Question about rules

[Kuhne]

Hi all, this is my first post. I have purchased 10 Arlo cameras for my house, 5 Arlo Wireless cameras and 5 Arlo Q cameras. The 5 wireless cameras are for outside, like the Main Street, the yard, patio, garage, etc. While the Arlo Q cameras are for inside the house. 

I am sort of worried about battery life, so I plan to configure the video quality for best possible battery life and have outside cameras record only 10 second clips, after all the most important cameras are inside the house and those are wired, so I am happy with this setup.

My only problem is one of the outside cameras will be recording a lot of traffic (it's a busy road so a lot of cars and people go by) and batteries would probably run out rather quickly, even at the lowest quality.

So I figured, since one of the Arlo Q cameras will be outside but under an arch (so completely protected from weather) right beside the door, pointed outside, maybe I should just create a rule where the wireless camera only records 10 seconds clips when the Arlo Q camera under that arch records motion.

But I'm not sure if that is possible. Basically I want it to do this.

I have one Arlo Q camera and one Arlo Wireless.

I want the Arlo Q camera to record when it detects motion, up to 5 minutes or until it stops detecting motion (this feature is available in Arlo Q cameras) 

I want the Arlo wireless camera to be completely turned off as far as motion detection is concerned, in other words, I never want this camera to record anything by itself, unless the previous Arlo Q camera I mentioned detects motion. If that is the case then I want the Arlo wireless camera to detect a 10 second clip in the lowest possible quality. 

So if everything works as planned, I should have the Arlo Q camera recording high quality, long lasting clips every time it detects motion and the Arlo wireless camera recording low quality 10 second clips every time the Arlo Q camera detects motion, but when the Arlo Wireless camera detects motion by itself that the Arlo Q hasn't detected, then nothing should happen.

Is this at all possible? I know it should be but I am not sure if for this to work I have to have the Arlo Wireless camera with its own motion detection activated. This would be counter productive because it would not only record its own videos but also the triggers from the other camera.

If this rule is possible then it would pretty much make my ideal setup a reality. If it isn't possible it would be a shame but I am still very happy with my purchase and can't wait to have everything setup. 

Thanks in advance!

[jguerdat]

Currently, there's no connection between the wireless and Q cameras for interactive rules.  You'll have to set them up separately.

As for too much recording, step one is to position/angle the camera correctly.  Try NOT to include the street but only the actual area of interest.  Generally, you don't care about cars driving by but, rather, people/cars on your property.  Angle the camera down to minimize the scene and have motion across the field of view, not directly at the camera.  If that's not possible for some strange reason, search here for "pvc pipe" and look for the thread marked with "success" where someone fashioned a hood to eliminate excessive motion detection.

[Kuhne]

So that's not possible then. What about doing the exact same thing but with two arlo wire free cameras? To have ome camera record only when another detects motion but not when that camera itself detects motion. Only when triggered by the other.

Is this possible? Due to the way my house entrance is built and the busy nature of the street, I can't point it anywhere without it being activated every 10 seconds .

[Schorschi]

Yes, cross-triggering is possible. Note though that the triggering camera is locked and won't respond to any motion event until the camera it signaled to record is done recording. You may therefore want to consider recording on both cameras simultaneously for the same duration.

You may also want to post a still picture of your entrance, so that we may help in making suggestions regarding positioning and orientation of your camera(s).

Also consider mounting your cameras such that they are pointing towards your house rather than away from it. That way you eliminate false trigger objects that are just passing by your house. A tree or pole in your front yard would be ideal to mount a camera to - if available.

[Kuhne]

First of all thank you both more taking the time to help.

I'm just a bit confused because I'm now not sure if triggering from the Arlo Q to the arlo wireless is possible.

The first post seemed to indicate I can't but the second talks about cross triggering and I'm not sure of you are talking about only arlo wire free to arlo wire free or if you also mean the Arlo Q.

So if I understand correctly, if I set x camera to only record 10 second clips the moment y camera detects motion. It's better that both x and y are set to record for the same amount of time because y will be useless to detect anything until x is done recording.

Correct?

Could y camera be set yo never record anything by itself tho? Basically just record when x detects motion. While of course both cameras working as live steaming devices, although I won't use them for that except maybe a few seconds a day.

I will upload pictures on Saturday when I finally set down to install all 10 cameras. Right now I just have them configured and added to my account but I packed them all and I'm traveling on Friday back home

[Schorschi · Accepted solution]

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Kuhne wrote:
I'm just a bit confused because I'm now not sure if triggering from the Arlo Q to the arlo wireless is possible.

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It isn't. I was just adding to the previous answer and referring to the Wirefree cameras only. By cross-triggering I meant among the Wirefree cameras only, i.e. using motion detection on one camera to trigger a recording on another (Wirefree) camera. I don't have any experience with the Arlo Q cameras, so didn't even know you can't use them to trigger a Wirefree camera.

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Kuhne wrote:
So if I understand correctly, if I set x camera to only record 10 second clips the moment y camera detects motion. It's better that both x and y are set to record for the same amount of time because y will be useless to detect anything until x is done recording.

Correct?

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Correct. The thinking is that in a cross-triggering scenario if you can't use the triggering camera to react to a new motion event until the recording camera is finished recording, you might as well record on the triggering camera too (i.e. simultaneously), in case the intruder moves back to the field of view of the triggering camera.

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Kuhne wrote:
Could y camera be set yo never record anything by itself tho? Basically just record when x detects motion. While of course both cameras working as live steaming devices, although I won't use them for that except maybe a few seconds a day.

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Yes, that's possible.

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Kuhne wrote:
I will upload pictures on Saturday when I finally set down to install all 10 cameras. Right now I just have them configured and added to my account but I packed them all and I'm traveling on Friday back home

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 Ok, sounds good.

[Kuhne]

Excelent! Thanks for everything. Both of you.