Night vision viewing through a window

[kjp4575]

Hello,

I have an Arlo Q inside my home looking outside a window.  Are there any tips or tricks for being able to make the night vision work on what is outside the window.  Currently there is too much glare and no usable video.  I am considering trying to place one of those anti glare phone/tablet screen protectors on the window.  Not sure if that would do anything.

If anyone else has tried this, and would be willing to share their successes (or failures), it would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[TomMac]

It's not going to work...simple reason is most glass ( unless special for ir ) will reflect the ir back.

Tha't why the picture gets washed out, the IR illuminators are reflected back from the glass into lens.

[Jagguer]

I turned off the night vision on my camera that was pointed out the glass. I was able to get great video. If you place a sensor light in that area, the video is in color at that point depending on light brightness.

[Courtneybags]

Does the Arlo Q detect motion through a window and then start recording that motion?

[jguerdat]

Yes. Be sure to turn night vision off so it do reflect in the glass.

[Dbasc]

The best solution (i've tried all..)     is to turn off the night vision IR sensors on the arlo Q and use external lighting.  Anything pressed up against the glass/window will give off too much glare to see anything from the camera.  The lighting must be mounted outside. You can try mounting IR illuminators outside and see how well they work for you.  I've had mix results with them.   The larger ones work better than others.  For indoors you can try LIFX + light bulbs. They do have IR function that "help".  I wouldn't recommend them for outdoor use though, as they dont illuminate enough for the high cost.   Now the fun part...  What type of bulb works best?

I had the best results with the older  60watt Incandescent Light Bulb.  The older incandescent light bulbs radiate  heat, IR and UV. It actually has a really awesome effect with the arlo q sensors.  A well placed incadescent bulb will illumated an entire acre lot.   If you place them too close to the camera or have too many of them, then it will triggers the day sensors.  Play around with a 40/60 watt and see which works best for you.   Some halogen bulbs "can" give off the same effect.  It all really depend of the gas they use.    CFL and LED don't seem to trigger the sensors as well as the incandescents can.   The only negative i see with the incandescents are the high electric cost of running them nightly.  I have mine hooked up to a wemo light switch.  Wemo's are cool as you can set on or off schedules, dusk till dawn etc.   

Aspirant:  

yes the Arlo Qs will detect motion day or night and trigger recordings through a window.

Hope this helps.

[Courtneybags]

This help alot. I am unable to mount the Arlo Pros that I have outside of my apartment door as its easy to steal, and im trying to record the kids trying to break in to the apartment next door to me (thats vacant) weve already caught the same girl twice *rolls eyes*

Currently I have an Arlo Pro pointed in that direction and have the audio all the way up since its not detecting the motion thought the glass window.

There are two lights on each apartment outside that are lit all night on the landing so I wont need to mess with the night vision at all which is nice.

[Aeëtes]

Hi I'm happy to receive the wireless cameras with several features.  After adding all cams tonight, of course I did some tests.  It appears here in the forums the same irksome thing for some of us these home security cams do not work well from inside looking out through windows at night due to the red lights around the camera scope.  Along the sides and over the top of the camera scope, several red lights flicker onto window glass.  Any light interferes with video image viewing outdoors through window glass.  So, just cut a little piece of paper with a U shaped hole in the middle.  Place the paper on the camera side of the Arlo device and cover those red lights, with the U hole running south so you can see the scope (eye) and the dark block below it.  I think the block is for motion scanning.  Tape the paper in place before you look.  The video feed blinks like wacky while covering the eye or around it with paper.  So do not watch that video while you put paper and tape it in place.  Then go into the setting of each camera to turn off the night mode, and voilà you can see outside much better through window glass at night.  That way some of us can keep the cameras inside the home and get better video feed.  Let's see about scanning.. if it still works with the paper taped over the camera.  Any ideas, comment, or feedback?  Perhaps this would be a tidbit for future models.

[jguerdat]

You do know that you can simply turn off the IR illuminators in Settings, My Devices, your camera, Video Settings, Night Vision, right?

[Aeëtes]

Oh!  I didn't realize that turning off the night vision actually turns off the red lights.  Thank you for pointing that out.

[Aeëtes]

At any rate, why should there be red lights flickering around the eye of the camera?  Are they there it to prevent us from adopting a stealth mode?  This type of indicator light should be one tiny red light on the back side of each device so that it does not tattletale or interfere with video recording.

[JamesC]

Aeëtes,

Arlo cameras display an array of red dots around their lenses when their infrared LEDs are on. The red glow indicates that the infrared LEDs are active. These LEDs aid the night vision capability of the Arlo cameras.

Take a look here for more information: Are the infrared LEDs on Arlo cameras visible at night?

JamesC

[Aeëtes]

Thank you for the explication.  These lights that aid in calibrating night vision and capturing images of objects in low light may either be bright or almost invisible "so not to distract" (or attract attention) and "still provide excellent low-light performance."  Maybe in the future we would see new Arlo cams with the option of bright or dimmer settings.  As for now with only these bright lights, perhaps a dimmer film covering?  

[doczenith1]

---

wrote:

Currently I have an Arlo Pro pointed in that direction and have the audio all the way up since its not detecting the motion thought the glass window.

---

The Arlo Pro uses PIR (passive infrared) to detect motion.  PIR won't work through glass.  To detect motion through glass you need a camera which uses pixel based detection.  Options for pixel based detection are the Arlo Q or the Pro 2 when plugged into AC power.

[Customer18]

I have had positive results when the Arlo Q LED indicator and night vision were turned off, and I recommend turning off audio detection if the room the camera is situated in will be occupied. Keep in mind there should be adequate lighting outside to compensate for the night vision being turned off, and positioning the camera at an angle helped detect someone walking by a ground floor window. Your success might vary with distance and/or trying to do so from a higher window.