Security Light Not Turning on Light with Motion

[KachinaShadow]

For years I've had three Security Lights (yes, I know they've reached the dreaded Arlo end of life) and all three would light when motion was detected but also trigger other devices (cameras). The Front light is connected full time to AC power, and the North & South lights are connected to solar panels.

Last week my South light stopped turning the light on with motion but still triggered the corresponding camera and also could still be turned on manually. After double checking everything and restarting the bridge & hub, along with resetting all settings & routines, the light would still not turn on with motion although it would still trigger the corresponding camera linked to it, along with being able to be turned on manually.

Next, I removed the South light and re-added it along with resetting all settings & routines...still no light but still able to trigger the camera linked to it along with being able to be turned on manually.

I then decided to remove & re-add the light a second time and this time and when I removed the South Light I found that at the same time the North Security Light (which had been working correctly) had also disappeared and been removed from the system, on its own, when I had done nothing but remove the South light...note that the Front light remained in the system, still functioning and triggering the linked camera.

After re-adding the two lights I found that the South light, with motion, still would not turn the light on but would still trigger the corresponding camera and NOW the North light, which had been working correctly before removing itself from the system, has stopped turning on the light but is still triggering the corresponding camera (note that the three lights trigger three different cameras). Also note that twice, while re-adding the South light routines in "standby" and then in "away", I went back to "standby" only to find that one time the five routines had disappeared and, after entering them again and coming back to check, three of the five routines had disappeared...they've now been reentered and are still there. Also note that I've even tried disconnecting the solar panels from both lights but, as I expected, it did not change anything.

This whole thing is really baffling and while I understand that these lights have reached end of life as far as support, they should at least still work as they have for years and now that two of them have developed the same issue at basically the same time, it tells me that I don't have just a single light that went bad but that it might have something to do with some kind of system update or change that caused this. I would certainly expect that a product that you spent good money on, regardless of whether or not it's at the end of life for support, would still be expected to work as intended in the system that it was made for...of course that would certainly not apply to one device that may have gone bad.

[KachinaShadow]

About three days ago the South light has additionally quit triggering the corresponding camera linked to it so now, even though it still detects motion just fine and can manually turn on the light, it has become just a useless device since it no longer does anything that it is to do in "Routines".

Oddly enough the North light continues to trigger the corresponding camera with motion (still doesn't turn on the light) and the front light still functions normally, turning on the light and triggering a corresponding camera.

I wish I could find a couple of lights that someone had taken out of their system so that I could try them and see what they do, although I'm still not sure that the lights are the issue since the two that failed did so at essentially the same time 🤔

[KachinaShadow]

Something interesting is that when these lights were available there was a later version which reportedly had some additional features (not confirmed), the original version was al1101r3 and later version al1101r4.

Now this may just be a coincidence, or wishful thinking, but the two lights that have the issue are the al1101r3 version and the one light that is still working fine is the al1101r4.

[BrookeN]

Thank you for providing this information. I am going to reach out to the development team about the different versions and see what they say. I will reach back out to you as soon as possible. 

[KachinaShadow]

@BrookeN 
Thank You,
I did find a new unopened two pack of lights (not sure which version but price was right) which I'll have in about 10 days, since I'm going to be out of town, so I'll onboard them and let you know the results.
Paul

[BrookeN]

Sounds good, thank you. Have a safe trip.