Arlo Q won't record

[Adrine]

The 120 seconds setting worked some of the time but I was still often getting less than 120 second recordings. The number of seconds seem random and vary. This happens even though there is clear activity and motion. I then tried setting it to 300 seconds but I only get 25 seconds or some other random amount. It's very frustrating to see for example the mailman leaving but not seeing him walking to our home. Is this a known longterm issue?

[jguerdat]

A possible reason is that the connection to the servers is being interrupted. That can be anything from the camera to the router or outside of your control. WHat signal level is displayed? Have you tried moving the camera to a different location to see if the same thing happens? What is you upload speed as measured by speedtest.net?

[Adrine]

Wifi is 100%. I have it about four or five from the router. I also tried moving it down downstairs to the ground floor but that didn't change anything.

Download Mbps 15.55 Upload Mbps 20.71

I have a cheap Yi720p dome camera (no subscription either) which is definitely not as nice as the image quality of Arlo Q but, some activity that the cheap cam catches the Arlo q completely misses. It's frustrating because Arlo costs more and although the picture quality is nicer on the Arlo Q, the Yi is doing a far better job catching activity.

By the way, it's the third day I've had Arlo Q and today I got a request to pair it from a stranger with a first and last name I did not recognize. Why would that happen?  Is someone being nefarious or could something like that easily happen accidentally? And if I accidentally hit "OK to pair" or whatever it said and let the stranger pair, where could I see and rectify this?

[Adrine]

Also I wanted to mention that I can watch live activity with no problem (although I generally don't watch it more than a few minutes) and that I pressed record manually when I noticed activity during the live view and was able to catch some activity manually of someone who had been fussing around in the parking lot but there was no beginning of that activity.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

No idea why you'd get a pairing request from anyone. What exactly was the scenario? How did you receive this request? I would change my Arlo password immediately as well as factory reset it and start fresh. Remove it from Settings, My Devices and maybe press and hold the reset button on the camera until the LED flashes amber.

When working, try turning up the motion sensitivity in your modes and rules.

[Adrine]

While I was on the arlo phone app a small window slid down and it gave me an option to accept or to cancel the request. It stated "Anthony Romano" (someone I do not know) is requesting to pair with your camera, I don't recall the exact wording. I hit cancel.

OK, I removed the Arlo Q device. I uninstalled the phone app and reinstalled it. I reset the camera. I created a new password for signing in with my email address. Are there any other areas I need to create a passcode?

It's showing live video now but now nothing is being recorded even though I have to to record 120 seconds and high sensitivity again. Now the record button is greyed out too so I can no longer manually record now.

PS Does it matter that I did not see "new system setup" as an option? I only saw the types of Arlo cameras I can choose to set up and then "plug in your camera and wait until the light is blinking amber." Then to "Enter the name and password for the WiFi network you would like your camera to connect to. Then "Press the Sync button on your camera until the blue light starts blinking."

[Adrine]

Record Last three vids are 120 second so hopefully it will function properly now.

[jguerdat]

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@Adrine wrote:

While I was on the arlo phone app a small window slid down and it gave me an option to accept or to cancel the request. It stated "Anthony Romano" (someone I do not know) is requesting to pair with your camera, I don't recall the exact wording. I hit cancel.

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I would open a case with support here to investigate this. Something is very wrong. @JamesC?

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OK, I removed the Arlo Q device. I uninstalled the phone app and reinstalled it. I reset the camera. I created a new password for signing in with my email address. Are there any other areas I need to create a passcode?

Nope.

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It's showing live video now but now nothing is being recorded even though I have to to record 120 seconds and high sensitivity again. Now the record button is greyed out too so I can no longer manually record now.

It sounds like it's working now. True?

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PS Does it matter that I did not see "new system setup" as an option? I only saw the types of Arlo cameras I can choose to set up and then "plug in your camera and wait until the light is blinking amber." Then to "Enter the name and password for the WiFi network you would like your camera to connect to. Then "Press the Sync button on your camera until the blue light starts blinking."

The new system setup is basically to help you create an account. Once you have that account and log in, you are simply manipulating your cameras/systems. This is correct operation.

[Adrine]

I think the reset helped a lot. I'm getting solid 2:00 minute records now even a few that were 2:01 initially. There is still a lag when recording kicks on but I'm happy that it is recording the stated times. Thanks!

[ShayneS]

Hi Adrine,

I am glad the camera reset has helped. Also, the buffering time is a result of the camera accessing the required Information/Cloud.