Arlo cameras stopped recording day of burglary- jamming?

[sallydecorator]

Hello, we have arlo cameras at our vacation home. This morning our property manager alerted me that the cameras were working, but not actually recording anything. I went online, and saw that indeed, the property cameras were working (I even took a screenshot) but they were not being activated by any motion. This was in the front an back yards.

This evening, someone broke into our home and stole a multitude of items.  There is nothing on the cameras showing any recordings for it. 

Any ideas on how this could happen?

[jguerdat]

There's a variety of possibilities.

- There was a power or Internet outage (coincidental or malicious - an uninterruptible power supply for the network equipment including the base can help mitigate the power issue)

- Motion was slow enough to not be detected

- Motion was (mostly) outside of the field of view

- Motion was directly to/from the camera rather than across the FOV

- Distance too great to reliably detect motion (particularly in the dark)

At least some of this could be the exact positioning of the cameras.  Post a link to one or more of your screenshots for possible suggestions.  If you do this, indicate where the thief came in (if known) and where he took things.

It might be worthwhile to consider the Q cameras which stream 24/7 and can be configured with the CVR (constant video recording) option so you can see what happened even if no recordings were taken.

[bstamper]

Another question that I didn't quite glean from the post.  Did they stop working for the robbery only? Or are you saying they stopped at one point and didn't start recording again? From a timeline perspective what was the date of your last recording (assuming you have a few false motions here or there)? What was the date of the robbery and and have or did they start working after the reobbery?

[sallydecorator]

Hello, I realized after the post that jamming could not have been the problem, as the cameras were working the entire time. I've had the cameras placed in the same location front and back yard for about 8 months with minimal problems, and have been recording motion to and from the front and back without trouble. This property has the same settings as all my other Arlo cameras at my personal residence. 

My property manager told me the cameras were not recording motion. So, i went on the arlo site and was able to do a manual record of the back yard, literally right before the burglary occurred. So, I know they were working. In addition  I know the burglars were not smart enough to jam a signal as they left a beer bottle at the scene, and fingerprints on the pot they used to smash in the bathroom window.

This has continued to happen at this property site on and off since the burglary which was on 4/22/16. Sometimes it catches even the slightest motion, and sometimes it does not go on at all. Totally inconsistent. 

Here are some thoughts I had which did not impact the performance:

recycle  power on the netgear hub, take out and replace batteries, reset the cameras, change the settings from standard to custom to everything in between it seems, i had used rechargable batteries in the past and thought maybe that was it (wasnt). 

the cameras still have blocks of time where they will not record any motion whatsoever. 

The night of the burglary, there was NO recordings in the front or back yard the entire day. Only the next day the cameras started to record again. so, the cameras have the capability to record, it's the MOTION trigger which is inconsistent from day to day, hour to hour. 

also, I asked about the Arlo Q as changing out batteries for a vacation home is not easy I have to pay someone to do it. However, the Arlo Q is only for indoor use. 

Our back yard camera is right near the back door, angled towards the back yard. there is no way someone should have been able to break the bathroom window, get in the house, and open the door for his accomplice with the camera RIGHT THERE! 

In the meantime, the theives are trying to use the credit cards and at least are being caught on camera at the stores for that. I'm  hopeful the police will get them. Sadly, I still dont have a foolproof way to remotely monitor this property. 

With that, what would cause arlo cameras to STOP recording motion with no rhyme or reason to the dates/times etc. At first I thought maybe fog but it's not foggy where the house is locaed. It does rain a bit, maybe that has something to do with it? 

[sallydecorator]

The cameras started working again the day after the burglary. We reset the entire system and everyting came online again. However, it continues to have 'black out' times/days/ hours with no consistency or discernable connection to anything else. 

[jguerdat]

A couple of thoughts - power or Internet outages for whatever reason.  Power can be mitigated by using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS or battery back-up) for your whole network, meaning modem, router and base.  You don't need to get crazy with size or capacity - I use a 750VA unit with no issues - unless you have specific needs.  Internet connection would be an issue that you can't control unless you do something like cell service fall-over.  Some routers support this natively but I've never tried it.

I don't see any other reason for periodic "blackouts" unless it's just a detection issue. A Q camera with CVR might be a solution since 1) it's powered and 2) CVR will show breaks in the stream so you can confirm some sort of outage. The newer ! Plus also has on-board SD card storage so that could be useful, too.  As for outdoors use, you'd be on your own but a protected camera, whether by location or in an appropriate housing, could be fashioned.  TomMac has some experience so maybe he'll chime in.

[JustLearning]

A wired Arlo for outside would be great or a case. Your experience, like mine, suggests the cameras are deliberately being interrupted, has anyone worked out how and managed to resolve it?

[nngnng]

It sort of proved the Arlo are not reliable......It's a hit or miss with the Arlo.

[Jerryfrank]

I also have people who regularly break into my apartment. They come in and look through my things, take a few things and let me know they were there. The cameras never detect them. The cameras always detect me. So, they have figured out some way to disable the system before entering and enable it once they are gone. They are sophisticated enough to do this. Anyone know how they keep getting away with it?

[TomMac]

---

Jerryfrank wrote:
I also have people who regularly break into my apartment. They come in and look through my things, take a few things and let me know they were there. The cameras never detect them. The cameras always detect me. So, they have figured out some way to disable the system before entering and enable it once they are gone. They are sophisticated enough to do this. Anyone know how they keep getting away with it?

---

If this is truely the case, maybe a wired system would be better for you

[nngnng]

If this is truely the case, maybe a wired system would be better for you ? Are you kidding me ? WHY DID WE ALL PURCHASE ARLO WIRELESS SECURITY CAMERAS ?  It really sounds to me the Arlo are not meant for security cameras. That is pretty scary that someone is able to disable the system and not detect intruder. I think Netgear team should contact Homeland security for advise. As a consumer how can we trust the product if this doesn't work.

[TomMac]

NO, not kidding you...

As good as ARLO cameras/system is, it just can't cover all the possiblities that are out there....

Yes Alro are wireless, and Yes any wireless system can be blocked by a stronger signal in the same bandwidth if you know how.

But, also honestly, I don't see many people walking around with jammers... IN THIS CASE as the OP stated, If it is truely the case, then a wired system would solve that problem. ( or a separate alarm system )

Just cause Arlo doesn't fit ALL the situations, doesn't make it a bad system. 

[nngnng]

Arlo cameras are useless- Totally inconsistent.  For example yesterday- Failed to record mailman deliver mail. 

[JustLearning]

Unfortunately it seems someone has worked out how to disable the cameras which show as offline or unavailable. The motion detection has become erratic, has anyone resolved this?

[sallydecorator]

Hi all,

Lots of feedback. Here is the update on the cameras. As previously posted, I do not believe jamming was the problem. The burglars left a beer bottle at the house so I think it was more 'dumb criminals' and no one that sophisticated. 

1/ The cameras continue to be unpredictable on what they record. when they stop recording, they ALL stop recording. However, when they are no longer activated by motion, I can still manually record when I check in on the library of recordings. 

2. I can't use the Arlo Q for continuous recording because it is an indoor-only camera. 

3. We continue to have the internet wifi reset and that always helps for a few days. 

4. I'm still terribly dissapointed in the system but continue to fiddle with it by changing the field of view (minimizing it seems to help). Ive also now set the sensititity to the highest. 

As of today, they are recording literally every single thing. Two days ago, that was not the case. It's a day by day thing. I feel like i'm babysitting my arlo system, it's not giving me the peace of mind I thought I'd get with my investment. 

[JamesC]

sallydecorator,

What mode are you using for your cameras (Custom mode or a default mode such as Armed)?

Are you using a schedule?

If you can manually record and live view without issues. It sounds like there could be a problem with the mode you have set. Consider testing using the Armed mode (if you don't already) or try creating a new custom mode from scratch to isolate the issue.

JamesC

[sallydecorator]

Hi James,

I wish that were it. I started in armed mode, then moved to a custom mode based on trying to get one camera to trigger the others to work, then back to armed mode. For schedule, I was not totally sure how this benefited me. i was trying to get it just to record all the time, but i guess you need arloQ for that, you cant use the outdoor cameras and record all the time. So, I assume schedule mode means "record on motion only during certain hours". 

Hmmm thank you for your consideration, 

[Speaks]

I have cameras 3 in fact and all work fine during the day. Detecting motion etc. At night they just don't seem to detect motion. I get no videos at all till the morning. I have had my car broken into on my drive covered by two Arlo cameras and nothing picked up. I have a motion detected flood light yet still nothing. Bought for peace of mind and so far in 3 months it's failed me twice at night when I need it most.

[jguerdat]

Post screenshots of your cameras.  Maybe that will help.

[JamesC]

Speaks,

Are you using a schedule? Are the cameras using the "Armed" mode at night?

JamesC