Setup day and night mode with several cameras and different alerts

[DKAnders]

Dear community.

Sorry to have to ask, but I simply cannot get the setup to work.

I am an IT technician, but I just do not get the Arlo “world”, have now wasted hours, so hope someone can help me understand how to setup my Arlo.

I have a small setup, 3 cameras.

1 outside

2 inside

I would like to make a schedule, rather simple:

Outside to be active 24/7 – all the time, with no notifications.

Geofence rule based setup for the 2 inside, with to modes:

If armed (I am not at home) 2 inside cameras are active with notifications.

If not armed (but geofence tells I am at home) 2 inside cameras only to be active between 12:01AM and 05:30AM, but not with notifications.

I simply cannot get this to work, have tried +20 different setups, but I keep getting in trouble with the fact that the Schedule can only have one schedule active at one time.

Hope someone can help me with a detailed description.

Many thanks in advance.

/Anders

[jguerdat]

You're having trouble because you're going at it backwards. Rather than separate schedules, you create as many modes as needed for specific time periods. Each mode will have rules for only the cameras needed for a certain need - you might have all cameras in one mode or 1 or 2 rules in other modes. Each mode is for a specific need. Then schedule the modes in their desired time periods. Be aware that you can't span days so schedule an overnight mode for, say 10PM to 11:59PM and again from 12:00AM to 6AM.

You would then also use geofencing to determine what to use when at home (maybe use schedule for Home) and what to use when gone (maybe Armed for Away).

[DKAnders]

Hi jguerdat.

Thank you for your answer.

I already have realised that I am doing something "wrong" in the Arlo world - I would argue that Arlo has it wrong (user experiense is king, but they do not get that) as I can see many having issues with the "backwards" setup.

I understand what you write, but it still do not give me a clue as how to set it up.

I have created a schedule called Night and one called Day. The outside camera is on both, and the indoores are only in the Day schedule. This way I do have them active on the right times, but that do not solve the "alert" function.

Can you or any one else explain step-by-step exactly how to configure this (Arlo support have not answered on my support ticket).

Thanks

[jguerdat]

The use of any notifications/alerts is determined  by the mode and rules in use.  You may need additional modes to cover all eventualities. Since you want notifications when not at home (GF in use) whatever mode you have selected for Away will have notifications enabled. When GF is in Home mode, the schedule/mode in use will have them disabled.

[StephenB]

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@DKAnders wrote:

Outside to be active 24/7 – all the time, with no notifications.

Geofence rule based setup for the 2 inside, with to modes:

If armed (I am not at home) 2 inside cameras are active with notifications.

If not armed (but geofence tells I am at home) 2 inside cameras only to be active between 12:01AM and 05:30AM, but not with notifications.

Can you or any one else explain step-by-step exactly how to configure this (Arlo support have not answered on my support ticket).

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1. Change the ARMED mode rule for your outdoor camera - setting it to have no notifications.  Leave notifications on for the indoor cameras.  Note this does exactly what you want when you are away from home.
2. Create a custom mode (perhaps called nighttime). This has a recording rule for each camera (indoor and outdoor), with notifications off for all cameras.
3. Create a second custom mode (perhaps called outdoor).  This only has a recording rule for the outdoor camera, with notifications off.
4. Create a schedule that uses the nighttime mode between 12:01 and 05:30 am, and which uses the oudoor mode the rest of the time.  Note this does exactly what you want when you are home 24/7.
5. Set up Geofencing so the "away" mode is ARMED and the "home" mode is Schedule.

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@DKAnders wrote:

I would argue that Arlo has it wrong (user experiense is king, but they do not get that)

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FWIW, I agree the interaction of notifications, modes, rules, schedule, geofencing should be rethought.  Though I suspect no matter how they organize it, it will still be confusing to some folks.  There are just too many dimensions.