Since connecting Essential camera to VMB4500 base station, I get no notifications, and there are no

[Purple_Silicon]

Since connecting Essential camera to VMB4500 base station, I get no notifications, and there are no recordings.

However, the LED on the camera idicates that it does detect motion. 

So the camera  (apparently) detects motion, but it doesn't sent notifications anymore, and it doesn't record. 

When I go to "Mode", I see that only the base station is "Armed". I don't know whether the camera should be armed, too, or is this normal. When I tap on "Arm All Devices", the camera still doesn't appear in the list neither as armed nor as not armed. I still only thee the base station.

[StephenB]

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@Purple_Silicon wrote:

Since connecting Essential camera to VMB4500 base station, I get no notifications, and there are no recordings.

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First see if you can make a manual recording while livestreaming the camera.  That will confirm that you still have a subscription for the camera.

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@Purple_Silicon wrote:

When I go to "Mode", I see that only the base station is "Armed". I don't know whether the camera should be armed, too, or is this normal. When I tap on "Arm All Devices", the camera still doesn't appear in the list neither as armed nor as not armed. I still only thee the base station.

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The base station modes ("Armed" in this case) should include rules for each camera.  You can check that by going in to edit the mode.

• https://kb.arlo.com/42/What-are-modes-and-rules-and-how-does-Arlo-use-them

When you use a base, the mode for the base is all you will see, so that is normal.

[Purple_Silicon]

I tried manual recording (apparently, you can only do this from the desktop/webapp, I don't see that function on the mobile app), and nothing, nada. No recordings.

Thanks to your hint I went to check the rule(s) for my camera, and it all looks as it should, I think: the rule is, my camera, "Detects Motion" which then does "Record video".

So, the mode and rule should definitely trigger a recording, but that doesn't seem to happen. And especially the manual recording, that's very indicative of something being amiss - I can't get any damh recording even with clicking on the red "record" dot.

[Purple_Silicon]

Hey, wait a second. Look what I found:

• Only automatically triggered recordings are saved locally to the connected USB device.
  • Manual recordings are only saved to the cloud.

From https://kb.arlo.com/000062818/How-do-I-set-up-local-storage-backups-using-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-Base-S....

So the fact that manual recording doesn't do anything, is not an issue. That still doesn't solve my problem, though.

[Purple_Silicon]

I tried replacing the USB drive for a larger one (64 GB), but that didn't help, still no recordings. And the added problem is, every time I want to trigger a recording I have to go outside, and it's quite cold outside! 🙂

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you do not have a subscription for the camera - is that the case???

The VMB4500 base supports local recording, but it does not support local playback.  The only way to see local recordings with your base is to eject the storage, connect it to a PC and manually look for recordings.

[Purple_Silicon]

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@StephenB wrote:

It sounds like you do not have a subscription for the camera - is that the case???

The VMB4500 base supports local recording, but it does not support local playback.  The only way to see local recordings with your base is to eject the storage, connect it to a PC and manually look for recordings.

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Ah....  

yes, indeed this is the case - I don't have an Arlo subscription (I had it at one time, but decided I'll do the recording locally) and you are right, it turns out I can't actually watch recorded videos. But worse than that, which is why I was confused, I don't even see that the count of recorded videos would increase, it would stay at 0. Why couldn't Arlo just increase that counter to suggest that a recording was made, one just has to figure out a way to watch it.

And so, I looked at the USB stick I removed, and found recordings on it.

Is there a model of base station that would allow the user to preview the recordings, or are all like my VMB4500?

Thank you for your help.

[StephenB]

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@Purple_Silicon wrote:

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Is there a model of base station that would allow the user to preview the recordings, or are all like my VMB4500?

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The two smarthubs (VMB4540 and VMB5000) support direct access to local storage.

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it

While many do use this instead of a subscription, it's not a great experience.

Limitations include:

• recordings only available from the primary account (not friend accounts)
• recordings only available in the app (not my.arlo.com)
• no ability to make snapshots or manual recordings
• no thumbnails - everything needs to be downloaded to the phone before you can view
• remote access requires router setting changes that some find difficult (and which won't work with some internet service providers)

In addition, if your app interface shows "Feed", then the recordings won't show up in the Feed.  You need to go into the camera storage settings to view them - which is a nuisance.