Arlo VMB3000 - Going offline without warning.

[adanac]

I have the VMB3000 base station and it goes offline without warning, possibly due to brief power outages.   

And it because it sends no message saying it's offline, all of my cameras burn through their batteries trying to connect to it.

Then I have to get up on a ladder in 3 places, to get the cameras down.

Then I have to charge the batteries in 4 cameras.

Then, because the cameras don't re-pair with the base station after re-installing recharged batteries, they all have to be manually re-paired (assuming they will - 2 cameras will no longer pair after multiple attempts).

Then, assuming I can get them to pair with the base station, I have to re-install all of them.

If, 3 weeks from now, the base station decides to go offline, this all gets repeated.

Why?

[adanac]

Arlo base stations will go offline, and they are designed to STAY offline when they do, and they are designed NOT to notify, you and when they go offline, they are designed so that you have to manually pair all of your cameras again.  Be warned.

[jguerdat]

We don't know the why's and wherefore's but the simple solution is to use a UPS for your modem, router and base. It can be as inexpensive as a $50 one which will still give you hours of runtime in case of extended outages. This way there's no issue about what comes up first - the router or the base (it's an order issue). I've been running most of my system on a UPS for years and we've been making this recommendation for just as long.

A real benefit is that your system keeps sending videos to the cloud during the outage. Without the UPS, the system isn't working.

[adanac]

Thank you!  

If we don't know why the base station decides to go offline, how do we know it's related to power?

[jguerdat]

How do you know it's offline? Do you check the base LEDs? Too many variables to provide an answer. The power outage one is the easiest to solve.

[adanac]

It says it's offline when I log in.   If we have no idea why it goes offline, why do we feel it's power-related?

[jguerdat]

The real way to tell if it's offline is to look at the base LEDs. If there are 3 green ones, it's not offline.

I have occasional issues with "offline" and just force close the app and reopen it or log out of the web client and back in. That almost always clears the problem. For the few times it doesn't, I check the LEDs to make a determination for next steps.