Arlo Essenial Wire-Free Doorbell not recording Video

[Jsunder]

I installed the new Arlo Essential Wire-Free Doorbell at our front door.  I currently have an Arlo Base Station with Arlo Pro 2 cameras attached.   I received two deliveries yesterday where packages were left at the front door.  The Wire-Free Doorbell did not notify, record video or detect anyone at the front door, however, my Arlo Pro 2 camera did detect and record a video of the deliveries.   The whole point of having the video doorbell was to record someone at the door making a deliver and to have the ability of two-way conversation.   If the doorbell cannot detect a person directly in front of it consistently? what good is it?   The Arlo Pro 2 camera which is about 12 feet from the door and over 20 feet from the sidewalk gate was able to detect and record the delivery.  I have the sensitivity of the doorbell set at 100%. I have it set to record when motion is detected.  You would think it would detect a person from at least 10 feet away and definitely someone standing directly in front of the door.  Do I have a defective doorbell or is it possible that the doorbell cannot record the same time as the Arlo Pro 2 camera?  I need some advice on this setup or the wire-free doorbell is going back.  $200 is a steep price to pay for a device that does not record events that occur directly in front of it.  

[JamesC]

Jsunder,

Is the doorbell Armed? Have you created motion in front of it to test if it is detecting motion and recording to the library?

JamesC

[Jsunder]

Yes, the Wire-Free Doorbell is armed.  Yes, I have tested motion in front of the doorbell.  The last test recorded motion in three 13 second segments to the library and only parts of the entire test.  Early it records motion only for a few seconds and then stops recording.   I have a Arlo Pro 2 camera about 20 feet away that recorded the entire 45 second test.    The camera only seems to be recording in 13 second segments and then cuts off.   Early it did not record any of a UPS delivery where the carrier knocked on the door which is a few inches from the Arlo Doorbell.  

[jguerdat]

Sounds like you're using "record until motion stops". Remember that the camera has to be able to detect the motion so even though the other camera recorded properly doesn't mean the  doorbell has the same view or settings. Motion needs to be across the FOV although that's harder to do with the doorbell so crank up the sensitivity in your modes and rules as a test. I'd suggest using timed recordings, too.

[Jsunder]

I have the sensitivity at 100%.  So you are saying that the Arlo Doorbell has trouble detecting motion that is directly coming toward it.  The sidewalk to the porch is directly in front of the Doorbell.  If this doorbell cannot detect someone walking toward it to the door than this product is useless.  

[jguerdat]

Mine has motion directly at the doorbell and detects fine with reasonable sensitivity settings. It may depend on your exact environment or maybe the doorbell is faulty.

[dougblair]

Couple thoughts here...

Take a look at the actions defined for the camera in the Mode that is active. IF motion is detected on the front lawn camera, trigger a 45 second recording on the doorbell camera too.  You could leave the motion sensitivity for the doorbell camera low enough to avoid nuisance triggers. You could also trigger the front lawn camera where the doorbell is pressed to cover all the angles. And to address your UPS guy just leaving the package on your porch, you could use motion detected on the doorbell camera to trigger recording on both the doorbell camera and the front lawn, send you a message, and turn on the siren and the strobes just to scare him :-).

Motion detection at the front door,. doorbell press and motion on the front lawn are all separate events and can be used to trigger different responses....

[Jsunder]

Yes, I have tried that. I have had my Arlo Camera system for over 2 year and I am familiar with setting up different modes and actions for the cameras.  I have the sensitivity of the Doorbell camera at 100%, however it is still not consistent in recording all activity at the door.   I have set the recording time to 1 minute.  Now my other problem is with the battery life.  I fully charged the battery Sunday evening.  This is Thursday evening and the battery is under 10%, has I got an notification today that the battery was below 25%.  If the battery life is only a few days and the camera cannot consistently record I would be better off adding another Arlo Pro 2 camera to my system as they seem to be more effective. Unless I have a defective Doorbell Video Camera, I find this to be more than disappointing. I have stuck by Arlo by buying additional cameras, nine to be exact and paying for a subscription, but I am more than disappointed by the Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell.  I have waited all of this time for Arlo to release a wire-free doorbell only to get a piece if junk that more than falls short of what has been advertised.  

[kwhiffin]

I am seeing a similar problem with my video doorbell.  My doorbell detects motion, but does not record to the local storage attached to its hub.  The app sees the storage.  I have a rule to record video when motion detected.  Weird thing is I can't set the rule up thru the iphone app, but if I login thru the web I can select the "record video" checkbox.  On the app the "record video" check box is grayed-out.  On the web interface, however, there is also a circled gray exclamation point next to the "record video" checkbox, but I can still select it.  I can't find what that means.  I have power cycled the hub, and my phone.  Logged in and out of the app, but it still won't record video.  Any ideas??

Thanks.

[Jsunder]

My Arlo Essential Wire-Free Doorbell is still not recording activity correctly.  I have set it to record for 45 seconds when detecting motion, however, it only recorded the Mailman walking up to the gate then stopped.  It should have recorded him entering the gate, walking up  the sidewalk to the porch, walking up to the doorbell where the mailbox is close by.  However, none of this is recorded. I went back to the mode settings, increased the sensitivity and made sure I had entered the recording time.  I ran a test and this time it recorded for 24 seconds.  My Arlo Pro 2 camera recorded everything both times.  It is becoming frustrating the the Video Doorbell cannot record activity a few feet from it.  It cuts off before the subject reaches the door.  I am running out of ideas and thinking about returning this doorbell for a full refund.   

[JamesC]

Jsunder,

From your description, it sounds like this issue will take more in-depth troubleshooting to resolve. Please contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[Candy1966]

Do you have the subscription with the 24/7 recordings option?

[Jsunder]

Yes, I have had a subscription for over 2 year and all of my other cameras are recording. 

I have sent the wire-free video doorbell back.  Too many issues with this product.