Arlo Security Light System: Do I need additional light to sync to Base Station?

[TheWatcher24]

I have a 1st Gen arlo wire free base station with 3 cameras , do I need anything additional to sync an arlo light to my base station ? If I just buy an arlo light alone , can I use my base station?

[steve_t]

The Arlo Security Light requires the Security Light Bridge. The bridge connects to the light via Bluetooth. The bridge connects to your home wifi. Only through the cloud do the cameras and lights communicate. Don't ask me why they did it this way

[michaelkenward]

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@steve_t wrote:

Don't ask me why they did it this way

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Something about the range of low power bluetooth?

By binding several lights on to one bridge, it is also a way of cutting down the number of wifi clients that a router has to handle.

Over on the routers community there is a growing stream of messages about the explosion in IoT stuff running up against the limits when it comes to the number of wifi clients that a router can handle. Who knows if this is related to the hubs?

But it would be nice to know what the engineers behind these things had in mind.

[jguerdat]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

Something about the range of low power bluetooth?

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The range is a theoretical 160 feet/50 meters.

https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2011/dec/bluetooth-goes-ultra-low-power

[TomMac]

My one light is a good 75 ft from the bridge and works fine...  so it could possibly go a bit more,

there is a signal indicator.

[TheWatcher24]

So the "bridge" is something additional to the base station that my cameras connect to? Thanks

[JessicaP]

Hey @TheWater24,

You're correct! In order to use your Arlo Security Light, you will need to sync with the Security Light Bridge (not the Base Station) as steve_t mentions.