Arlo Pro activating too often in garage, at night.

[DeadPixel81]

Hello,

I just recently purchased the Arlo Pro system with two cameras. I have instaleld one camera at my front door and one in my garage. The camera above my front door works perfectly. Unfortunately at night time the camera in the garage activates too often (almost every two minutes, often). I have tried reducing the motion sensitivity, I have tried putting the camera on a shelf, on the ceiling, on three different walls, ontop of the deep freeze and even stacking a bunch of boxes and putting the camera on top. 

The only items that could possibly produce any sort of heat in the garage are my vehicle and the furnace (which has always been behind the camera, enclosed behind double doors). I have brought the sensitivity down to 5% and it still activates too often. This problem only occurs at night. Is there any way to resolve this? Unfortunately I need this system for the garage, it has been robbed twice. If Arlo cannot work for this please let me know and I will pursue another system.

Thank you.

[TomMac · Accepted solution]

Swap the two cameras and see if the problem follows the camera  ( it may just be a camera problem )

If problem continues in the outside spot, contact Netgear Support.

[Drake3287]

Is it possible that the audio detection feature is on and noise from a dryer or something is setting it off?

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TomMac wrote:

Swap the two cameras and see if the problem follows the camera  ( it may just be a camera problem )

If problem continues in the outside spot, contact Netgear Support.

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[DeadPixel81]

It turns out that it was the one Camera. When I swapped the two cameras the one giving me trouble in the garage still gave me trouble in the house.

However, it looks like I was at the mercy of two issues.

1) A malfunctioning camera

2) A poor design of the firmware (which many are experiencing). When the camera is 'activated' at night, either through live mode, preview mode or motion/audio, it appears the infrared re-activates the camera 2-3 times. 

At the end of the day I just took my Arlo Pro package back to Best Buy and got the old model Arlo cameras. There is no audio, the night vision isnt as good and the full color video seems to require more light. However, it was cheaper, I got an extra camera and they all work appropriately. Maybe in the future I'll buy some Pro cameras to put into my system but it is actually kind of nice not having the proprietary li-ion battery.

Netgear - if you are reading this. There IS a problem with something activating the cameras repeatedly after an initial activation and a number of your new cameras are malfunctioning. Also, you should make the Pro base station available seperately. 

Cheers,

DeadPixel

[ysu]

Thanks for sharing. I've added your experience to my Pro night vision issue tracking:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/TRACKING-Night-Vision-False-Alarm-Issues-of-Arlo-Pro/m-p/1...

Though I assume you don't care as much because you got the older Arlo which doesn't have this problem.

[DeadPixel81]

Thanks for that, Ysu.

I am interested in the resolution of this issue because I will purchase a Pro camera or two for the outside of my house in the future. However, I didn't want to risk being stuck with Pro cameras (non-returnable to Best Buy) I had to shut off at night time; since the entire reason I wanted cameras was our garage got broken into at night. 

I hope for the sake of those hanging onto their Pro cameras that this is resolved soon.

Cheers,

DeadPixel

[Drake3287]

I would really think twice about buying those non Arlo Pro models. I won't be surprised if they don't stop selling them in the near future. Battery issues alone would be enough for me. Have you thought about using an Arlo-Q camera for the garage? Easily works with the Pro system plus you can plug it into an outlet for power.

Maybe I'm just lucky but my 3 outside Pro camera's have very few issues. It may have taken a little time to get the settings just right but at this point I'm trouble free. (keeping my fingers crossed)

[jguerdat]

Since you're looking at the garage, a Q camera in the garage might be useful.

[DeadPixel81]

Thanks for the concern guys, but it is clear that there is something wrong with the Arlo Pro cameras and I just don't want to be holding onto a faulty product while I wait for a resoltuion. I have considered the Arlo-Q for the garage and might add one of them to my system but I didn't want anything wired at the moment. I got 3 working cameras for $350 instead of 1 working and 1 faulty camera for $600. If I want a pro camera in the future, they will connect to the old Arlo base station still.

[jguerdat]

You always have two options rather than sweating it out - swap at the store if within the return policy or open/use  an open case with support for a possible RMA.

And any of the wireless cameras will connect to either base.