Activity zone not acting as expected, or ignored

[Seth809]

One of my cameras is set up at the front gate of my property looking toward the road.  Its a county road so probably only one car per every few minutes.  The road is 60ft from my gate so i need to utilize the activity zone to capture only gate movement and movement on my land.  I have tried different size zones down to about a 2ft by 2ft box 100ft away from the road.  I have also adjusted the sensitivity down to 5%.  With both of these settings its still going off with cars driving by. 

I read on the Arlo website you have to either have a Smart Subscription or the camera must be wired to power for activity zones to work.  Since this camera system is only 1mo old, I show to still have the free Smart 12mo Subscription.  I meet one of the requriements for Activity Zones to work yet they dont.

[Onegr8dane]

I have placed the Ultra cameras where I need the wider field of view. Which is a different complaint because the Ultra does not give the 180 degree view like they advertise. The really big problem is that ultra cameras ignore activity zones completely and react to any movement even though they are on AC power. I wonder if the reason is that the firmware does nor recognise that AC is connected.

[Tech-D]

This is from Arlo's website..

[dcfox1]

@Onegr8dane 

What @rdegraci2020  was saying is that a solar panel is not ac power even if your seeing the charging bolt. It must be plugged into a AC outlet or need subscription. 

[-Hammer-]

All 5 of my arlo ultra cameras are AC powered and have the multi cam elite subscriptions applied. My activity zones are still being ignored.

[CarloCMB]

Hi

My cameras are not plugged into AC, or solar. I am running completely on battery and trying to use the activity zones to reduce spurious alerts to a minimal level. This tactic is to save battery and get the battery life as advertised, and to get meaningful alerts. It seems misleading if activity zones do not work on ultra wide angle or only work on ac when it is It is advertised as battery powered

These are my original purchase cameras less than a year old. Based on the forum responses it is a common issue So I am not sure it is an issue with my specific ultras

Very frustrated !

[StephenB]

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@CarloCMB wrote:
My cameras are not plugged into AC, or solar. I am running completely on battery and trying to use the activity zones to reduce spurious alerts to a minimal level. This tactic is to save battery and get the battery life 

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Local activity zones don't need a subscription, but do need the camera to be on AC power (not battery or solar).

Cloud activity zones do require a subscription - when working properly they will reduce recordings and notifications.  But they won't save battery life.  The cameras are doing the same work, whether the zones are used or not.

[pmb-uk]

I am experiencing the same issue with 2 Arlo Ultra cameras, both with wired connections, and both have the Arlo Smart Premier subscription active. 

Similar to others experiencing the issue, I have deleted and recreated activity zones, have tried creating new modes, none of which has been effective. 

Firmware is 1.070.50.3_216_cfb9b8d on both, and I have one H6 and H7 HW versions.

[Tech-D]

Is it just me or has anyone seen improvement over the past couple of days.

I have walked around outside my activity zone without any alerts.  Now granted, it hasn't been windy in a number of days so the flag that is in the view of my camera has had minimal movement.

Just checking to see if anyone else has seen an improvement.

[kgilchrist]

Alerts, NO.

Recording each time, YES....

[rdegraci2020]

Perhaps Activity Zones are fixed now because I have noticed to not get notified  for movement outside the zones.  I do like however that the recording is still made for motion outside the activity zone, since I think it is important to have a record of any motion within the field of view. 👍

Also I noticed now that I get a white-box around the Person or Vehicle that the Camera detects. I like this new feature that Arlos has added. 😀

[Tech-D]

@rdegraci2020 

Are you seeing the white box around the phone notification?  If so that is normal as I have always had that.  

As for capturing video outside the activity zone that is what I don't want because it kills the battery.  To truly have a 4K camera recording at best quality the battery life is not good if you have an active area such as I do in front of the house.  I have angled the camera as best as I can to only capture the area I want but I don't want anything outside of my activity zone being recorded.

[rdegraci2020]

I hope Arlo engineers are able to only 'record' what is inside the activity zone, that would be great.  I am happy with getting no notifications for what is outside the activity zone (even though the whole field of view is recorded).

You have a good point about battery life.  I plan to power all my cameras using 30 foot Ultra-compatible AC charging cables and 5V 2.1A power adapters. It looks like I can thread the cables between the sliding sills of the windows  (without drilling holes through the walls) and there are power outlets within 30 feet of the camera positions.

[n1976jmk]

Sometimes in the past I have mixups occur with Arlo Smart.

IE a vehicle drives through my defined activity zone and it calls it a 'person'.

Lately though (last few weeks) there has been an extra amount of Arlo smart notification mixups (more than normal).

Here is just one example, my wife and daughter are walking down the driveway past the Jeep parked in our driveway.  I will receive a smart notification for a vehicle, even though the Jeep was not moving and just the girls were walking.  

In the lock screen screenshot you can see that Arlo smart highlighted the vehicle and not the two girls walking even though the motion came from the girls and not the Jeep that was parked.

Any advice from people who experience this issue in the past?

Everything has been rebooted, all apps are up to date, firmwares up to date, etc.

Thank you!

Jonathan

[Tech-D]

The other day I posted that I thought the activity zone issue was resolved.  Well I was wrong, today and into tonight we have a some light wind that has been blowing up my phone with alerts and recordings.  Below you will see my Activity Zone setup, and a few examples of videos from tonight, this is really frustrating for me because my battery is already down to 85% it would have been much lower by the time I normally wake up but I couldn't sleep and checked my phone and was greeted with over 80+ alerts and videos.

You can see a video of a few of my recordings.

[adizrf]

Exact same issue since 3 days!

[Cmchenry5]

I am having the same issue. I have the camera continually picking up vehicles outside of the zones.

[n1976jmk]

Hi @Danjnr One question, what is your field of view set at for the for the Ultra camera?  120, 155, or 180?

Thanks!

[n1976jmk]

Hi @Tech-D Your Arlo Ultra system is still going to record all motion within the field of video of the camera regardless,

But what the activity zone definitions does is set an area that you will only receive alerts for on your lock screen.  If motion happens outside of the activity zone it is still recorded to your cloud library just not alerted on your phone screen.

[itsme77]

Can someone from Arlo please explain how this actually works????

I set an activity zone, however I continue to get notifications of things outside of the zone. 

I DO NOT WANT TO BE NOTIFIED OF EVERY CAR THAT DRIVES PAST MY HOUSE!!!

How can such a simple feature be so difficult to configure.

I set the activity zone, what happens on Arlo's end. Is it managed via the base station, or from the cloud? I'm assuming Arlo is using machine learning to determine people/animals/vehicles and probably also the activity zones?

I've spend hours on Support chats to get nowhere, I just want it to work as described. How hard can this be, really??

[Tech-D]

@n1976jmk Unless I'm confused this is NOT what is stated in the Owerner's Manual....

Motion detection activity zones
You can designate zones within the camera view where you want the camera to detect
and record motion. After you create the zones, you can select which zone or zones
detect motion.

States Detect and Record...  Not just Detect...

[n1976jmk]

Hi Tech, I cannot confirm what is written in the owners manual, I can only state what’s happens in actual real world with my Arlo system.

Many will argue on these forums the manuals are poorly written, you can search the forum to see for yourself.

Thanks!

[n1976jmk]

The best advice I can give you from my experience is that use the cameras ‘device utilities’ section and make sure the black shaded area covers the area you don’t want to receive any motion detection from (ie a Street).

This has been the best way I’ve found to eliminate false notifications.

Thank you,

[adizrf]

I spoke to support this morning and got the below response - I would recommend everyone to log a case so we can raise the importance / let Arlo know the numbers.

Case Update
Hello,

In regard to our phone conversation, I can confirm that a dedicated team is already taking steps in order to solve the issue that you currently facing. You will be immediately notified once the issue is resolved. Currently there is no need for you to take any further action, such re-setting the base station etc.

We remain at your disposal for any clarifications or assistance you may need.

Kind regards

Tomasz / Arlo Support

[EB_Norway]

Update: it worked for a few hours, now it is back as before-useless.

Can Arlo pls fix it?

[dcfox1]

@n1976jmk  With smart notification option You will see the recording but no notification. That is different from the activity zones and that is where the bug is and Arlo posted friday they are working on it. Like @Tech-D  did say it is in the manual.