Arlo Pro Nightvision Issue

[arlobro]

Hi,

Having an issue with Nightvision.

During the day, live view works just fine.

During the night, when using live view, it works fine..but after shutting down the live view - I get about 4 or 5 alerts in a row right after using live view that motion was detected (and it records for 20 seconds each -as I have it set to do)

Tested by turning Nightvision off, live view works, and when closed, no motion detected.

It seems like the camera is detecting its own Nightvision light as motion for some reason.. Bug? anyone else have this issue?

I have the latest base and camera firmware installed.

Thanks.

[TomMac]

It is possible.... and haven't see it before.    contact Netgear support.

[jguerdat]

Huh.  I have a very similar problem and have an open ticket on this.  I don't think I've tried live view at night, only day, but any recording that happens at night results in 1-4 additional recordings immediately thereafter. I've reset the Pro base, reset the cameras by removing the batteries and resynced them to no avail.  The original wireless cameras on the same base don't do this.

Please, please, please open a case on this (I'm begging since no one seems to ever want to open a case without begging).  Feel free to reference my case, #27613347.  I'll try live view tonight and will add the results to my case.

[TomMac]

One a glich, two maybe not !

I've tested mine many times at night and no problem ,... diff maybe also I'm running on the older Arlo base...just one more variable.

[arlobro]

Hi.

I've opened a case and referenced you.

It's definately something to do with the nightvision .. when I turn nightvision off for the cam, and then do the live view at night, no 4 or 5 false alerts afterwards.

A work around I'm using is, activate the live view - take a look - then immediately go to the settings of the camera and turn the camera off for a few seconds, then back on.

I know this probably doesn't help you.. since you're getting this with just regular motion (when first detected) then the 4 false alerts.

Maybe something is too sensitive on the PIR.. and it thinks Nightvision is motion (bouncing back from some object in the camera view?)

Thanks.

[AndyForReal]

Arlobro, I have the exact same issue with one of my cameras (I've only got 2 of 4 installed).

Do you have a case number so I can reference yours since it sounds like we've got the same thing going on?

Thanks,

[JamesC]

This issue has been escalated to the Arlo engineering team for further investigation. Thank you all for your feedback.

JamesC

[arlobro]

JamesC,

I'm not sure this is a case of defective cameras. 2 of my 4 do this from time to time. Seems more like a bug in the Night Vision if the perfect scenario is met. Weather colder <40F. reflection of night vision off objects trigger it (white house eaves/flashing) or maybe the camera is hyoer sensitive for a period of time after initial motion detection? Strange it's always 4 or so false detects each time. I have it set for 30 seconds now. Same results. Battery draining faster on these cams than expected. Down to 80% in 2 weeks. At first I thought maybe actual bugs (insects) can see the red glow of the night vision setting it off right after using live view, but I doubt this because they must be very smart bugs to do this 4x each time 🙂

Keep me updated.

Thanks!

[AndyForReal]

I have 4 of my cameras setup now.

The original camera is still having the same issue, even with some aiming adjustments.

Another camera is now having the same issue.

Again confirming that with night vision on this happens.  If its on, works perfect.

[arlobro]

---

JamesC wrote:

This issue has been escalated to the Arlo engineering team for further investigation. Thank you all for your feedback.

JamesC

---

Any update on the other 4-5 motion recordings in a row after runing a live view at night?

I noticed in the motion event videos (the false motions) that I do see a flash of light right at the very beginning of each recording (darkness then brightness, then normal night vision). I have a feeling it's the night vision light the PIR sensor is seeing, or at least bouncing back at it triggering it.

Perhaps there is not enough delay after recording until PIR starts sensing again and it sees that final flicker out of the IR light? Why is it always 4 or 5 recordings before it normalizes and stops?

2 of my 4 cameras are experiencing this - I hope it is not a hardware flaw (bad PIR, bad location of IR nightvision lights)  Can the delay before PIR sensing begins have a small delay programmed before monitoring again to allow the PIR  field of view to normalize/baseline?

Is this something that's going to take a long time, How do I go about getting replacement cameras if these are faulty? The ID/serials are attached to my case - you can look them up.

EDIT: If firmware programming can disable PIR sensor temporarily, it should disable PIR during LIVE view, and restart PIR after 1 second or so, maybe same after motion events, as it's not just live view thats causing the false motion detects at night.  The camera is basically quiet (no detections) and the first motion detection at night (a person approaching the door, etc), 4 or 5 will follow.  Day is fine. I can stop the motion detections by just going into the camera and turning the camera off and back on. PIR sensor will normalize and then its quiet again. Something either isn't right with firmware or my 2 cameras are faulty.

Thanks.

[JamesC]

arlobro,

The engineering team is still investigating this issue. Please refer to your case for any new information. If I get any new information on this topic, I will be sure to update the community here.

JamesC

[AEllis]

Are there any updates on this? Two of my cameras are having this same issue. When night vision is on I get constant notifications. When it's turned off, one camera stops sending them but the other continues to go off. I spent an hour on the phone today with support who escalated my issue but I didn't get any resolution! Waiting for tech support to call back. Honestly I'm ready to return the whole set. Two cameras send constant notifications and one camera doesn't work at all. So I only have one working camera right now. Two tickets open since last Wednesday and still no help 😞

[Razorback]

I just had a similar issue. Viewed live at night. Then I got around 15 or so consecutive alerts from 1 camera. I finally removed it from the mode temporarily to stop the madness!

[jguerdat]

You can try power cycling the base and open and close the battery door but likely the fix will be to open a case and get the camera replaced.  That's what fixed my issue.

[arlobro]

I'm still having the issue, the last message I have from support from my case ID where I requested 2 new cameras I got this as a response:

"The issue that you have was already raised to the appropriate department. With this, we need to further check and verify it with them so we can provide better recommendation."

Now that they changed software to allow up to 300 sec 'or until motion stops' I get a lot of 9 second videos.. sometimes 10-15 before it stops (only at night, only when night vision is active)

If you manually set Record to 25-30 seconds per motion detect or longer, you'll only get 4 or 5 before it stops. Something may be wrong with the PIR or something else in the camera when night vision shuts off, it turns right back on as if it detected motion again.

Going into the camera settings and turning the camera "Off", and waiting a few seconds and turning it on will stop the false motion alerts/videos.if you catch it before it spams you with 10-15 clips in a row.

I beleive 2 of my cameras need to be replaced, but so far, no option or instructions how to do this from support.
2 of my other cameras are fine after real motion events, and or live view is triggered -- silent  after these events (no false detects/video clips follow) ..

JamesC previously mentioned he escalated the issues, and the above response was from an "L2 Expert". -- I was hoping it was firmware related, but I doubt it.

Support has not been swift to replace or follow up.

[AndyForReal]

I'm in the same boat, including where my support case is hanging.

2 out of my 4 are working perfectly, which gives me hope!\\

Hopefully a fix or RMA is coming soon.

[DavidTexas]

We have the same issue with our camera.  😞  4 montion detections right after a live nightvision view.

Is it bad camera problem?  I am already on my 2nd set of replacements.  😞

[foxfly]

I'm in the same boat. Had this issue with my original set and thought they were just defective cameras, so I got my replacement set from Best Buy yesterday, but still having this problem. 

I found two conditions together will trigger this kind of false alerts:

1. night vision

2. low temperature (T < 40 ~ 45 F)

My hypothesis is that after the camera is activated (live view or motion triggered) it takes time to cool down. During this cooldown period, the camera senses the change of temperature and keep sending alerts until its temperature get stablized. 

As I tested just now, at around 40F, with sensitivity of 80%, it took about 1.5 minutes (6 15s clips after live view) to stop sending false alarts. I then lowered the sensitivity down to 40%, it took about 1 minute. As this false alart is likely generated by self-generated heat or IR, lowering sensitivity would help a little bit, but not much, since the source is too close to the sensor (or even in the sensor).

When it's warmer, this would not be a problem, as I bet there is only a very small amount of heat or IR generated which will be just considered as noise burried in the warm or hot background. But when it's getting cold, like now, this small amount of heat stands out from the cold background. I would expect more and more people complain about this.

If my hypothesis is correct, then it should be straightforward to correct the detection algorithm:

1. find the pattern of cooldown rate (after live view with various time length): heat/IR per millisecond

2. if the detected heat/IR change (within first 100 ms) matches the cooldown pattern, don't send alerts

Hope this helps, and I would have to return my set if it's not solved by 1/15/2017...

[MarkH123]

I noticed the same issue with my arlo pro( I replaced one of my original arlo cams with Arlo pro) -only happens at night when viewing live video or when motion is detected I'll get 2 to 3 false detections and recordings immeditely--definitely a night vision sensor issue--FYI: I'm using the original base station because I'm using 4 of the original arlo cams still..this is not and issue with my 5 original arlo cams..

[Jcclark78]

Same issue with arlo pro. Always immediately following live view. Fingers crossed for quick fix.

[jguerdat]

So far the fix is a camera replacement.  That fixed mine.

[arlobro]

I have 2 RMA cameras on the way, should arrive later today.

I'll confirm after some testing. Have to wait till dark.

[DavidTexas]

That is unfortunate.  I am already on my 2nd sets of 4 cameras.  One of the camera from the first set will not sync.  Now one of the camera from the 2nd set is bad.  This does not give much confidence of Arlo quality.  Now I am debating if I should exchange one more time or just return it.  😞

[foxfly]

I agree. My replacement set from Best Buy have the same issue - at least two cameras out of four are behaving like this. This failure rate is way too high.

arlobro and jguerdat: how easily did you get your replacement directly from Netgear? Thanks.

[foxfly]

Another data point. I brought one of my cameras from backyard (40F) inside last night and put it in the closet to simulate dark environment at room temperature (75F). For the first a few hours, it kepted sending alerts after live view, but after a while it worked well. This suggest the camera is not able to distinguish temperature change of environment and temperature change caused by an object.