Foggy at Night - Arlo Pro 4XL

[CapKMo]

Hello!  

I recently upgraded from Arlo Essential cameras to Arlo Pro 4 XL cameras.  My Essential cameras took great images day and night but the Pro 4 seems extremely foggy at night to the point I can't see anything.  I have these cameras mounted in the exact same spot the Essential cameras were mounted.  I've tried adjusting them, moving them, cleaning them, etc and still no success.  Please let me know what I'm doing wrong

Hardware: H4

Firmware: 1.080.18.4_52_ec35062

Connected to Hub VMB4540r3

[CapKMo]

https://my.arlo.com/#/viewShared/B442F3288D5541BA_202212

Here's a video of the issue where the camera starts out fine then immediately gets "foggy" to the point you can't see the image

[CapKMo]

Here's another video where the image starts out bad then for some reason gets better (I have since adjusted the camera downward to make sure the stop sign is out of view)

Image starts to clear at the 3 minute mark 

https://myapi.arlo.com/hmsfeeds/users/library/share/link/422093B8E8B8DFE9_202212

[StephenB]

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@CapKMo wrote:

Image starts to clear at the 3 minute mark 

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Yes, it looks a lot better at that point.

Are you only seeing this when it is wet outside?  Or do you see the same mist when pavement is dry?

[CapKMo]

Great question, I've only had these about 5 days and it's been wet most of the time.  It looks like the issue is worse when it's wet out but still foggy when the pavement is mostly dry.  I'll keep watch over the next few days and hope the rain clears up

[CapKMo]

If it helps, it looks like it was a lot better picture with snow on the ground at night

[StephenB]

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@CapKMo wrote:

Great question, I've only had these about 5 days and it's been wet most of the time.  It looks like the issue is worse when it's wet out but still foggy when the pavement is mostly dry.  I'll keep watch over the next few days and hope the rain clears up

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I'm guessing that it might be condensation on the lens that clears up as the camera operates (potentially because of the heat generated by the camera electronics).

If so, you could try RainX on the lens, or a similar product.

[Edinburgh_lad1 · Accepted solution]

I'd say there's some communication problems in the first video and in both, some interference (distorted noise). In relation to your camera steaming up: would the combination of the heat escaping from the garage below, and cold and damp weather not cause the lense to steam up? It seems that once the garage door is shut, the condensation eventually disappears.

[CapKMo]

I think you might be right about the humidity coming from the garage.  I park in there and the warm vehicles may be causing it, I'm going to try not opening the garage the next few days to see if I still have a fog problem.  Thank you!!

What do you mean when you say communication problems and interference?  I've noticed this camera in particular has glitches when recording especially with sound and weird green bars at the bottom.  Is there something to be fixed?

[CapKMo]

Thank you!  I've applied RainX, I hope that helps

[Edinburgh_lad1]

You see, I'd not apply RainX, as it's not intended to be used on cameras. Is the lens made of glass or plastic? RainX is apply to the windscreen and it gradually wears off because of the rain. This wouldn't be the case with cameras. Plus, since youve applied RainX, you'll not be able to test if the garage is the cause of your problem. Always one thing at a time when testing. 

Green stuff and weird sound might suggest that your camera is too far away from the source of its WiFi signal (router, base station), or that there are obstacles there (metal beams) or that there's something causing interference (Christmas lights, amateur radio station, speaker). 

The best way to find out is to do some testing like bringing the camera closer to its internet source, swapping cameras round, moving the router/base station closer etc. apart from resetting it to factory defaults.

[StephenB]

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@CapKMo wrote:

 I've noticed this camera in particular has glitches when recording especially with sound and weird green bars at the bottom.  Is there something to be fixed?

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This suggests there is some loss on the connection to the camera.  That will result in video artifacts (like the green bars), and sometimes sound glitches. 

If you are using a smarthub: then repositioning it would help (or getting another one).

If not: If you have a wifi mesh system, you could try putting a satellite closer to the camera.  If you don't have a mesh, you could do something similar with a wifi extender. 

The video I looked at didn't have any corruption though.  There was a lot of glare in the beginning, and of course the fog as well.  While glare can result in the camera choosing the wrong exposure, I don't think it was the cause of the fog.  Normally glare would result in the rest of the image being too dark, and that isn't what I saw in your video.

One setting you could play with is HDR.  Not sure if the image would look better with it on or with it off, so maybe try it both ways.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

0:21 and 2:25 in the first video. 

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

You see, I'd not apply RainX, as it's not intended to be used on cameras.

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I've used it, with no signs of any damage.  Other folks here have as well.  FWIW, they do make a variant specifically formulated for plastic.  Though I've just used the normal version myself, it probably would be best to use the plastic version.

Though video corruption might also be happening, there were no signs of corruption that I saw in the video I looked at (which was the second one). 

The scene indeed looked foggy until about the 3 minute point, and then abruptly cleared up.  While this was after the car (and associated glare) was out of the scene, there were also periods before that point where the scene looked foggy with no glare.  The foggy segment was much lower contrast than the second part of the video (with most of the scene looking washed out).  It was definitely wet outside. 

This looked like some moisture on the lens to me, the mystery being why it cleared up so quickly.  I'm guessing that the warmth from the camera electronics cleared up the moisture, but that is just a guess. 

If you looked at this particular video, it'd be useful to know what you observed, and what conclusions you drew.

[CapKMo]

It seems it is from heat escaping the garage!

I swapped cameras and the other one has the same issue when the door opens. If I leave the garage closed, no issue. Thank you for your help

[CapKMo]

This has been very helpful for the corruption. I think the camera itself had issues so I’ve reset it to factory settings and it seems to be functioning better now. I really appreciate your troubleshooting steps 

[StephenB]

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@CapKMo wrote:

It seems it is from heat escaping the garage!

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That makes a lot of sense, and explains why it cleared up in a couple of minutes.  Thanks for following up.

Moving the camera to the side might also help.