Loud clicking noise

[Uribees]

So it seems like when my Ultras switch from regular to night vision it makes a loud clicking noise.  It is loud enough to wake me up.  Is anyone else having this issue? 

[techgurumiami]

I have noticed the clicking when the visible light comes on at night; but it is not super loud and both of my Ultras are at my front door and one is right by a window. It shouldn't be that noticable if you are inside. I am not sure of what circuitry they are using to know what is being activated when that happens, but the click from what I can tell is normal. I have turned the light on manually on both cameras and you can hear it.

[JamesC]

When switching to enable or disable night vision, the camera will make a short mechanical "click" sound. This is normal behavior.

JamesC

[Uribees]

So I have tried turning off the night vision manually in the camera settings. But it keeps reactivating itself. Is this normal?

[ItsPlayTime]

There is definitely a bug in the Android App which makes switching off night vision ineffective; especially once you leave the app. IF it turns off in the Android app it will usually reset to on when you leave the app and it will definitely reset to on as soon as the Android app is cleared from the phones recent apps memory. This is the case on the latest version of Android on my Pixel 3 XL.
I had to turn it off via a PC web browser for it to actually turn off & stay off.
I'm not sure about the iOS App.

[Uribees]

I'm also using a Pixel 3. Thanks for the tip, I'll try switching it off from PC.

[username81]

I purchased my 2 camera kit 2 weeks and 1 day ago. Both cameras have this same clicking problem. I've looked at other forums; this is a common hardware malfunction. It's been happening to these cameras since they started coming out, I don't know if it can be fixed through an update. Probably not since they haven't fixed it. Security cameras should be silent not making noises. It's not because of the infrared, it seems to be a electrical manufacturing problem. These cameras are useless to me. I took them back to BestBuy to exchange, however, they wouldn't take them because I was over the two weeks???? Don't buy from BestBuy, two weeks is outragerous for a return period. I'm stuck with these. Is there any physical way to fix the electrical hardware problem by opening up the device? That's the only problem I have with the cameras.

[jguerdat]

Open a case with support to use your warranty:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx

[JamesC]

username81,

The clicking sound you're referring to is normal behavior. This is the IR Cut filter engaging when the camera enters night vision mode.

JamesC

[Snyper912]

I'm having this same issue, however, it's occurring at regular and random intervals (i.e., 4:32 am, and again at 4:32 pm, but also when I open my Arlo phone app) and I have no idea what the rhyme or reason is for this. Also the sound is so loud that it's triggering audio recordings. Now I'm getting inundated with notifications.

Strangely, this only started occurring very recently. Was there a firmware update that's caused this?

[JamesC]

Snyper912,

The clicking noise you occasionally hear is likely the IR filter engaging when the camera enters night vision mode. This is normal behavior and is not indicative of an issue.

Are you sure this is what is triggering audio alerts? How often are you getting audio triggered alerts? the development team is looking into reports from some users of false audio triggers when opening the Arlo app, as soon as I have more information on that, I will provide an update.

JamesC

[jfolsom15]

I have an Arlo Q, the IR filter clicks on and off at random, my wife thinks hackers are looking in on us. Is it normal behavior if we are sitting without any device running the app to have this thing click on & off?

[JamesC]

jfolsom15,

Yes, this is normal behavior.

JamesC

[MikeJ317]

Hi James

I have not long ago bought 6 Arlo Pro 3 cameras with an Arlo Pro 3 hub.  I note if I toggle them off at night and power off the router and hub, that they make a double clicking noise every few minutes throughout the night.  The only way to stop the clicking noise is to take the battery out of them.

Can you please advise what the story is here, because I would have thought if the cameras, hub and router are off they should not be making any noise at all?

Cheers

MikeJ317

[JamesC]

MikeJ317,
 

We do not advise removing power from your SmartHub. If you power off the SmartHub and leave the batteries in the cameras, they will continuously attempt to reconnect to the SmartHub (this results in the clicking noise you're experiencing).

JamesC

[jackwhyte]

It's not simply an IR noise, it happens at all times of day and night. I have 6 Ultras and they all click regularly regardless of light levels. It's loud enough that one will trigger another to record if they are detecting audio. I wouldn't consider it 'normal behaviour' for a security camera to be making this noise randomly 24x7, it's an issue that needs to be resolved.