Going to recycle VMC 4030

[Khone]

I have the ARLO system w/3 cameras. 1 of those is positioned to monitor the front door and it includes the street in the background.

Well, at approximately 4:20 A.M. this morning (05/11), a drunk driver drove up over the sidewalk and destroyed a city light and approximately 100 feet of chain-link fence. And, left the scene.

When the police arrived they asked if my video system recorded the accident. Unfortunately, it did not. It did, however, record me opening the front door to see what the commotion was all about.

So, if it isn't good enough to capture an accident while it's happening, it's no good for anything. Plus, this is the 2nd instance.

I will be removing all equipment and putting it in recycle bin and shop for something better.

Needed to get this frustration off my chest.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

This isn't the first post of Arlo cameras missing events. I had a similar situation: a lorry driver drove into a bollard and the camera stopped recording seconds before the bollard was damaged. I mean, honestly, it's a joke. The sensitivity setting on mine is maxed out and really it makes no difference - probably it's not working.

[Khone]

You are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, the company's putting this stuff out don't want to stand by their products. 

Makes on wonder how they stay in business.

Have a good day.

[jguerdat]

How far away was the closest part of the accident? PIR sensors aren't great for large distances. Use of an indoor camera looking through glass would be a better choice if you really want street activity since they rely on pixel-change detection which works at much greater distances.

[Khone]

The problem is the camera did not activate until after the accident, probably - about 4-5 minutes. There was a street light to illuminate the area where the accident happened, so darkness would not have been a problem.

What happened was a drunk driver climbed the curb, drove through a chain link fence, approximately 50-60 feet through our yard knocking down a street light, with concrete base extending about 10' up the pole. destroying it and wiping out approximately 75-100 feet of the fence.

The camera was positioned to monitor our front door with the street in the background. The camera did not activate until I opened the front door and walked out to see what happened.

If the camera(s) aren't good enough to activate immediately when motion is present, what good are they? If you want, I can show you what the camera sees whenever the system is activated.

[StephenB]

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@Khone wrote:

The problem is the camera did not activate until after the accident, probably - about 4-5 minutes. There was a street light to illuminate the area where the accident happened, so darkness would not have been a problem.

Spec'd motion detection range for the Pro and Pro 2 cameras is 7m (23 feet).

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062617/How-far-away-can-Arlo-Cameras-and-Arlo-Video-Doorbells-detect-motion

They will pick up motion further away, but not reliably.  Note the passive infrared (PIR) sensor is picking up heat, so the fence falling might not have triggered it.  The car could have (but obviously didn't).

How far away was the driver from camera???

Also, do you have activity zones set?

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@Khone wrote:

There was a street light to illuminate the area where the accident happened, so darkness would not have been a problem.

That is not relevant, since the video is not used at all for motion detection.  As explained above, the motion is detected with the PIR sensor.  

[Khone]

Yes, the accident scene is more than 23 feet. But, not interested in anything up close - just being able to see the car blast through the fence and light. Police were asking for video - had to tell them I don't have any.

I'm including a shot of what my camera can see. Granted, it was at night, but the street light would have given enough light to see at least the vehicle before the light was hit. I would hope. The black object in the center of the pic is the light box of the street light. It used to be around 15-20 feet tall. I'm sure, if the camera had activated, there would have been a couple of seconds that you would have seen the vehicle.

And your last comment, video not used for motion detection. What, then, is it used for?

Regardless, I'm very dissatisfied with the system because this is not the first time of a significant happening and no video of it. Another classic example occurred around 7-8 years ago when a car ran through our fence (further left from the pic) and into the side of the house and destroyed our bedroom. Significant damage. I need something that will activate as soon as motion is detected. 

Like the old saying,  buy cheap, get cheap.

[StephenB]

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@Khone wrote:

And your last comment, video not used for motion detection. What, then, is it used for?

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As you know, the video is recorded when the camera triggers, and the camera can be livestreamed.  But it is not used for detecting motion.  

PIR sensors are commonly used in battery-powered security cameras, and they are often used in indoor sensors that turn off the lights when no one is in the room. There is a description on how they work here:

• https://learn.adafruit.com/pir-passive-infrared-proximity-motion-sensor/how-pirs-work

Analyzing the video continuously takes too much power for a battery powered-device.

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@Khone wrote:

Yes, the accident scene is more than 23 feet. But, not interested in anything up close - just being able to see the car blast through the fence and light.

I understand why you are angry/frustrated.

But that is what you wanted, you purchased the wrong type of camera.  The Arlo cameras will activate when people approach the camera, so they are useful for monitoring entry points (doors, garages, etc) or other fairly small regions that are within 20-25 feet of the camera.  Mine are mostly aimed towards my home, and are placed so that anyone trying to enter my home or detached garage will trigger one or more cameras. 

Battery-powered cameras from other vendors will have the same constraints, because they all use PIR sensors.  If you want the camera to trigger when further away, then you want a camera that is always powered - for instance a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) model.  Those usually are detecting activity using the video. 

If you want also want continuous video recording (not depending on motion sensors), you'll either need to add an appropriate subscription (like Arlo's CVR) or get an NVR (network video recorder).  Personally, I'd get an on-premise NVR if I wanted continuous recording. 

That said, I guess it is possible that your cameras' audio detection feature would have been triggered by the crash, since the damage certainly made a lot of noise.  Though that is not a feature I use myself - there is too much traffic noise in my neighborhood for it it be useful.

[Khone]

Thank you for your response.

Yes, I purchased the wrong stuff. Was led to believe cameras would be triggered by motion and believed that because everytime I got an alert it had recorded something or someone moving.

No problem. I intend to get rid of this system. When I have the money I will get a system that will do what I want.

Thanks again for your input. Have a great week.

Jack