[TRACKING] Night Vision False Alarm Issues of Arlo Pro

[ysu]

The purpose of this thread is to track multiple reports of the popular issue: false alarms after live view or legit motion during night vision.

As customers who spent $$$ on this product, we need Netgear to understand this is not an isolated issue. They need to take actions and stop bouncing customers back and forth with their standard troubleshooting policy, slowly...

The following threads have exactly same issue reported, with all factors matched:

1) night vision on

2) after live view or legit motion

3) multiple false alarms afterwards

4) the only resolved cases were by replacing cameras by Netgear

Arlo Pro Nightvision Issue
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-Nightvision-Issue/m-p/1176183#U1176183

4XH16C7UA9955 - recording without motion [originator just confirmed it's only with night vision]
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/4XH16C7UA9955-recording-without-motion/m-p/1219762#U121976...

Motion alerts are non stop at night. Arlo Pro
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Motion-alerts-are-non-stop-at-night-Arlo-Pro/m-p/1196788#U...

Outdoor camera detects motion constantly at night
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Outdoor-camera-detects-motion-constantly-at-night/m-p/1219...

Arlo Pro Night Vision constant motion activation and no night vision
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-Night-Vision-constant-motion-activation-and-no-ni...

Motion detected nonstop
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Motion-detected-nonstop/m-p/1217969#U1217969

The following threads are related issues, but might or might not be the same issue, as some factors are not confirmed. E.g., some didn't mention night vision:

motion detection sends false alerts
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/motion-detection-sends-false-alerts/m-p/1219951#U1219951

Arlo pro will not reset motion sensor. The motion icon stays orange
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-pro-will-not-reset-motion-sensor-The-motion-icon-stay...

Arlo pro camera senativity issues
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-pro-camera-senativity-issues/m-p/1217907#U1217907

Netgear, if you are reading, there's something wrong with this otherwise great product. This is not an isolated issue. Stop asking customers to go thru a nearly 2 week troubleshooting process (like you did to me, case #27976415) and still only want to RMA 1 camera at a time when multiple cameras have issues -- experience shows even with RMA, you might need to get it right in multiple rounds, because Netgear hasn't figured out the root cause so every swap is just a random hit or miss. We spent $$$ on this product and many of us like it, but this issue is driving lots of frastration.

I, for one, am seriously considering returning the product to Bestbuy at end of this week (within 15 days) if your support doesn't move faster.

[ysu]

Good to hear that new firmware seems to fix the problem.

Can netgear also confirm the fix is to actually stop the false triggering on the camera, instead of just suppressing the alerts? There is of course a difference, as the latter will still drain the battery on the camera.

Sorry if it's a silly question. I am also a software engineer and I definitely ran into those situations where we couldn't fix the root cause of a bug in data logic but it was so bad we decided to put a UI trick to hide it 🙂

[newArloPro_user]

I also have been using this new firmware 1.092.0.1_11504 and I am happy to say that the false alert issue has been fixed. I have not experience continous false alerts for the past few days on this new firmware. 

Regarding the question on whether it is only suppressing the "notification", i can say that there's no alert, no notification, and no recording when I check the cloud recording. So far it works well. 

[ranran]

While I do not know *what* the firmware change did, I can confirm the camera is not recording false motion-trigger videos - checking the cloud library, I see no falsely triggered recordings, just my actual tests of walking by the camera at night.

[plasmo]

That's good to hear that the update is working... unfortunately My 2 cameras were already shipped back to Netgear and am still waiting for my replacements.

I wish I had waiting a bit more for this update... oh well.

[Materhead]

I am also  part of a large group testing the beta version of the firmware intended to fix the false motion alert issue.  The first beta appeared to be better but I would sporadically get a single false motion alert on 2 or 3 of my cameras.  It was 4-5 false alerts.

About a week or so ago I started working with the 2nd version of the beta.  So far, I cannot reproduce a false motion alert after multiple tests.

Fingers crossed but this appears to have fixed the issue.

[MikeV-ATX]

Can anyone from Netgear let us know when the firmware will be available for this issue? One of my two cameras are having this issue.

[r_t_h]

I am also having the same issue on one out of two cameras.  Occurs only at night and after looking at live view.  I typically get two false motion-activated recordings.  Luckily, it doesn't seem to record anymore than two times.  I would like to receive the firmware update please.

[jgpcvs]

I have the same issue and when you call NetGears customer service department, they want you trouble shoot for hours before they escalate up. I've had these cameras for almost two months and I really like the system. However, if they don't fix this issue with the motion going off by itself on night vision then this is a deal breaker and I won't be recommending the system to others. NetGear, please listen to what your customers are saying and find a fix for this issue. 

Thank you!

[JamesC]

The engineering team has a fix for this issue that is currently being tested. Once testing is complete, this fix will be available as a firmware update.

I do not currently have an ETA for when this firmware will be available but we are hoping to release it very soon.

We appreciate your patience in this process.

JamesC

[Psv2363]

Im going through the same issue with my 3rd camera. The problem is i just recieved this camera as a replacement for the one i had to replaced because it was constantly going offline. I paid the 16.95 to have it shipped asap and unfortunately this camera now gives off constant false motion alerts. I am now waiting for netgear to authorize this camera to be replaced as well. I just want what I paid for. A working 3 camera system that I purchased on 2/11/17 which has not worked to it's full capacity since I recieved it. I will say that the Netgear staff have been very helpful through this whole process.

[cspring007]

You can add me to the customers that are eagerly awaiting the release of the firmware fix for this issue.

Has anyone in the testing group attempted to trigger back to back legitimate motion alerts? I fear that they simply implemented a mandatory lengthy timeout after every live view or legit trigger, allowing the camera to "cool off" after an alert.  I would like to know that it will capture back to back legitimate motion triggered clips.

[bibik]

I posted this on the other Night Vision thread, but maybe someone here can study the videos, as well:

====================================================================================

For me, the night vision problem seems to be affecting one particular camera, but it is bothersome to have a camera constantly activating and draining the battery.

I'm starting to feel like a "beta tester" for these issues, but I'm glad that the community and Netgear CS has been supportive and responsive. 

I did a quick test for this issue by putting two cameras in a drawer facing each other; at an angle, since directly facing each other would sometimes cause one camera to not activate night vision (maybe due to the LED from the other being "sufficient light"?)

I think the share links are only valid for 24 hours, but here are a few observations: one has three 10-second videos from the camera with the malfunctioning night vision (it turned on three times after closing Live View), and the other is a 1:20 second manual record to watch the malfunctioning camera.

Videos from camera with auto-repeating Night Vision issue (3 times)

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/21D92EEED17EA8B2_201703

Video from observing camera

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/DB47B0F9B83474DF_201703

You'll notice that each time the camera with malfunctioning nightvision starts up, there are several strange flashes and fuzzy/skewed image.  Since the recording camera was already watching on live view, I'm not sure if it's due to that camera's LEDs, but maybe the flashes are related to problem?  Maybe any videophiles can shed some light on what is happening?

My other cameras seem to be functioning fine, but this issue bothers me enough to want to return this camera (to Best Buy).  But since it is part of a 4 camera set, I don't want to wind up with the other cameras becoming bad.

If this is really a hardware problem, my thoughts are that a firmware update won't be a permanent fix.  Instead, shouldn't Netgear recall all cameras with this issue?

[qarl]

I can confirm that this is probably a hardware related issue with "some" cameras.

I bought 6 cameras all at the same time. Base station+4 and two separate add-ons.  All Arlo Pros.

Unfortunately, I didn't track which camera came from which batch/box, BUT, here is my diagnosis...

Until today, I installed 5 cameras and 1 of the 5 was becoming problematic. It exhibited the multiple false alerts (5-6 OR MORE recordings and alerts)  in a row after the IR lights fired on... either through a legitimate trigger, or from a LIVE view from the app or browser.  After any event wih the IR lights came on, it was proceeded by multiple recordings and alerts.  Yellow man was constantly on and off.

The base station was reset multiple times, as well as pulling the battery and removing/resetting, on the "bad" camera..

None of other 4 installed cameras exhibited this behavior.  All outdoors.  All running night vision.

Today, I swapped the "bad" camera with my 6th uninstalled camera.  I used the same mount so it was pointed at the same direction in the same conditions as the "bad" camera.

I ran the usual tests... trigger or live view on night vision.  With the 6th camera, I only got one recording (as expected)... no false alerts.

I took the "bad" camera, reset it once gain.  reset the base station.  removed the device. resynched the device, etc.

Per advice of Netgear tech support, I set it up and pointed it at a wall outside... Once again, multiple false alerts and triggers and 5-6 recordings of a blank wall with no motion. I reduced the sensitivity down to nothing.  Same thing.

ALL cameras were updated when first synched to the latest firmware.

One can logically deduce that this 1 camera out of 6 is faulty and it's not a firmware issue.

[plasmo]

Does anyone have the Netgear website to do a RMA status search?

As I feared, after sending Netgear my TWO (2) defective cameras, they only sent back 1 camera as a replacement.

I never got a 2nd tracking #, so assuming they forgot to send the 2nd camera.  SMH

[jguerdat]

my.netgear.com/mynetgear/portal/mySupport.aspx

[Simon82]

I've been testning the beta version of the firmware (1.092.0.1_11504) for two days now, and haven't had any false alarms since then. I have two H8 cameras and booth of them had the problem before updating (one more frequent then the other one). It seems like there is no cooldown time after motion detection, because the camera detected real motion directly after a previous real detection. I also activated the live view function, turned it off and then walked by the camera and it detected movement directly , so it seems to work real good! Great work Netgear!

[cspring007]

Fantastic news Simon. Now if they just get this rolled out to the public they can make many customers happy again. Right now tons are frustrated. Some are returning the product and going another way.

[plasmo]

Finally after going through the entire RMA process, the 2 replacement cameras are back, and both appear (so far) to be working without the false nighttime triggers.  Painful process, but I have to say Support email communication has been great and very prompt with replys usually within an hour.

EDIT:  UGH. One of my two replacement cameras still false triggers. 

[bibik]

For those who have tried the new beta firmware, does it do anything to fix the ticking problem?

I contacted support and am waiting for the firmware to try to fix the night vision issue, but 6 out of 8 of my cameras have the ticking; some worse than others. I may need to just exchange them all. 😞

[MightyMaik]

Which ticking problem? I didn't notice any ticking... my Foscam ticks, but only when it becomes darker and the IR filter is activated.

I don't have any fake triggers at night anymore, but the camera which didn't have any problems is now picking up 2 or 3 shots a day without any movement in the clip. Before the beta firmware I didn't have this and detection is set to 1.

[bibik]

Here are a few threads on the issue:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-Audio-ticking-sound-like-a-clock-delay/m-p/116593...

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/Arlo-Pro-makes-clicking-sound/m-p/1194021/highlight/true#M...

[JustinG]

When I've experienced the false night vision motions it's always been an outside camera. Just got two cameras swapped at best buy one for dropping offline and the other for multiple back to back false notifications. Had the one camera in a dark room with no moving activitie for two hours.Moved it outside and after one live view got a false notification. Looking on the bright side it's only one false notification and the camera hasn't dropped offline yet.

[Vikeologist]

Count me in with the same issue.  Bought my 4 camera Arlo Pro at Best  Buy yesterday.  One camera is constantly detecting motion at night!  How do I go about getting a replacement camera?  I am going to try putting a different camera in that location tonight!

[JustinG]

If you only just bought the set I'd take the bad camera back to best buy. They should let you swap just the camera out cause I've done it twice now. Chances are you will still experience false motions but it won't be as bad. Mine went from back to back for five mins straight to just one after a live view or legit motion. Seems like it will be a problem no matter what til the new firmware is out.

[Vikeologist]

I know it's been since January, but any idea when a new firmware update will come out?