Arlo, add another camera or buy complete 2nd system

[TowPro]

I have Arlo with 1 camera that watches front door.  I want to add another that watches driveway I share with my neighbor.

I also want my neighbor to get an alart and be able to see video when someone uses our shared driveway but I don't need them seeing my front door camera.

do I buy another complete system for the driveway camera, or do I just buy an additional camera adn put it on my system?  how do I give neighbor access to only that one camera for alerts and video viewing?

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

You just need the additional camera. Then grant access to your neighbor's email address allowing just the one camera. Make sure the neighbor follows all the directions and clicks on the link in his email to activate his account. You can grant him normal or admin privileges as you desire for just that one camera.

[TowPro]

I shared my one camera with another account I setup using a 2nd email address I own.

It does not appear that I can control "push to phone".  its all or none, I can not have front camera push to my phone, and rear camera push to his camera.

Or am I wrong?   

How well will it work with 2 arlo base stations setting on a shelf right next to each other, along with 2 other wireless transmitters (1 is 802.11N and other is 802.11 Super G) all within 30', both of which are high power.

[TowPro]

sorry, I can't edit post.  Above should read "front camera push to my phone, rear camera push to his phone"

[Schorschi]

I'm not sure you're configuring that one camera you want to share with your neighbor the right way.

In Settings you need to go to Grant Access, then tap/click on your neighbor's name and on the next page check only the camera you want to grant him access to. All others leave unchecked. Also, uncheck the Allow Access option for him.

[TowPro]

I am done exactly what you are saying.

now logged in under my ID, the only place I know to look for settings for PUSH is under modes.  I see where can view or create new mode, under email, I can put more than 1 email in, but under Notifications I can only select PUSH yes or no, not which ID to PUSH TO.

also under grant access, it says to turn this switch on "Give access to an additional set of features like adding or editing modes, manually recording, sharing and deleting videos, and more..." 

now logged in as my test (neighbors ID?) if I go into Mode, select My Devices, I don't have the ability to Edit or create a new Mode.

I relize I log into app on my phone with my ID, and he will log into app on phone with his ID, but where do I see where I can setup PUSH to phone for camera 1 to my email, and push to phone for camera 2 for his Phone.

I figure under my account, I setup my MODES, and under the 2nd account, he sets up his modes, which can be different, and when he selects PUSH he gets the push.  But even with box checked (using my ID) his ID can't edit or create modes, but he can click on modes and change them.

I also discovred that if his ID changes mode to one that does not push, when I log with my ID, its also set to that same mode with do not push.

NOTE:  these questiosn could also apply to a wife/husband.  I want to see a PUSH on front door, but she wants to receive a PUSH from baby room.  Same deal.

[Schorschi]

I've never tried individualizing access to cameras by user(s), so I'm not sure if Arlo will behave the way I think it should.

First off, when you grant your neighbor's account only access to your shared camera, will push notifications from your other camera (that you don't share with him) come through to him too? That shouldn't be the case, but then, as I wrote, I never tested this. Do you even have two cameras already, because you wrote you started out with one?

So, you would grant your neighbor access only to the shared camera. A motion event on your front door camera should not come through to him, because you haven't granted him access to it.

If you still only have one camera, for testing purposes, you would not grant him access to your one camera, activate the mode, login under his account and trigger a motion event. The Arlo app should not alert him of the motion. (This would be the test for your front door camera that you don't want to share with your neighbor).

Subsequently, log back in under your account, grant his account access to the camera, log out, log back in under his account and walk in front of the camera to trigger a motion event. This time it should alert him of the motion event. (This would be the test for the shared camera).

Can you run the tests this way and confirm they behave as outlined?

Btw, modes are not specific to an account. They are shared between accounts. So, whatever modes you created and activate at any given time under your account, they will appear the same way on your neighbor's account.

[TowPro]

no, I only have one camera.  I wanted to make sure what i need would work so I knew if I needed another camera, or complete system.

What your saying sounds logical, but the end results will be I can eliminate him from alartes on my front door, but I will be forced to always receive alarts on the driveway camera..

plus I set my modes to it always records, no email ever, and no alert at night.  but I know neighbor would want his alerts on all the time.

but put this into a different scenario

a couple has 2 cameras.  1 on door, 1 on baby.

Husband will want door alarts ONLY pushed to his phone and maybe on a schedule.

Wife will want baby alerts ONLY pushed to her phone all the time.

it does not look like you can do this. Who ever is the master account on system will get all alarts. but shared account will only get PUSH alarts from camera shared with them.

Sure hate to put 2 base staations side by side.

my 2,4Gig wireless equipment is on channels 1 and 11, and netgear is on 6, so this can coexist.  But where will next basestation go?  since camera to base station distance is small, they both could live on 6.

[Schorschi]

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TowPro wrote:

What your saying sounds logical, but the end results will be I can eliminate him from alartes on my front door, but I will be forced to always receive alarts on the driveway camera..

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You could create a second friend account for yourself and configure it so that it is only granted access to your front door camera. Then you will never receive an alert for your shared camera.

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TowPro wrote:

plus I set my modes to it always records, no email ever, and no alert at night.  but I know neighbor would want his alerts on all the time.

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You could create an additional mode, e.g. "Armed (Night)" or something. In it you would create a rule for your front door camera to not trigger push notifications. During the day, when you do want to receive push notifications you'd activate the "Armed (Day)" mode. In this one, the rule for your front door camera would have the push notifications option checked.

But if your neighbor would want push notifications 24/7 for the shared camera, that wouldn't work, because you'd get them too at night.

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TowPro wrote:

a couple has 2 cameras.  1 on door, 1 on baby.

Husband will want door alarts ONLY pushed to his phone and maybe on a schedule.

Wife will want baby alerts ONLY pushed to her phone all the time.

it does not look like you can do this. Who ever is the master account on system will get all alarts. but shared account will only get PUSH alarts from camera shared with them.

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Similar to first case above. Create two friend accounts, one for husband, one for wife, granting access each to only his/her preferred camera. Of course, if either one of you ever decides to want to live-view the camera that they never get alerts about, they can't, because they don't have access to it. For that purpose you could create two additional accounts for husband and wife that don't restrict access to any camera. But if either one of you forgets to log back into your regular accounts, you may not get alerted of your preferred camera's motion events. So, this could be messy with so many accounts.

The whole thing could be simplified greatly if you'd be willing to eliminate push notifications completely and use email notifications instead. These can be individualized. The difference would be that you'd get alerted after the video has completed recording, instead of at the beginning. If emails don't work for you, you could try your cell phone provider's email-to-SMS gateway (if they have one). The email would then produce a text message on your phone.

[TowPro]

thanks.  I think this will work.

2 cameras.

1 master account

2 "shared" accounts, one for me, one for him.

share front camera with me, share rear camera with him.

log in with master account and setup modes for each camera

front camera would be the push times I want

rear camera would be the push times he wants.

but this is all "assuming" a shared user will not receive alerts for a device that is not shared with them :).

But we don't want to eliminate phone PUSH because of the delays inhearent with SMTP, plus the time for the application of your choice to do a GET to the smtp account.

I use the front camera as a door bell so I can meet delevery people at the door (I work from home, but can not see or hear the front door from my office)

and since a complete setup only cost $20.00 more than a single camera, I think I will buy the complete setup and have a spare base station in case of lightning hit on AC takes out base :).

[Schorschi]

TowPro wrote:

I use the front camera as a door bell so I can meet delevery people at the door (I work from home, but can not see or hear the front door from my office)

Have you considered one of the doorbell cameras instead at your front door? The Ring doorbell seems to work ok for most people and has sound. It will alert you on motion and doorbell button push. You are able to communicate with the people at your front door from anywhere you have an Internet connection with your smart device, i.e. even when you're not home.

I believe the manufacturer recently announced an upgraded version with a full HD camera. Saving recorded footage is available, but not mandatory. It costs $3 per month or $30 per year to save footage in the cloud. The first month is free for testing. Just like Arlo, you need an Internet connection for it to work. If you use existing doorbell wiring, your doorbell will still ring, even if the Internet is down.

External chimes can be bought that plug into an outlet and provide an additional ringer in remote parts of the house, where you might not hear the main doorbell well. The chime requires an Internet connection via Wifi too.

[TowPro]

got 2 cameras now (bougth new complete system, added camera to my system and saved base as spare parts

now have 1 main account and  2 shared accounts, both shared to unique camera

yes the shared account can only see the camera shared with that user.

everything works accept schedule:

you can only have 1 schedule.

if any of the shared users change there schdule, it changes schedule for all 3 users.

so if someone wants a different schedule, your screwed.

note:  in modes, you have to setup new modes with 2 rules each, 1 for each camera, than when that mode is applied to a scheudle, both uses receive the schedule, but they only see the action for there shared camera.

[Schorschi]

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TowPro wrote:

got 2 cameras now (bougth new complete system, added camera to my system and saved base as spare parts

now have 1 main account and  2 shared accounts, both shared to unique camera

yes the shared account can only see the camera shared with that user.

everything works accept schedule:

you can only have 1 schedule.

if any of the shared users change there schdule, it changes schedule for all 3 users.

so if someone wants a different schedule, your screwed.

note:  in modes, you have to setup new modes with 2 rules each, 1 for each camera, than when that mode is applied to a scheudle, both uses receive the schedule, but they only see the action for there shared camera.

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You will have to create more mode(s) until you have one for each combination of cameras you want to be active at any given time, because only one mode can be active at any given time.

With two cameras you can have a maximum of four combinations/modes:

1. Camera A off, camera B off.
2. Camera A off, camera B on.
3. Camera A on, camera B off.
4. Camera A on, camera B on.

I don't know what your exact requirements are, so I don't know if you will need all four combinations. You may get by with only two or three.

If you have a precise schedule of when each one of the above combinations is supposed to be active, program your Schedule accordingly and activate it. As soon as someone deviates from the schedule, they will have to manually switch to a mode. That mode will then be active until someone else changes it again to another mode or reactivates the Schedule.

If you're still having problems, post your exact requirements and we'll help you with setting up the modes and schedule.

[TowPro]

thanks, makes sense.  Teh profile at night, change that profile to RECORD and PUSH for driveway, but just RECORD with NO PUSH for door.  Guess some times it really does good to walk away and comed back to it later :).

[Schorschi]

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TowPro wrote:

thanks, makes sense.  Teh profile at night, change that profile to RECORD and PUSH for driveway, but just RECORD with NO PUSH for door.  Guess some times it really does good to walk away and comed back to it later :).

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Right. Forgot about the push notification setting. With that additional toggle your total number of combinations/modes to choose from rises to 16.

[TowPro]

apperas we are up and running.

I perfer to shut off push at 10.  neighbor wants 11.

12-7am record both, but no PUSH both cameras

7am-10 pm, record both, and PUSH both cameras.

10pm-11pm, record both, and PUSH only Driveway

11pm-12am, record both, but no PUSH for both cameras (same mode used 12-7am)

thanks for the help. yes sometimes 2 heads are better than one 🙂