Bright Glare Flashing and False Motion Alerts

[Target_Acquired]

I opened a thread on this last year, but didn't have time to pursue it.

I have the original base station and 10 cameras, all set up outdoors. 

My base station:

*  Hardware version VMB3010r2 and firmware 1.9.4.0_15548

Cameras are all:

* Hardware version H7 and firmware 1.2.16720

During the day, I get 40+ false events.  That can be 40+ from a single camera.  And it's not always the same camera and it's not always "only one" camera. 

The video always starts out with a bright flash and then no evidence of movement by animals, people, or plants. I've attached a sample video, which I've shortened from it's original length.  Depending on your player, you may need to wind the video all the way to the very beginning to see the bright flash. But you can see plainly that there's the flash, and then NO MOTION.

I have even been looking out the window when a false alarm has occurred, and from the window, I saw nothing.  Are my cameras seeing ghosts?

Decreasing the motion sensitivity on a camera by camera basis within the mode configuration only seems to reduce the ability of the cameras to capture REAL, BONAFIDE movement.  Some cameras have been set to 40% sensitivity.  They still get a lot of false alarm flashes, but now I can sometimes walk right past them and they won't trigger. 

I switched to rechargable batteries about a year ago, so at least the problem stopped costing me money.  But it's still a problem, and although the cameras work well at night and indoors, I strongly de-recommend them for any and all outdoor use during daytime. Vocally.  And repeatedly.  I've probably stopped a dozen Arlo sales in my city from various conversations.  Yes, it's THAT BAD.  Not the bright flashing, mind you.  The sheer wave of false alarms is intolerable.  When I bought this system, it wasn't this bad.  Not nearly!  Something changed about 2 years ago, and it changed for the worse.

So has anybody come up with a solution for this problem?  I do want to fix this.  If I can't, I'll install a real wired camera system outside and will put the Arlo system either on night duty only or just inside my house.  But if it can't be fixed, then I won't be buying any new Arlo cameras or base units.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or help you can give.  If we can fix it, I'll recommend Arlo again.

[jguerdat]

As noted many times here, as the sun's angle changes, you may get false recordings due to the sun's IR reflecting off leaves, trees, cars, everything. You can try repositioning the cameras to minimize those items being in the view and/or reduce sensitivity to a point that you still get the detection you need with fewer false positives.

[NukeLife]

I have the same issue on cloudy days I don't get that many false alarms but on sunny days it' typical to have 100+ per hour until I adjust the sensitivity down to the low 30's. 

[Target_Acquired]

I don't think I ever responded to Brian's question:

"Have you ever actually seen the flash, or is it only the camera that is seeing it?

Would you be willing to take the camera that is the most offensive and take it indoors for a day or so and see if the problem follows?"

So I've had my cameras indoors, outdoors, and in all different positions.  The flashing only happens outdoors.  As mentioned in one of my first 2 posts, sometimes I'm looking at what the camera is seeing as the event occurs.  I see no flashing with the naked eye.  Sometimes I see a car or truck driving by, sometimes I hear a plane overhead, and sometimes I see and hear no vehicles at all.  But I never see any flashing, nor do I ever see a shadow like the shadow a plane might cast on the ground if it's flying at low altitude.

The cameras' sensitivity has been set way too low to be effective.  So I'm going to set them higher and just let the videos pile up.  When I can afford a better system (wired or not), I will move this system indoors.  So it'll be the inner ring of my security strategy.

Obviously, since I've been having the problem for a couple years now, I cannot recommend Arlo.  And again I repeat: When my system was new, IT DID NOT BEHAVE LIKE THIS.  There was no flashing until about a year after I had bought the system!  Something changed.  I'm convinced that it was a firmware update and I am very very disappointed that Netgear has done nothing about this.  Until this is fixed, I'll buy no more Arlo cameras, because a camera system should work well indoors AND outdoors.

[ArloBS]

I know this is an older post but I have been having the same issue with both my wireless cameras.  Neither camera points at the street, one under the eave points to my back door, the other under the evae points perpendicular to the house to show the front door.  During the day it is necessary to turn both cameras off due to the constant flash and false alerts.  There is no motion of any kind and the flash and false alerts keep coming in until I turn the cameras off.  No issue at night.  When I first purchased the cameras they worked very well, today is a different story.  Winter time is not as bad as there is normally not a lot of sunshine (Seattle area).  I also just recently purchased rechargeable batteries after buying 48+ batteries due to false alarms and rapid battery drain.

[jguerdat]

Many folks have a daytime as well as a nighttime mode with different sensitivity settings to handle issues like this. What is your sensitivity set at? Have you tried lowering it?

[cherlock]

Until Netgear adds a means to automatically set and change camera sensitivities according to a preset schedule, I'm about to log into each camera and manually set them sevveral times a day. It's a problem with bright sunlight, and problems with different times of the day. How about an interface with IFTT, or something of your own development?

[jguerdat]

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@cherlock wrote:

Until Netgear adds a means to automatically set and change camera sensitivities according to a preset schedule, I'm about to log into each camera and manually set them sevveral times a day.

---

Done and done. Create custom modes with rules for the appropriate sensitivities for the time of day and then schedule them.

[steve_t]

That's exactly what I do. Custom modes "Day" and "Night" - original I know 😉
Both modes have identical rules except for the motion sensitivity setting. These modes run via a schedule. Works great for me

[tjntjn]

I have exact same problem. When I got my cameras everything was working find. I haven't changed anything, but now I get +50 alerts during daytime. Camera is point towards my house. The video starts with a burst of light for approx 1-2 sec.

I am thinking, maybe an update from NetGear ruined my camera.

[jguerdat]

As the sun changes position in thesky, reflected IR from it can cause numerous false triggers. Reduced sensitivity is what many of us use at various times to help out. Use the schedule to automate switching between modes having different sensitivity settings.