device appears offline a lot

[Captiva]

Hi, running 3 Arlo Pro 4 XL’s off a Arlo Pro SmartHub.

When the cameras are connected the system is great.

However multiple times a day I get the black screen and “Your Arlo device appears offline” message in the app.

Sometimes if a I wait a spell and check back later the device appears online. Most times I have to climb a ladder and takes the battery out and put it back in. Then the camera appears.

Obviously I have better things to do than reset multiple camera batteries multiple times a day.

What do you think?

[StephenB]

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@Captiva wrote:

Sometimes if a I wait a spell and check back later the device appears online. Most times I have to climb a ladder and takes the battery out and put it back in. Then the camera appears.

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What signal strength are you seeing for the cameras in the app (how many bars)?

Do all cameras go offline together, or does this happen just to one camera at a time?

[Captiva]

Full “fan” Wi-Fi signal strength. Is there a way to determine signal strength other than the little indicator? SmartHub is not far at all - almost line of site to all 3 Pro 4 XL’s in my small yard.

Totally random. Just checked now. 1 of 3 are on. When I posted this question yesterday evening all 3 were “appears offline”. I did nothing to make the one go online.

[StephenB]

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@Captiva wrote:
Is there a way to determine signal strength other than the little indicator? 

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If you use an Android phone, you can download one of several free WiFi analyzers apps that will give you the signal strength.  Look for an SSID with Arlo in the name.

There are also some analyzers available for Windows that you could install on your laptop.  Netspot is one.

Unfortunately there is no way to see this with iOS.  If the base station is close to your router, you can run a speedtest over wifi from the camera location - that gives you some idea of how solid the connection is.

How close is the base station to your router?  It is possible that there is some interference.  I suggest moving it as far away from the router as the cable will reach.

[Captiva]

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@StephenB wroteHow close is the base station to your router?  It is possible that there is some interference.  I suggest moving it as far away from the router as the cable will reach.

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Really close.  Like next to each other.  I had the SmartHub (wired to a Ethernet unmanaged switch) next to the Netgear Nighthawk MR60 mesh router on a platform on top of TV. I have now moved the SmartHub 7.5 feet away (still wired to switch) to the fireplace mantle.  Let's see how long the Mrs. lets me keep it there, and I will see if cameras appear and disappear at random. Thanks for the tip.

[Captiva]

Moving the SmartHub far away from router has not changed anything.

Cameras continue to go offline and need the battery to be pulled and reinserted to appear, or occasionally they reappear on their own accord only to go offline randomly.

[StephenB]

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@Captiva wrote:

Moving the SmartHub far away from router has not changed anything.

Cameras continue to go offline and need the battery to be pulled and reinserted to appear, or occasionally they reappear on their own accord only to go offline randomly.

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Does restarting the smarthub also restore normal operation?  Or is removing/reinserting the battery the only work-around?

[Captiva]

Tried a soft restart via iOS app, and hard reset pulling the plug. Did not work.

[Mick_Phelan]

Posting in case this is the same issue I had with Essential Spotlight cameras connected to a SmartHub.

Are the cameras wired for power by any chance?  If so, try running them on battery only.  There's a bug (unless it has been corrected by a recent firmware update) in the Essential Spotlight that causes them to go offline intermittently and sometimes need a factory reset (somewhat equivalent to pulling the battery) when connected to a SmartHub if they have a constant power feed.

The problem cameras have been rock solid since I started plugging in the charger only as required to recharge them.  I believe the issue is linked to WiFi signal interference - the cameras seem to have a problem reconnecting when the WiFi signal is disrupted, but only when the cameras are getting a constant power feed.  The same bug may be present in the Pro4 (unable to verify as I don't own any) but the problem is not present on my Pro3 cameras.

If this isn't the problem then I would suspect you're seeing issues with WiFi signal interference.

[StephenB]

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@Captiva wrote:
Tried a soft restart via iOS app, and hard reset pulling the plug. Did not work.

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FYI, a reset is different from pulling the plug. More info on that is here

• https://kb.arlo.com/1057976/How-can-I-reset-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-Base-Station

Note I don't recommend doing this reset - if you do, you will need to onboard everything again.

If you move one of the cameras indoors (perhaps in the same room as the smarthub, but not right next to it), do you still see the camera go offline?

[Captiva]

Cameras are battery powered.

I’ll try the inside trick. Seems like we are leaning Wi-Fi interference, but I had no issues with the prior last gen hub and Arlo 2 cameras in the exact same locations for cameras and hub.

If the indoor test doesn’t work I’ll likely try a full blow up reset and reboarding.

[Captiva]

No difference with one camera inside, 8 feet from SmartHub. Same random “appears offline” black screen.