I dont see much on this activity zone as in videos or demos as to how well it works.  I hope it does work as thats my only hope now.  I also hope that some time soon Arlo will make custom shapes rather than boxes as shapes, maybe even have different sensitivities per zone.front cam edit2.jpg

 

 

 

Thanks Dan

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

@brh

 

Thanks for suggestions, but it seems the problem is down to angle of camera, and trying to void certain areas to not trigger without using zones.

 

Dan

st_shaw
Master Master
Master

 

You probably need to both adjust the camera angle and move the camera to a different location.

 

Your difficulty in detecting things in the blue zone near the car could be related to @brh's comment about cars reflecting a large amount of IR.  With the car reflecting a lot of IR in a given zone of the PIR detector, the sensitivity of the PIR will be reduced in that zone, as a "hotter" object is required to rise above the constant background level produced by the car.  This image may help visualize the concept of the PIR zones.

 

brh
Master
Master

@Rectro33

For what it is worth:

As has been mentioned many times on this forum is that natively, Arlo has not provided its customers with external triggering sensors until the arrival of the new security lights.

You could:

1) Put an additional camera nearby so that it might pick up things that the first camera misses.

2) Purchase the new security lights.

3) Pair your Arlo system with a smart system such as Smartthings that allows motion sensors, open/closed sensore, etc. to trigger the cameras. I see several areas in your picture where you could place motion sensors out of the weather even if they are at knee level.

4) Purchase the Arlo Pro 2 camera, but I see a lot of posts on this forum about the motion zones not working.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Brian

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

A quick update.  This is my first week with the Arlo Pro 2 and here are some things iv noted.

 

I must use the power plugged in as Im getting constant notifications for cars and passers by, for people who have a public path in front of their drive way this is a must.

 

The zones have stoped most of the notifications, but Im still getting 5 so far today from cars that are way out the scope of the zones iv set?

 

The camera does a very poor job of auto exposure.  Bright sunny days the pevment is very over exposed so its white glair.  This means that I must keep adjusting the brightness on and off all day as the brightness changes, not good for such an expensive camera.

 

I had my car keyed last night, the camera picked up no motion, yet today when I went and found it the camera picked me up ok.  This means that it looks like the Arlo expert who told me that the motion setup is no different to day or night may be wrong, or! that since iv pluged the power in the mombo methods of motion its using dont work so well.

 

My partner has home home walked right through teh motion zone without the camera triggering?  This is potentionaly a break in, or my car last night getting keyed.  My sensitivity by the way is at 92%, good lighting?

 

Dan

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

To add to my last post it seems there is some serious issues Im having and I dont know where from.

 

Buffering after long freeze frames whe trying to view live, not capturing motion when in the zones at random times, offline at times when Iv got 100% full bars for wifi, my internet has ping of 25, and Im connected at 45mps.  My arlo is pluged into mains so whats up?  Is the cloud having issues or is it somthing else?

 

Motion picked up from cars outside the zones iv set 5 times today so far?  Also Im getting notifications whith no video recorded.  Also since iv had it plugged in it may capture 3 seconds more, but it takes 2min longer till I get a video or notification?

 

 

st_shaw
Master Master
Master

 

 


@Rectro33 wrote:

 

The zones have stoped most of the notifications, but Im still getting 5 so far today from cars that are way out the scope of the zones iv set?

 

The camera does a very poor job of auto exposure.  Bright sunny days the pevment is very over exposed so its white glair.  This means that I must keep adjusting the brightness on and off all day as the brightness changes, not good for such an expensive camera.

 

I had my car keyed last night, the camera picked up no motion, yet today when I went and found it the camera picked me up ok.  This means that it looks like the Arlo expert who told me that the motion setup is no different to day or night may be wrong, or! that since iv pluged the power in the mombo methods of motion its using dont work so well.

 


You should not need to adjust brightness, as the camera should be able to adjust exposure properly.  What the camera cannot do, however, is compensate for scenes that have both dark shadows and bright sunlight in the picture at the same time.  If you post an example image it might help illustrate what's happening.

 

Motion detection works differently when the camera is plugged-in and zones are used.  In this case, the camera triggers when there is both a PIR detection and pixel changes within the zone.  If a car passes outside the zone, it could trigger the camera if there is any kind of motion inside the zone--shadows, leaves, reflections, etc. Again, posting an example would help.

 

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

If the pixel detection is causing this from reflections then id rather it be off as before I plugged this camera in it picked up motion just fine, only also from wrong places.  It seems the extra pixel tech is causing me problems, but also it seems these other added features that open up from plugging into mains is causing other issues such as long buffer times, freezing, offline messages all while my wifi is 100%,  internet is 45mps and ping at 25.  My drive way does have a two part contrast.  In image this was the last video iv had today, white car triggerd it off.  Last 10 or so triggers has resulted in no video with it?

over exposed.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zones as shown here.

zones plugged in.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan

st_shaw
Master Master
Master

 

We can't see the images until a moderator approves them.

 

If you delete the zones, then the pixel detection will be disabled and the detection should function as it does on battery power.

 

Your best means of controlling the detection and contrast issues will likely be moving the camera and changing the angle of view.  

 

To get the best coverage, you could consider adding a second camera at another location and cross-trigger them.  Or you could add a couple Arlo security lights and use their PIR detectors to cross trigger your camera(s).

 

I'm not sure what's happening with the buffering, etc. Sounds like the camera has a poor connection to the base station.

 

 

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

I would assume that having the wifi full bar strength is a indicator that it has a good connection to the base.  If the base and camera have a good connection next line of problem would be does the base have a good connection to the router which it does via a ethernet lead.  From this its does the router have a good connection to the internet.  Testing shows I have 45mps with a 25ms ping. Youtube 1080p streaming and alike us fine, my chromecast works fine, sky tv downloads fast.  From here its does the router have a good connection to the cloudin which I would like to know if the footage im view live is from the cloud, or from my base unit local streaming to the app?

 

Thanks, for your help.

 

Dan

Rectro33
Tutor
Tutor

Despite resetting the base unit, recyling the cameras, updating software I have to conclude that the system is messed up and is inconsistant enough to say I dont feel secure.

 

The zones choose to stop working as it goes through a time period where everything and anything gets picked up, even even I make one zone some distance from activity.  Today I had one trigger after another for every car that passed by and every person walking along a public path which both are not within the activity zones.  I then went into the app and deleted the zones, and added them back in the same place, and since then the zones have been working.  It seems either the android app or a given time frame passes by and the zones get ignored.  See image as to how I can use a single zone well away from the motion that during these periods the zone gets ignored.activity wrong trigger distance.jpg

 

 

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