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Brand new Pro 4 dropping offline intermittently

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motomax
Apprentice
Apprentice

I’ve recently added 5x Arlo pro 4 cameras to my system and they have been nothing but unreliable. They are constantly offline (connected through base station vmb4000) they’ve also caused my pro 3 flood light to go offline intermittently now. The pro 3/4 camera that are hardwired to power do not have this issue at all. Rebooting the base station never fixes the issue, it actually causes more pro 4s to fail most of the time. The only fix is pulling out the battery.
My cameras are well within range (I’ve never had an issue with my pro 3 until I added the pro 4), there is no interference. They replaced Arlo Pros in the same location that never once had this issue. 

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jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

I'd start by swapping cameras around between those that work and not. I suspect you'll likely find it's the location causing the offline symptoms which would mean relocating the cameras or perhaps moving the base so all cameras have a better connection.

motomax
Apprentice
Apprentice

Signal is the preferred scapegoat for tech support. I assure you that it’s not a signal issue. Unless the pro 4 have a much worse WiFi chip than the original Pros and can’t handle being even 10ft from the base station. Also doesn’t explain why the hardwired one which is the furthest away has never had an issue. 

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@motomax wrote:

Unless the pro 4 have a much worse WiFi chip than the original Pros and can’t handle being even 10ft from the base station. Also doesn’t explain why the hardwired one which is the furthest away has never had an issue. 


The 2K video from the Pro 4 does require more wifi throughput than the 720p video streamed from the Pros.

 

While I agree that it is easy to blame signal, it still makes sense to swap one of the cameras with the hardwired one, and see if the problem moves (or not).  Ultimately you need to confirm whether the problem is with the hardware or not.  You haven't offered enough evidence either way.

 

Another test that might be useful is to remove the AC power from the camera that is working ok, and see if the behavior changes.

motomax
Apprentice
Apprentice

The issue was happening consistently for weeks but now hasn’t happened again for one week so I haven’t been able to troubleshoot more. Two of the pro 4 that had issues had line of sight to the base station and were within 15ft. So ideal conditions all around. 
tech support is useless as always, their new scapegoat is internet speed. Because that somehow affects a cameras WiFi connection to a base station… lol. Maybe I should remind them that the base station is able to record video without an internet connection. 

I’m assuming its some type of firmware bug as I’m also having parasitic battery drain issues with the pro 4s. 

motomax
Apprentice
Apprentice

So one camera failed again today 7ft away from the base station. I swapped it with the hardwired pro4 that has never failed for testing. Interestingly, as soon as I connected the charging cable it reconnected to the base station. 

motomax
Apprentice
Apprentice

Update on troubleshooting. The camera that used to fail has not failed at all since being connected to power. The camera that was connected to power and never failed, has failed after a week of being on battery power. This has to be a battery management issue. 

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