Failure to record

[ABDCanton]

We had an intruder a few nights ago.  Our camera is set for 10s record w/motion activation.  Every video it has captured has been 10s in length, except the ONE video I need that has the intruder, this video was only 1s long.  I have been on hold with support for over 15 minutes and still holding, I also emailed support and am awaiting a response.  Thought I would post here to see if anyone has any ideas why the camera would fail to record for it's set interval, and if there is a way to retrieve "lost" footage or get a clearer shot of the intruder.

[jguerdat]

I've had short videos, too. The !likely candidate is a connection loss between the camera and base (interference?) or between base and server. I'd bet the former.

[steve_t]

Some of mine are shorter too and I also suspect it's due to loss of comms between the camera and base or maybe internet and base

[nngnng]

Sounds like a very robust system. It fails when you just need it. Great system !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't ask for more.

[rm101]

Hi. I have waited a long time to post in the community forums in order to be really fair to Arlo. I was trying to really work with these cameras for the past 7 months. I now regret my investment. I have two routers and 6 cameras along with extenders so I can have strong signals all the time. I have learned all the troubleshooting and fixing the cameras over and over again for motion detection and recording and any other settings. What I find funny is the settings will just change on their own! I'm the only one who uses the log in and works on them and I will set them and then a few weeks later they will be back on some default setting. This happens constantly. My main camera hasn't been detecting motion all day even though I have resynced it and set it up perfectly over and over with all the right settings for motion detection and recording and the litte man shows up. I even moved the camera. It's so frustrating. We had a security issue today and none of it is on the camera when it happened right in front of it. We have no recording to go after the person. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me since purchasing these cameras. I put the cameras on the lowest power saving options to save my batteries and they constantly need to be replaced. I recently bought the tenergy charger and some tenergy rechargeable batteries in hopes I can resolve this issue for the future. In all the time, effort, and battery purchases I've had to make with this camera system work, I could have bought a better more reliable system through an installation professional. Huge bummer and I spent a lot of money on all of it. 

If anyone can figure out the recording issue with the detection issue let me know. I've tried all of it. 

[jguerdat]

It sounds like you have multiple issues.  For starters, I'd suggest verifying that no device needs a firmware update (Settings, My Devices, look for red triangles).  If all is good, it may be best to reset everything and start fresh.  Remove all devices in Settings, My Devices.  Use the Add Device button on the Devices tab to add your bases and sync the cameras to the appropriate base.  If you have mode/rules/schedule/settings that you've customized, note them to help with the rebuilding process.

For the battery issue, the usual suspects are distance from the base, the walls/ceilings that the signal has to pass through and the stuff inside them (wiring, ductwork, etc.) as well as obstacles like large mirrors, TVs, etc.  There's also the possibility of 2.4GHz wireless interference from cordless phones, etc. that can make the cameras struggle to maintain a good connection with the base, using more battery power.  Repositioning the cameras and/or base can produce better connections.

Also, remember that the total minutes of live view and recording affects battery life with 5 minutes total being spec usage.