Activity Zones Not Working - Pro 3 camers

[Mizterz]

Activity zones are not working on my new Pro 3 cameras.  All motion activity is reporting since then since it is detection motion on the entire field of view of the cameras.  Arlo support states "working on it", "issue escalated".  Still no fix for the problem.

I have worked with tech support, uninstalled everything, reinstalled everything.  Still nothing.  In the Devices section it is showing the message "AC power has been disconnected from your Arlo device.  Activity Zones are currently disabled."  Per the documentation, the Arlo Pro 3 cameras can have activity zones (on battery) if you have the Smart subscription.  I am on the 3-month trial, so I should be set.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  Getting ready to return all of the Arlo products.

[PLopez]

I have the exact same issue with my new Arlo Pro 3 system with Smart Subscription enabled for each camera.  Creating an activity zone, via web or app, has no effect.  Web GUI shows little orange warning icon.  When tapped it says "AC power has been disconnected from your Arlo device. Activity Zones are currently disabled".  I have confirmed my cameras are shown as being on the Smart subscription, with Smart notifications enabled, etc.

[Mizterz]

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Support has gone dark on me.  Even after I was told that my case would be escalated.  Disappointed with the lack of resolution.  Running out of time on return window to Amazon, so hoping for a resolution quickly.

[PLopez]

I did not even try to open a case for this because I had another Support issue, never got 3-month trial, which has been completely ignored for three weeks despite multiple communications from me.  The support folks only seem to know the "uninstall, factory reset, and reinstall" script.  When that does not work they stop responding.  They must have metrics they keep to, because they occasionally will "update" a case by thanking me for letting them (not) help me, pointing me back to the web, and asking to call or write if I still have the problem.  "Yes Arlo Support, I still have the problem".

This is my third Arlo system.  I was a happy customer until I used Arlo Support and was treated this way.  Now I am angry with them and want to tell the world.  The boards are full of similar experiences.  I don't understand why they treat customers this way.

[Mizterz]

I have been having a similar experience.  I have updated my ticket several times requesting and a status update.  No response whatsoever.  I even tried calling support and spoke with Justin for quite a while.  He could not resolve the situation and he assured me that he would escalate the ticket to their senior engineers.  They would get back to me within a day.  A week+ later not a word from anyone.  Status update requests on my ticket go unanswered.  Very disappointed in their support.  I was excited to join the Arlo ecosystem.  Now I will be packing up the Arlo cameras.

[sw3ll3r3]

I currently have a case open for this issue. I was on live chat support today for 2 hours and nothing worked. Keeping bumping all the threads related to this issue to the top so they pay attention to it. 

[PLopez]

I found this recent post on Reddit while searching for an answer.  

https://www.reddit.com/r/arlo/comments/gshz3o/arlo_pro_3_ac_power_disconnected_no_activity_zones/

According to one user "Activity zones do not work on Arlo pro 3 with subscription. If you research the Arlo forums you will find it’s a very common compliant with no resolution at this time. It’s supposed to work with subscription but does not."

Someone else responded they had same issue with no help from Arlo support.

[JamesC]

The development team is investigating reports of this issue. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

JamesC

[PLopez]

I think it is time to speak with your developers and reply to this thread.  

I just swapped out my Arlo Pro 3 system with a new one, new subscription, and still have the exact same problem.  Does the feature work for any Pro 3 deployments or is just completely broken?

[ThePickle]

+1 for on my end with the same issue

Arlo, please get this fixed - you have a passionate and up to this point, loyal, customer base; a group who’ve been very patient with the seemingly never ending issues. When there’s overwhelming and consistent feedback reporting the same issue(s), you need to do more to address it, than throw up a post saying it’s being looked into.

This isn’t a business model with a good long term outlook, but it’s fortunately not past the point of resolving the issues, taking care of your customers, and doing better going forward.

[VincentV]

I found a fix for this problem: I simply created a new profile, called it "New" , setting it up with the standard settings and now it works completely like it should.

When i revert tot the normal profile, i get flooded with notifications again. Been trying this for over 2 weeks before i posted it here but it works now 100% like advertised. I cannot explain why or how, but it simply does.

[K80Shooter]

@VincentV  Do you mean new Mode or Profile? I set up a new mode some time ago but it did not work until Arlo did the update earlier this month. Now they all work for me. I also deleted and recreated my activity zones.

[VincentV]

A new mode (modus in dutch). I have standard the "turned on", "turned off", "planned" and "geofencing". Just made a new one, set it to the original settings, activated the activity zones and it works as it should. If I switch back to the regular "turned on" mode, i get spammed with notifications again. Very weird, i can't explain it but it works.

[Mamacas2]

I too am having the ac power has been disconnected error on my new camera . I managed the new cameras and my husband manages our old ones. He of coarse is not having this problem and blames me for user error. When will this be fixed? I spent a ton of money on these 4 cameras and I'd like to be able to use the features they are supposed to have. Right now they are worse than my 1st gens but way more expensive.

[PashRoshani]

I too am having he same issue, I finally found out what was going on by coming to this forum. I thought my camera was defective and I though that orange icon just mean that all features had not been set up (e911). I have spent HOURS trying to figure out why one of my cameras doesn't work at all with zones. The front one seems to be working and does NOT pick up movement on the street only in the drive, so I'm dumbfounded, because the orange icon still shows AC power is disconnected.

I paid a bunch of money for these just like everyone else. Its COMPLETELY unacceptable that one of the major features doesn't work and Arlo is saying "we're working on it." Should I contact my card company and do a chargeback on them? Because it's been quite awhile since I bought it and probably can't just return it to the store. I didn't even set it up for about a month after I got it.

This is a major flaw that appears to have been a KNOWN ISSUE yet they are selling them anyway, with a greatly DEVALUING flaw.

TECH SUPPORT: I AM NOT GOING TO WAIT ON THE PHONE AN HOUR TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS. IF YOU DON'T WANT A CHARGEBACK, **YOU** NEED TO EMAIL ME AND TEL ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO FOR ME ABOUT THIS.

I feel like EVEERY owner of the Arlo Pro 3 needs to take the same stance. This is outrageous.

[Nobbles]

I have the same issue.  Received my new 2 camera + doorbell pro 3 pack.  My 3 month trial is running and the activity zones make no difference whatsoever.  I am not so impressed yet...  Every time a car goes past I receive a notification.  If a change the angle of my camera I may need another camera due to the blind spot created...  I have tried creating a new mode - no difference.  I have turned off cars on the arlo smart settings but no difference.  Not impressed.

[K80Shooter]

@Nobbles 

Turning off cars in the smart notifications is supposed to stop alerts that contains cars. It does not stop it from recording cars. I will admit that the smart notifications do not really work as they are supposed to.

When you created your new modes did you delete your activity zones then recreate them. I found that after doing this mine improved greatly. It seems that the issues are still hit and miss which I really hate. I have too much money invested in this to just give up. People should get what they pay for.

[JamesC]

A recent update was deployed to the Arlo cloud that should address the accuracy of Activity Zones. This should improve accuracy by more reliably sending notifications only when motion occurs within defined zones. More work is being done to improve the behavior of Arlo Smart notifications and to fix the Activity Zones error that some users are seeing when not using an AC adapter (battery only). Stay tuned for future updates.

JamesC

[PFG]

Still experiencing this problem with the error message and activity zones.  Any developments toward a solution?

[JamesC]

PFG,

Try removing and resyncing the camera that is experiencing the issue. Do you still see the same behavior?

JamesC

[Berd]

When you say new profile , where did you do that? can you be more detailed on your post