Advice requested: Arlo Pro 3 Facing Street

[Tumerboy]

I have a Little Free Library at the front of my lot (right on the sidewalk).  I've had some minor vandalism lately, and have mounted an Arlo camera (pro 3) on a fence post at the side of my front yard, pointing toward the library.

By its nature, it has to see the street, which is relatively busy.  

And the motion detection is both too sensative, and not sensative enough.  On the one hand, it doesn't do a great job of noticing people at the library that is maybe 25-30' away (as close as I can get), and on the other hand, it's recording hundreds of 10 second videos a day of cars driving by, all of which means I have to swap out the battery every day or two, (and for whatever reason, the Pro 3 is REALLY hard to get out of the case)  

The motion detection seems to only recognize human movement inside of that 30' or so to the library, so if someone is walking past, away from the camera, it will record them the whole time, but if they're walking toward the camera, it often only picks them up just as they're moving out of frame.

I've done some reading, and I know there is vehicle detection, I've even seen videos labeled "person","vehicle", "package" in the app, (though all the recent ones just say "motion"?)  But I can't find a way to tell it to just not record vehicles?  I can use filters to not see those in the library, but that doesn't stop the battery drain, or wifi use.

I've tried setting up an Activity Zone that only covers the sidewalk, but that seemed not to have any effect.

Lil Help?  Is there something I'm missing?  Is there something else I have to set up for an activity zone to work?  Is there a way to tell it not to record only vehicles?  Is there a separate motion detector I can place near the library, that will activate the camera from there?

Thanks in advance.

[StephenB]

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@Tumerboy wrote:

it doesn't do a great job of noticing people at the library that is maybe 25-30' away (as close as I can get)

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See the last page of the datasheet:

• https://www.arlo.com/en-us/images/documents/arlopro3/Arlo_Pro3_Data_Sheet_US.pdf

Motion detection range is spec'd at 25 feet for the Pro 3.

Note the passive IR (PIR) sensor is optimized for motion across the field of view, and is better at the bottom of the field of view of the camera than the top.

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@Tumerboy wrote:

it's recording hundreds of 10 second videos a day of cars driving by

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Vehicles can be detected at greater distances than people (and the range for small animals is less then for people).  That's due to the amount of IR coming from the moving object.

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@Tumerboy wrote:

I've tried setting up an Activity Zone that only covers the sidewalk, but that seemed not to have any effect.

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Activity zones should reduce the number of vehicle recordings in the library, but they will not help the battery life issue.  Whenever motion is detected, video is streamed to the cloud.  The Arlo cloud then determines if the motion in the zone or out of the zone.  It then supresses recordings and notifications that are out of zone.  Since the video is always being streamed, the zones don't change the power use by the camera.

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@Tumerboy wrote:

  Is there a way to tell it not to record only vehicles? 

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No.

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@Tumerboy wrote:

the Pro 3 is REALLY hard to get out of the case

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Get some silicone grease and apply it to the O-ring.

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@Tumerboy wrote:

Is there a separate motion detector I can place near the library, that will activate the camera from there?

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The home security system has small sensors you could use for that, but it would be an expensive way to go.

If you can find a used old Audio doorbell (AAD001), then it could be used as a trigger.  The old Arlo Light (AL1101) can also be used that way.  They would still pick up vehicles, and the doorbell in particular might be rather confusing to people using the library.

If you are ok with experimenting some with IFTTT, you could get a third party sensor and use IFTTT to trigger the camera.

• https://kb.arlo.com/1075729/What-is-IFTTT-and-how-do-I-use-it-with-my-Arlo-device

[jguerdat]

Also, depending on the distance from the house to the little library, you could use an Essential Indoor camera through a window to capture what you need. These cameras use pixel change detection instead of PIR sensors so the subject distance is much less of an issue. Since it runs on AC power there's no battery to change. It could potentially be mounted outdoors to be closer but you'd have to work out a way to safely keep it dry, including the power cord.