Limit the times an ARLO camera sends images to the Base station and Cloud

[rdilauro]

Now that I have all my cameras set, I've been noticing looking at the library, that there are recorded images from each camera taken almost every 5 minutes.  

How do I limit the time this alert activation takes place?

I've been looking at the MODE section:

• Changing the time of a video recording when an even happens.  (300sec down to 50sec)
• Lowering the motion sensitivity levels (90% down to 25%)

These cameras are in a high traffic area.  By that I mean mostly vehicles passing by.  The cameras are protecting our club house.  So, I have cameras aimed at the side and front views (one a heavily used road, the other just local traffic)  The other cameras are set to view other parts of the clubhouse where  normally there is not a lot of activity.

Clearly the ones with a lot of activity are going to set the alerts, take the videos frequently and hence put a strain on the batteries.

Right now through SMART notifications, all are set on (People, Vehicles, Animals, other)  But those are on/off toggles, I can not set a threshold level for each of those notifications

Is there a recommended way to limit the triggering of alert events per camera?

[StephenB]

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@rdilauro wrote:

Right now through SMART notifications, all are set on (People, Vehicles, Animals, other)  But those are on/off toggles, I can not set a threshold level for each of those notifications

Is there a recommended way to limit the triggering of alert events per camera?

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Whenever the camera detects motion, it streams the video via the smarthub to the Arlo cloud for analysis.  The smarthub simultaneously records that video to your local storage.

Classification (people, vehicle, etc) and activity zones are applied later on in the cloud.  So filtering the notifications (or setting the activity zones) won't affect battery life, and it won't reduce the amount of local storage.

Two things that might help (in addition to what you've tried):

One is to change the camera position to reduce activity in the field of view.  For instance, it might be ok to adjust the camera so it doesn't cover the road (but still covers the property). 

Also, the Ultra isn't very sensitive to motion at the top of the field of view.  So if you can adjust the position so the road traffic is in that area, you can reduce the triggering.  One trick - you can invert the camera, which will result in the Ultra being less sensitive at the bottom.  There is a setting to invert the image in the camera settings, that will result in still seeing the image right-side up.

[rdilauro]

StephenB's response:

Two things that might help (in addition to what you've tried):

One is to change the camera position to reduce activity in the field of view.  For instance, it might be ok to adjust the camera so it doesn't cover the road (but still covers the property). 

Also, the Ultra isn't very sensitive to motion at the top of the field of view.  So if you can adjust the position so the road traffic is in that area, you can reduce the triggering.  One trick - you can invert the camera, which will result in the Ultra being less sensitive at the bottom.  There is a setting to invert the image in the camera settings, that will result in still seeing the image right-side up.

This would be for my ARLO Go2 cameras:

Setting the camera position will be a little harder, since the camera is up in a tree (20 feet from the ground)

For my ARLO Ultras:

I can try that easier.  I have a spare Ultra(its a 2) that I have mounted yet.  Currently, that one is triggering events very frequently.  I can try changing the position, but just inverted the camera might be the simplest to do.  I can then monitor the events and if its favorable, start doing the same with the other Ultras one at a time.

Once again, my thanks to this ARLO community.  Some of the documentation library articles are good, but having a two way dialogue helps even more.   Thank you.

[rdilauro]

Inverting the ARLO Ultra did make a big difference. Perhaps too big. I had this extra Ultra in my cottage next to my house. Its pointed to a main road. Yesterday it was recording about every 5 minutes. I inverted the camera and since midnite it has picked up a trigger to recording am not sure that I have it in front of a window changes much. But inverting the cameras will leave the eject button, charging spot or the solar charger connection exposed to the elements. Not sure from an electrical connection if that would be ok.

[StephenB]

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@rdilauro wrote:
am not sure that I have it in front of a window changes much. 

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The IR used for motion detection doesnt penetrate window glass reliably.  So this will make a difference.

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@rdilauro wrote:
 But inverting the cameras will leave the eject button, charging spot or the solar charger connection exposed to the elements. Not sure from an electrical connection if that would be ok.

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That is a puzzle.  Though if it's the best way to get the performance you need, there are some third-party camera covers you can use (basically a small roof that covers the camera).