Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
× Arlo End of Life Policy Notice
To view Arlo’s new End of Life Policy, click here.

Arlo wireless camera light is solid Amber

Reply
Discussion stats
  • 11 Replies
  • 15127 Views
  • 4 Likes
  • 6 In Conversation
joseph_nasr
Aspirant
Aspirant

hi. i recently bought an Arlo wireless system with 2 cameras and used them fine for the first 2 days. one night i turned them off when in the house and could not activate them back on. the status always said offline. i looked thru answers and tried the hard reboot with no success. removed batteries, removed devices, resetted base then tried to sync the cameras. the camera button on the base station blinks green then turns solid amber during the sync. i love the simplicity of this system, but if i have to do a reboot everytime, i might look for something else. 

any help would be appreciated,

thx.

11 REPLIES 11
steve_t
Master Master
Master

There are no circumstances in the manual where the camera LED is solid amber. Are you sure it's not one of the other LEDs?
If it's the camera LED for sure, perhaps the base is freezing up. Contact support at the bottom of the page and maybe they'll help you troubleshoot

https://kb.arlo.com/989/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-or-Arlo-Pro-base-station-mean

joseph_nasr
Aspirant
Aspirant

it's the third LED light from the left, icon is Arlo cam with wifi on top. thx for the link. 

xiaowai
Guide
Guide

Mine is actually the VMB4000, but there isn't that option.  I have the exact same problem, 3rd light going solid amber

xiaowai
Guide
Guide

VMB4000.  Fixed it like this.  Went into my account and deleted everything.  Turned off the power for a couple of minutes.  Then, essentially started again from scratch and got it all back working.

 

I'm beginning to suspect a problem at the Arlo server end rather than the kit at home.  The internet connection seems to drop quite often and for some time, even though I know from other usage that my broadband is pretty solid

 

Hope this doesn't turn out to be a regular happening.

joseph_nasr
Aspirant
Aspirant

finaly got it to work, thx for the instructions. for some reason though the camera shows black and white only, maybe cause it is in low light. i am having second thoughts about this system, u might have a point with the servers, also i hate the cost of the batteries every 6 months.

manfredz
Hero
Hero

the Arlo is most attractive for people who want/need an outdoor/weatherproof cam , which the one you mentioned isn't.  Also looking like you only get about 1/3 the battery life though it does have a rechargeable battery, but then rechargeable batteries are also available for the Arlo.

But if it's better for your purpose, go for it.

steve_t
Master Master
Master

Yep. Low light conditions make it go to night vision mode which is black and white. More detail is visible this way. 

xiaowai
Guide
Guide

VMB4000 (isn't it time this model was given as an option?!)  Well, it turns out that one of my cameras is faulty.  The original issue with the base station has gone away, so my messing around (above) does seem to have fixed that issue.  However, one camera continuously goes offline and requires a full power cycle to reconnect, so I have a fault report logged for that.  I know it's the camera, because I have two, and the other is faultless.  I've run both battery only, mains power only, and mains and battery (and swapped batteries), but the fault remains with the one camera.

 

So let's hope Netgear's response to this isn't as bad as some customers have made out!  On the plus side, the one camera that works is fine, and it is basically a decent system.  Fingers crossed.

O_J
Aspirant
Aspirant

Hi - Have read the above and am experiencing a similar issue however, my amber light didn't occur through sync process. It accured upon conducting a hard reset and allowing the system to re-boot, then seemingly upon completion the solid amber displayed and maintained within the camera apature (third from left).

 

I've only just opened the Arlo Pro 2 camera pack, and was attempting to sync the cameras - one at a time of course! I have since conducted many sync attempts,with the first camera, stand alone, with battery fitted, with & without lead attached, upside down! I've tried both batteries/cameras as the initial set up. No joy;

 

I've deleted the device from the phone app and am still seemingly unable to progress.. 

 

I'm infinately more confused as the Amber camera light has now decided to remain fixed on. I've even tried to sync as is... I'm going to have dinner leave a camera on charge and come back to try again but in the meantime if anyone has a bright idea i'm ready to hear it! 🙂

 

Score so far; Arlo Pro - 1, O_J - 0

 

 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

O_J,

 

Resetting the base station (hold the reset button until all LEDs flash amber) breaks the connection with your Arlo account. If you have done this, you must log in to your account and navigate to Settings > Devices > remove your base station. After the base station has been removed, click "Add Device" on the devices screen and follow the instructions. After this is done, you can then start syncing cameras.

 

JamesC

xiaowai
Guide
Guide

2 camera Arlo Pro system:

 

Well, after a long saga of trial and error, it seems that one of my cameras was faulty.  It would run for a while and then go offline, not always in the same state.  If it went off overnght, then the infra-red lights would stick on.  The only way to reset it was to remove all power for a short time, then resync.  Even that was a bit hit and miss as it only seemed to want to sync at initial power on.  Incidentally, I tried battery only, battery plus mains adapter and mains adapter only, so thereby eliminated a battery problem.

 

In the end I went to Netgear support (patience needed here!) and got an RMA.  Judging by the number of similar reports on these forums, this seems to be a common fault, so there must be a problem with Netgear's QA.  I haven't yet been able to test the replacement camera (on holiday now, which is why I wanted a working security system!), so will report back here if the problem recurs.

 

Interestingly, my second camera has the "ticking clock" problem, also reported on here.  However, the ticking noise is faint enough not to be a major issue, so for that camera, I'm quitting while ahead!  I will do some further tests later.  It could be that the working camera is close to some source of RFI, or it could be the base station is picking something up (I have it very close to the router at the moment).  But with only one camera, I don't currently have the means to test this thoroughly until the replacement turns up.  If I get any further with this, I'll report under one of  the "Ticking" discussions.

 

Nice system, when it works!