Motion alerts are non stop at night. Arlo Pro

[RoseArnold]

We have dropped the motion setting all the way down to 5 and the motion notifications are non stop.  When we check the video that was recorded there is nothing.  In one video it looks like maybe a bug but it is winter and below freezing so I do not think that was it.  Anyone have a resolution?

[benzguy]

Hey Rustygearhead,

Thanks for the info about returning camera(s) to BestBuy.  Were you able to get this done through the Service Desk or did you have to get a manager involved to explain what you wanted to exchange?  Did you get single camera(s) exchanged for your defective one(s) without returning the whole system?

[rustygearhead]

I did it at the customer service desk.

The associate had to get manager approval, but he allowed her to just take a camera (I only had one that was acting up) out of a one camera starter kit and put my defective one in the kit to send back. 

So I ended up with just a simple "naked camera" swap (no battery or other stuff involved - very simple.

[ysu]

Thank you!

Your case was simple as only 1 camera needed replacement. I have 3 so i guess it will be quite a scene to try to replace all 3 without replacing a kit at Bestbuy.

And not even sure if the new 3 will be good too, so I might need to do it again.

Support agreed to do one RMA first until issue is confirmed. That's insane. I want all 3 RMA'ed, and according to experience read on forum, you might not even get it fixed on first swap.

I'm going to ask RMA all 3. If they don't do that I might just return entire set to bestbuy. I bought this to protect my house and make my life easier. Not to spend hours to be netgear QA when the issue is very clear.

Netgear, admit the issue!

[benzguy]

Hey JamesC,

I tried what you asked in regards to disabling audio and checking to see if anything changed.  It had NO affect on the false motion alerts. But, I will tell you that having night vision on definitely contributes to the false motion alerts.

[JamesC]

The engineering team is currently investigating this issue. I will post an update with more information as soon as I can. We appreciate your patience in this process.

JamesC

[benzguy]

Hey JamesC,

If your engineering/system test team needs help in replicating this problem, here are some steps to get there:

- enable night vision.

- enable motion alerts and set sensitivity to 80%

- place camera in dark room with no motion.

- turn on camera

- note: in some cases, simply turning on the camera or going from system disarmed to system armed can cause false alerts

- press the 'live' button on app

- press pause button on app

- wait for a false motion alert (5 to 10 seconds)

- in some cases false alerts will repeat every 5 to 10 seconds or so.

I have had this issue on both H7 and H8 hardware versions with the latest firmware.  I can't believe your engineering and test teams overlooked this defect!  It is clearly a hardware issue.  When night vision is disabled, the problem is significantly reduced.

[5nahalf]

Just my experience with night vision and motion alerts.

I have a few sets of cctv systems for my house (uniden, netgear, and dlink)

All of them seem to have a similar issue outside at night with motion alerts (summer and winter)

I have watched the videos from them and all seem to have a single thing in common.  When the wind blows a little bit, you can see tiny dust particles passing infront of the camera, they are highlighted by IR lights and cause the motion alarms.

When I move the same cameras inside the house, I do not get these alerts as there is no dust being kicked up.

Turning off night vision turns off the IR lights and thus the dust does not get highlighted as bright white specs.

[jguerdat]

That could be part of the issue but I suspect it's a hardware thing, perhaps manufacturing tolerances. My cameras were replaced and the issue went away. Same revision level as the originals, same firmware.

[5nahalf]

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jguerdat wrote:
That could be part of the issue but I suspect it's a hardware thing, perhaps manufacturing tolerances. My cameras were replaced and the issue went away. Same revision level as the originals, same firmware.

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when were yours replaced?  I am curious if the issue will come back as the lens on the camera gets dirty and causes "flares" from the dust reflecting the light back to the dust on the lens.

And by that, think of this situation, your driving at night, and someones headlights are coming twards you.  If your windshield is 100% clean you dont have issue, but if your windshield is dusty, dirty or has lots of sand pitting in it.  then those same headlights diffuse into the windshield creating a "flare" of light that you cant see past.

Same thing can happen with the cameras, but instead of headlights, its IR light reflecting off dust particles.

Not saying that its whats happening, but its possible.

[jguerdat]

Mine were replaced shortly after the Pro cameras were available.

[5nahalf]

OK, then not a dusting issue. Guess I will have to keep an eye on my recordings then

[MrMustardSeed]

I bought the 4 camera kit 2 weeks ago.  I've been having trouble with day and night allerts.  The day allerts were cars and big trucks like garbage trucks passing anywhere from 50-90 feet away from my camera.  I shut of the microphone and audio and that seemed to help some.  I reaimed my camera away from the street as much as possible.  At night though I still get many false allerts (Night Vision ON).  It seems like light from cars or windows (lights on and off) in my rental next door (50' away), things flying by the lens at night (don't know what). or nothing apparent at all triggers an allert.  Last night it started with a raccoon passing by at 8:22 PM.  Then every 3 - 1 minutes after.  I reduced the sensitivity from 90% to 60% in 10% increments - just seemd to get more frequent as I went down.  Stopped when we got home and disarmed with geofence.  Have this camera set for best battery life.

Does the camera itself detect motion or is there a motion sensor.  I'm asking because I was wondering if zooming and panning helps - i.e. does the motion only get detected by what's being pictured?  I'd like to have my camera's on at night but I'm afraid of running my batteries down.  I don't like climbing ladders any more than I have to.

[jguerdat]

Zoom and pan won't help since the wireless cameras use PIR sensors which cover the whole scene. One thing that can helps is masking the PIR with electrical tape. Use small pieces to cover the area where you DON'T want motion detected. This may take quite some trial and error to achieve. Repositioning the cameras may be a better answer.

The repeated recordings after a true motion detection is a hardware issue. Contact support to open a case.

[MrMustardSeed]

I took your advice and opened a ticket with Tech Support.  I've tested all my cameras and found only the driveway camera to have the nightvision problem.  They confirmed it with me and I'm sending it back for a replacement.  Just a note:  Mine was fine untill there was motion.  Then it would record several (5 or 6) times after, spaced 30 seconds to 1 minute or so.  Then stop.  Very repeatable.  Arlo tech support was very nice about it and said it was a problem they were working on.

Thanks for your input jguerdat !!

[MrMustardSeed]

I forgot, I boutght  a 4 camera system.  The other 3 are working fine.  One in a tree seemed to respond to noise so I turned off the Michropone and that seemd to take care of "noise related" recording.

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MrMustardSeed wrote:

I took your advice and opened a ticket with Tech Support.  I've tested all my cameras and found only the driveway camera to have the nightvision problem.  They confirmed it with me and I'm sending it back for a replacement.  Just a note:  Mine was fine untill there was motion.  Then it would record several (5 or 6) times after, spaced 30 seconds to 1 minute or so.  Then stop.  Very repeatable.  Arlo tech support was very nice about it and said it was a problem they were working on.

Thanks for your input jguerdat !!

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[JamesC · Accepted solution]

New camera/base station firmware has been released resolving this issue. Please be sure your system is up to date with the latest firmware. See here: Release Notes

JamesC