Arlo Records Everything but most important thing?

[JohnEmar]

I just purchased my Arlo system and set one camera up at the front of the house. The camera captures a 2 car driveway, some of my neighbors driveway and the road in front of my house (including the sidewalk) My camera doesn't record when I take a few minutes to park in my driveway, doesn't record when I leave my driveway, but records when someone walks by the sidewalk with their dog, or when a car drives by...

Please help me troubleshoot this problem. Thanks

[arlomaster]

If it's a setup like mine, I think I might know why.  I have my camera set up so it's facing my driveway.  I drive towards and away from the camera to enter and leave my driveway.

The thing with these cameras is that the motion sensor works best when things move from side to side in its field of view.  Moving toward and away from it will trigger the sensor sometimes.  

What I would try first is to increase the motion sensitivity of that camera.

The second thing I would try is to change the location of the camera so that people or cars that enter your driveway are moving from side to side, or at least moreso than it is now.

[steve_t]

I have the opposite problem where cars set it off all the time but people can take ages to trigger it. I understand that a person has a much smaller thermal signature than a car so a car is more likely to trigger a PIR motion detector.

But as above, positioning and motion sensitivity combined will allow you to get what you want and then you'll probably get more, but it's better than not capturing what you need to be captured

[JohnEmar]

Thanks for your quick rely. Yes the camera was pointing directly towards the driveway. The motion was on 100%. I mounted it on the siding and already drilled holes so I won't be moving it (It is on the camera mount) instead I will try to reposition the camera. 

Also, the camera does not start recording until the person/car is at the very end of the camera just about to leave the camera's view, the camera has full bars of internet connection. Any idea if that lag/delay is normal and how may I improve it?

[arlomaster]

The same thing happens to mine. By the time I'm moving from side to side, I'm fairly close to being out of view of the camera, so by the time the camera wakes up and begins recording, I've already taken the few steps necessary to be almost at the edge of view.

The lag in recording is normal. Some people experience a short lag of 1-2 seconds and others longer. Because the camera is on batteries, it's in sleep mode and won't begin recording until it is awaken by motion. I'm not certain about the mechanics, but from waking up to begin recording, there will be a lag.

I hope readjusting the view helps. I stuck mine on with double sided tape, the strong kind, so it'll be a pain, but I don't think I have a choice but to relocate the camera.

[TomBastedo]

That's a good point about the Arlo coming out of sleep mode causing the lag time. But it seems the Arlo Pro comes out of sleep time much faster as it has nowhere near the lag time.  I have been researching this lag, as I find it just about intolerable. I've been intending to add a 5th outdoor camera, so I am going to try an Arlo Pro and see if it performs with less lag time with my Arlo base staion. If it does, I will be gradually replace all 4 Arlos as the lag time makes it just about useless.