PRO 2 - Activity Zones on AC Power any Good?

[SolarDude]

An any of you guys who have tested the Arlo PRO 2 on battery power where motion is always detected via the PIR sensor and also tested the camera when connected to AC power along with the Activity Zones feature that is built into the camera (not the web-based Smart feature) tell me how well the Activity Zone works vs the PIR sensor that is used when no AC power is present?

The 3 seconds of video before trigger recording starts being included in the video file sounds perfect but ideally, I don't want to run wires to the camera unless the activity zones feature works well or better than just the PIR sensor trigger.

Any feedback on this is appreciated.

[jguerdat]

The activity zones and 3 second look-back both require AC power. No way around it.

[SolarDude]

I know Activity Zones require AC power, I'm more interested in hearing about how well Activity Zones work vs. just the PIR sensor that is used to detect motion when running on Battery power only.

Is triggering much better when using video based motion detection when plugged into AC?

[jguerdat]

The Pro 2 cameras use the PIR sensor to detect motion regardless of power. AC power then adds the ability to use pixel detection for zones.

[SolarDude]

So the motion is detected first by the PIR sensor an then the Activity Zone feature will send or not send an alert depending on if there is frame pixel changes in the zones you have setup?

That sounds like it would prevent alerts from being generated from movement outside of the selected zones.

Does that sound right?

[jguerdat]

That's the idea.

[SolarDude]

And your positive its PIR based when running on AC power and not fully pixel frame chage based when zones are enabled on AC power?

The docs are not clear on this at all. I've heard it both ways.

[st_shaw]

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@SolarDude wrote:
And your positive its PIR based when running on AC power and not fully pixel frame chage based when zones are enabled on AC power?

The docs are not clear on this at all. I've heard it both ways.

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Positive.

[SolarDude]

Thanks for verifying that!

Now I just need to plug it into power and test it out myself.

I'm hoping it can eliminate some false triggers I get consistently due to the sun. I think Activity Zones might allow me to rule those out. 

[st_shaw]

I just started getting some of these sun-related false alarms on one of my cameras.  It happens in the afternoon. The camera is facing SW and picks up some sun glint.  It's worth a try to see if the zones help you.  In my case the glint causes changes in the image that might still trigger within a zone.

[SolarDude]

Same here, it's a evening sun glint coming over the roof shining right at the camera that is attached to a tree. I think the heat from the sun and a moving tree branch is causing the PIR sensor to trigger. A zone not including the moving tree branch should solve it.  Hoping so at least.