My Arlo Pro Wire-Free camera won’t sync with the base station; what do I do?

[brybws11]

tried for hours to sync camera to base station all i get is a solid amber led. have done everything possible. anyone help please.

[TomMac]

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brybws11 wrote:

tried for hours to sync camera to base station all i get is a solid amber led. have done everything possible. anyone help please.

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which LED is amber... they are from Left ; POWER-INTERNET-CAM SYNC

The first two on left must be green first...

As to syncing, it is a quick push only on the base unit button

[brybws11]

the basestation is vmb3000. the solid amber led is the cam on base station.  I have tried to re-sink over and over again on right side i have resink button on back i have factory reset but from reading about it that doesnt do anything. it all started with the record time only lasting about 20 seconds tried to put back to 120 but would not  save for some reson. in the past i have resinked and made own profile with no issues. so its not that i dont have any idea about how to do these things.

[TomMac]

Unplug the power to the base from the wall...after about a min, plug it back in

To reset the base...hold in the reset with a paperclip for about 10 secs till all the front leds flash amber

Attempt sync again, quick push on the base sync button only then a sec later the camera

[brybws11]

allready done all this many times. still wont work.

[jguerdat]

Open a case with support using the Contact Support link at the bottom here.

[brybws11]

allready did this and no reply.

[jguerdat]

Weekends can be slow. Did you get an email with a case number?

[brybws11]

well thats not the case its been nearly a week now. I have been to the shop where i bought it from and the guy has exchanged the base station which i new was the problem all the long to be truthfull i think arlo services suck.

I still have the problem of not been able to slow the record time down and i have done all the things possible with no luck if you have any ideas other than reset and sink would be gratfull.

[jguerdat]

Define slow the record time down. Do you mean shorten the recordings? That's done in your modes.

[brybws11]

not shorten time increase to 120 as it is only recording at about ten seconds.

on my phone i have saved it at 120 and it shows 120 but recordings only last seconds ive saved it and everything and still records at 10 seconds and it shows 120.

[jguerdat]

Make sure you're using the mode that you changed the recording time in. Power cycle the base. Make sure you're not using live view when the recordings are taking place since live view will disable recording.

[brybws11]

had enough love these cameras. done that wore the t-shirt still dont work right think it just the software not working right  needs updateing and sorting out instead of concentrating on other new cameras. think i may just bin them shame really.

[magseire]

I found a solution to my issue of not being able to sync Arlo Pro camera's to the VMB4000 Base station. After spending close to 10 hours trying unsuccessfully to fix this issue, I have discovered a number of things with the Arlo Pro cameras and Base stations.

1. The Factory reset button on the VMB4000 Base station does not actually perform a factory reset. It is a soft reset as local Lan information was not erased from my device. 

2. New cameras require a firmware upgrade as soon as the sync process is underway. You will need to have the app open on your phone in order to proceed with the firmware update.

3. Rebooting the base unit, resyncing the base and cameras did not work for me after multiple tries. This is similar to rebooting your PC and does nothing to address the issue of syncing cameras to troublesome base stations.

4. The base station is the culprit of the problem, not the cameras or batteries.

5. The base won't sync if it's on a separate subnet on your home network.

My situation: I bought an Arlo Pro pack (1 x VMB4000 base station and 1 x Arlo Pro Camera). I connected the base to a TP-Link powerline in order to get internet access. I then synced the pro camera successfully. I then moved the base to another location so that it was directly connected to my home internet router via ethernet. The base connected to the internet and the camera stayed in sync. No problems so far.

The next part was not so easy.... I decided to expand my setup by purchasing two more cameras. Following all the guides, (holding sync briefly, 2 seconds, even longer, placing 1 ft, placing 3ft away, placed away from the router etc. etc.) nothing worked. I then connected the base station to a router in work to see if that would work, but it did not. However, the first camera was still in sync and working correctly. It was just the new camera's which would not work. Lastly, I performed a factory reset and tried to sync the new cameras to my work and home router and that did not work either. I then tried to sync the camera which had always worked. It would not sync....

I knew there was nothing wrong with that camera so I looked again at the base station to see if I had changed anything.

Just as I was about to get the Arlo boxes and arrange to send everything back, I remembered that I setup the base and the 1st camera over my TP-Link powerline. So:

So:

1. I plugged my TP-Link powerline into the same socket when I initially setup the base and the 1st camera.

2. I plugged the base unit beside the powerline, connected it to the powerline ethernet and turned it on. After a while, I got two green lights for power and internet, all good so far. 

3. I started the sync sequence with one of the new cameras, BINGO! The base found the camera within a few seconds and the blue light on the camera flash quickly for a few seconds. The Arlo app prompted me to update the camera firmware, which I did and after a few minutes, the camera was connected. Viola!

4. I then synced the other new camera an the old one and they connected correctly.

5. I have left the base unit connected via the TP-Link powerline (it's in a different room from the router) and it has been working fine.

In summary, for those of you who have the issue, think back to when you initially setup the base station. Did you connect it to a different router, switch or powerline?  Has your internet provider changed? Use the same setup you used when you first setup the Arlo as it appears that the Arlo is still looking for the cameras on a different subnet. If that's not possible, send your base station back for a replacement as your old base station is likely still holding your initial land configuration.

I hope this post provides some help.

Magseire