Arlo v4 - How do I re-create my old schedule?!?

[JeffS42]

Hello,

Just upgraded to Arlo v4 and the new experience (tip:  don't), and I'm completely confused how to create a pretty simple automation that combines GeoFencing with a schedule.

Here's what I want to do, can anyone provide some tips on how to accomplish this?

- When I'm away - I want the system armed.

- When I'm home

    - if daytime, want it off

    - if nightime, want it armed - home

The only thing I can think of is to have 2 different "arrive" triggers, and enable/disable them based on times, but this is all made more complicated by the fact that all these get enabled automatically when modes change to begin with.

Thanks much.

[jguerdat]

The new interface doesn't import old modes, partly because there's only 3 available and you can't add new ones. Go to Routines, click on the 3 dot menu icon top right and then the gear on any mode. Add cameras and actions as needed. Click on Done when all modes are correct. If you need to schedule or set up geofencing, select Automations instead of Modes and add as needed. Note that for GF you need to set up one for leaving the house and one for coming back.

[JeffS42]

Did all that, but the following doesn’t seem to work:

• enabling and disabling a schedule when someone leaves. It’s in the UX but doesn’t seem to work. I don’t want the timers running when I’m out. 
  
  
  
• No ability to change what “arrive” does based on time a day. 

seems like a HUGE step backwards. 

how would I implement the scenario above based on this new system?

and is it a known bug Arlo that you can’t enable and disable schedules based on automations?

[jguerdat]

You can't schedule for a person leaving/arriving - that's geofencing via Arrive/Leave. I  have mine set to Change Mode according to what I want running when I leave or come back.

[josephwynn]

I have the exact same requirements. Prior to V4 I could do the following:

• Arm cameras when we're away
• Use a schedule when we're at home so that cameras can be disarmed during the day and armed at night

I can't figure out how to set this up in V4. The schedule disarms the devices during the day, even if we're away from home.

[jguerdat]

I do that now. I set up geofencing to detect when certain people/devices are away (I have additional devices in use so only check for my main phone and my wife's) as well as when returning. My wife just left but since I'm still at home, the mode hasn't changed - when we both leave, Armed Away is set due to my choice of changing modes in the Leave settings.

As for schedule, I have a schedule set of Armed Home during the day and Armed Away for nighttime. As with geofencing, you must create 2 entries - one for day and another for night (geofencing needs one for Leave and another for Arrive).

https://kb.arlo.com/000062777/About-Arlo-Routines-Modes-Rules-and-Automations

[Dom_donald]

Are you able to provide screenshots of the precise settings for this scenario? It's terribly hard to understand how the automations work in combination. On top of that, the system has the notion of Modes being enabled or disabled, which appears to be different than a Mode being active or not (i.e. a Mode has to be 'enabled' before it can be 'set' or 'unset'). The in-app prompts are useless in this regard.

I want exactly the same set up as the original poster.

I want the system to be in 'Arm Away' after 10pm regardless of who is home or not. During the day, I want the system to be in 'Arm Away' if no-one is at home, and 'Arm Home' if someone is at home.

I have set up two 'schedules':

• Home Daytime (07:00 everyday) > Arm Away, Arm Home enabled, Schedule: WHEN 07:00 everyday THEN Arm Home
• Home Nighttime (22:00 everyday) > Arm Away, Arm Home enabled, Schedule: WHEN 22:00 everyday THEN Arm Away

and two Arrive/Leaves:

• Home Anyone Arrives > Arm Away, Arm Home enabled, WHEN Anyone Arrives THEN Arm Home
• Away Everyone Leaves > Arm Away, Arm Home enabled, WHEN Everyone Leaves THEN Arm Away.

This configuration doesn't appear to work. When my wife and I are both at home, at 22:00 I expected the Mode to change to 'Arm Away', but it doesn't. It stayed on 'Arm Home'.  Confusingly, when I run the automation test on the schedule, the mode changes to Armed Away!

It's amazing how anyone can create such a complicated, convoluted, difficult to use system. I'm sure there's plenty of flexibility, but unless you were the app developer, it's nigh-on impossible to figure out how to use it (and I'm an experienced software engineer).

I think it would help if the set-up was done using a wizard, based on typical configurations that people might use.

[jguerdat]

I agree with you - my attempts to enable/disable modes and/or automations have failed for reasons I don't understand. At best, I can make schedules and geofencing work but there are times when the combination doesn't do what I want. That is, I'm away for days but GF doesn't override the schedules so the mode switches as if I were home. I haven't tested exhaustively so it's quite possible I've missed something.

[Dom_donald]

I want the system to be in 'Arm Away' after 10pm regardless of who is home or not. During the day, I want the system to be in 'Arm Away' if no-one is at home, and 'Arm Home' if someone is at home.

I played some more with this last night, and it now appears to be working - or at least, the schedules now work. I am going to test the geofencing today. The only thing I changed was to make sure that:

1.  Every automation had every mode enabled i.e., all three modes were ticked in the Automation settings, such that on the 'Edit Schedule' or 'Edit Geofence' screens, 'Always Enabled' is displayed at the top under the automation name.  
2. Every mode had every automation enabled i.e., all schedules and arrive/leave automations are ticked in the Mode settings in the 'automations' section.

Everything else is as per my post above.

 It's logical to think that you would want to 'disable' certain automations when in a particular mode, which itself is set by another automation (e.g., when I'm home at night, I don't need the geofencing automations enabled), but who knows what impact this has with the multitude of possible interactions between modes, automations and actions? For example, what happens if a Mode has an Automation enabled, but then an Automation disables the Modes? It's ridiculous, really.

Also, I was expecting to see the mode change on the Dashboard when the time trigger occurred, but this doesn't happen. I have to navigate to another screen and then back again a few seconds later to see the mode change. Just another 'feature' designed to make this whole convoluted affair seem even worse!

[DBrks]

Very useful information, thank you. 

My routines 'seem' to be fine, however I can't get 'Arm Away' to activate when the devices leave, it just won't flip over. 

Tried so many things, any tips?

Thanks

[Dom_donald]

Hi, I can only recommend that you:

1) Check that all relevant devices have location settings set appropriately (i.e. to allow the location to be shared always)

2) Check that all devices are logged in to the Arlo app (sometimes the app arbitrarily logs out)

3) Check that mobile data and wifi data are always on, so location data can be shared

4) Check that the relevant devices / accounts are added to the primary Arlo account.

For me, it still seems a bit hit and miss - often I discover the app has logged one of us out.