Night vision not working at all ?

[Richdiver]

Hi ...

My two arlo cameras have been working great until now. My rear camera seams to work fine during the day and the picture is great, however on an evening the night vision does not even come on, no IR lights , nothing. Ive tried rebooting , new batteries etc but still no joy. I wondered if anybody could help please ? 

Ive had the arlo system in place since june. I therefore was wondering is it under a guarantee or warranty etc ??? 

Thanks 

Kind Regards - Richard

[Richdiver]

HI ...

Ive just also noticed that the motion detection does not work either ?

[Richdiver]

hi Just managed to get a picture in night mode, it is flashing every second or so between the picture and blackness and I can here a clicking noise ? Any ideas ? 

[jguerdat]

That's abnormal. Place a trouble ticket.

[Stephca]

Night vision has not worked since the app was updated. Any suggestions for this?

[jguerdat]

Did you check to see if night vision is enabled in your rule(s)?

[Stephca]

Yes, the night vision is activated in the settings.

[jguerdat]

Either take the camera(s) with you into a dark place or wait for nighttime. Using the app, trigger live view.  DO you see the low red glow from the IR illuminators?  If not, you may have a hardware problem so create a trouble ticket.

You may also want to toggle night vision off, save and then turn it back on and save.  Sometimes software settings need a kick in the arse.

[Stephca]

Fixed! That sis it. Thank you for your help

[Stephca]

Not working again! Is that what happens with these cameras?

[jguerdat]

You may have faulty equipment but something in your setup could be the issue.  Define "not working" - are the running men black or gray when this happens? If black, have you tested the cameras by walking in front of them and watching whether the IR illuminators turn on? Are videos recorded? Does live view work at night?  If gray, have you checked your modes and schedule?  If all checks out, try swapping cameras to see if the issue follows the camera.

[Stephca]

Not working. ..meaning i have night vision setting on but i can't see anything. It is dark at night. I have turned it off, turnes offy phone and then turn it on to see if it works. No go. I have just now checked the modes and all is correct and on. Even tho i have the night vision on the running man is black. It soes not show anything at night. I can't switch cameras because this is the only one i have. This happened after the update was installed.

[jguerdat]

I think you're mixing this up here. First off, are we talking the new Q camera here or the wireless ones?  I ask because this is the Q troubleshooting forum but folks haven't been paying attention so we get mixed threads.

Under the current scheme, the running man being black indicates that the camera is armed/active.  It used to be green. As well, this has nothing to do with night vision (IR illuminators enabled). The Q camera will use the IR illuminators all the time if night vision is enabled while the wireless ones only turn them on when recording.

How about when using live view?  DOes that work properly?

[Stephca]

Yes, this is the wireless Q camera. I have turned the night vision on, the black running man shows up as if it is working but everything is dark. The schedule mode is set to be on all day. When using the live view at night it is dark. You can't see anything. So, i have tried everything. Not sure what else to do.

[jguerdat]

That implies the IR illuminators aren't coming on.  You might want to try toggling night vision off, save, and then back on and save.  Also, unplug the camera and restart.  Maybe some setting is confused.  If you still can't visually see the LEDs lighting up in the dark after this, I'd have to guess faulty hardware. Time for a trouble ticket or replacement from the place where you bought it.

[CynanOlwydd]

I've just started having the issue with one of my camera's as well.  I'm actually remote from my home, so I can only fix so much with it.  A week ago, this camera was completely locked up, and I had to restart it.  It has recorded night vision recently. 

Last night I noticed it was completely black.  Based on the above, I tried toggling night vision off/on, but got an error about my camera being busy so it wouldn't save.  Then I reset my base station. This caused on other camera to stay offline, but I could update the camera having the night vision issue.

On the camera that was not working, I just toggled the night vision off hit save.  Then I looked at the live view, and still saw black.  Turned Night Vision back on and bam, had night vision back. 

Now I have night vision, but one offline camera.

I'm really considering returing my 5 camera system...I have 15 days to decide, but so far every update seems to have introduced new and different issues.

cynan

[jguerdat]

It's unfortunate that you're not at home but a camera reset (open and close the battery door) may resolve the issue.  Can you get someone to do that for you?  

[Liem]

I hate it when people keep saying: "camera reset (open and close the battery door) may resolve the issue"

This is NOT a solution, I cannot go up the ladder 20' tall to open and close battery door when ever there is a problem.

I have two Arlo wireless mounted outside, one in front and one in back, both are mounted up high. They don't seem to work at night, but if I turn on an outside light, then they may work.

I tested this by walking whithin range of the camera in the dark and nothing happened, no recording, no led around the camera. Looks like the camera is blind in the dark.

[jguerdat]

There are only limited options when something goes wrong.  The battery door trick is about the only thing you can try.  I agree it's not a solution but it is what it is.

As for detection, particularly at night, the cameras are basically way too far away for it to work well.  I would bring the cameras down to basically the floor level of the second floor instead of the ceiling level.  That should make a big difference.

[TomMac]

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Liem wrote:

This is NOT a solution, I cannot go up the ladder 20' tall to open and close battery door when ever there is a problem.

I have two Arlo wireless mounted outside, one in front and one in back, both are mounted up high. They don't seem to work at night, but if I turn on an outside light, then they may work.

 

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The Arlo Night vision has a lilmited range ... as mentionedby J, at your height your already pretty close to the max IR illumination range.

The IR light up the center but fall off on the sides fairly quick.

This is an example of range.... the middle has a 2-3 ft high limb which if I remember is about 25 ft away... the cam is mounted 6 ft off the ground....

So if you raise it high like you stated at 20 ft, you do 2 things;

1) the PIR has about a max range of 20ft so trigger on people will not be good tho may work.

2) your at the aprox max illumination range for the small LEDs used in the camera.

You can 1) add external lighting be it regular floodlight or ir floods 2) lower the camera

[Liem]

Actually, the camera in the front is about 12' above ground and the one in back is 16'. 

I will relocate them lower but I don't want them to be within reach.

The stick is 16' fully extended.

[TomMac]

Before remounting... run a night vision test of your own ( make sure the cams are working the IR well )

Sit it on a ledge, table edge, etc and take a snap shot using the IR illuminators to see the actual range at night/dark...this will give you a better picture of what the illuminators are doing and help with placement.

As to how high, I mounted mine at 8-9ft ( btw, put a small tether on just in case , I used fishing line )

[bmartin42071]

Who are you with this Trouble Ticket stuff. Nobody answers email's, nobody is available to chat and there is no phone number to call.

[jguerdat]

I answered you in another thread. Since you seem to have trouble reading what's already been posted, use this:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx