Always going offline and missing motion

[alstar]

I have had a VMS423 kit for several years and have never been that happy with it but things seem to be going from bad to worse.

It consists of an arlo 1 siren base station vmb4000, 4 arlo pro cameras and 1 arlo pro 2 camera.

The furthest camera is about 5m from the base station with one wall between.

They are all frequently offline as seen in the following screen shot, when I log into the app. 50% Of the time they completely fail to identify and record motion.

It is like they go into a sleep mode and need to be woken up before they show up in the app, because leaving the app open seems to result in a reconnection eventually. Same thing happens on pc as well.

Is it time to throw in the towel and get something different?

I have tried full resets and reinstalls and nothing really improves. Signal in the app appears to be adequate.

Using it to see who has just knocked on the door is pointless, most of the time you cannot get the feed up, and using it for security footage is poor as well with it missing the action half the time.

Any clever ideas? Thanks

 

[StephenB]

Do they always all go off-line together? Or do some stay on-line while others go off-line?

What signal strength are you seeing for the cameras in the app?

[alstar]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

There seems to be 2 types of situation. 

1 where they all go offline for a period and then sometimes just some.

They all show full bars signal in the app.

[StephenB]

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@alstar wrote:

There seems to be 2 types of situation. 

1 where they all go offline for a period and then sometimes just some.

They all show full bars signal in the app.

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Next time they all go off line, take a look at the LEDs on the base station and note the status:

• https://kb.arlo.com/000039100/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-Base-Station-mean

Perhaps also take one camera and move it fairly close to the base station for a while as a test (6-10 feet away).  Then see if it ever goes offline.

[alstar]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay.

I have been away and also trying to catch it in the middle of its misbehaviour.

It seems the middle Internet light is sometimes on, sometimes flashing and sometimes off.

Generally if the light appears to show disconnected, I get the offline message and this wakes up 30seconds later. This must be why it is missing many activities.

The Internet remains fine on all my other devices.

Ant ideas on a next step?

Many thanks

[StephenB]

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@alstar wrote:

I have been away and also trying to catch it in the middle of its misbehaviour.

It seems the middle Internet light is sometimes on, sometimes flashing and sometimes off.

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Solidly lit and flashing are both ok, but not off.

Is the base connected directly to the router?  Or is it going through a switch, or perhaps a wifi extender?

[alstar]

Hi, Connected directly to an Asus zenwifi node.

All other devices working fine.

Thanks

[StephenB]

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@alstar wrote:

Hi, Connected directly to an Asus zenwifi node.

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Is it practical to connect the base directly to the router wifi (e.g. not backhauled through the mesh)? 

Also, are you seeing the base station in the router's attached device list after the system goes off line?  If you note the base IP address when it is working correctly, you could also try pinging the base from a PC when it misbehaves.

[alstar]

Thanks, Ill try connecting directly, although I do worry that it is a lot further from the cameras.

Lets give it a go and see

[alstar]

Sadly that hasnt solved the issue.

Same problem, as well as one camera keep disconnecting as well on its own.

Signal strengths fluctuate between full and 2 bars.

Any other ideas? or is it time to try some alternatives do you think?

[StephenB]

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@alstar wrote:

Sadly that hasnt solved the issue.

Same problem, as well as one camera keep disconnecting as well on its own.

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Just the one camera?  If that's the case, try swapping it with another, and see if the problem moves with the camera or stays with the location.

[alstar]

I very much appreciate your ongoing interest in my troubles.

I have just checked again, and the system is still missing many activities.

I have just been in and out of the house twice and none of the movements were detected/recorded.

I wonder if I should try a different system to see if it solves me problems

[StephenB]

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@alstar wrote:

I have just checked again, and the system is still missing many activities.

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Of course it will miss things if it is going on/offline, so the first thing to sort out is whether the wifi connection to the base is stable or not.

But then there is motion detection - which does have limited range.  If you haven't tried the motion detection test, you should take the time to do that.

• https://kb.arlo.com/41/How-do-I-change-the-motion-sensitivity-on-my-Arlo-camera
• https://kb.arlo.com/000062895/How-do-I-change-the-motion-sensitivity-on-my-Arlo-camera-Arlo-Secure-4...

Camera placement also is important - the camera is most sensitive to motion across the field of view, and is also more sensitive at the bottom of the field of view than thte top.

So getting a stable connection is the first goal, then we can help with the other factors.