Arlo not recording

@owen0501 not sure I follow. The issue is with external motion sensors, not with built in Arlo motion sensors. Generally, at least with my setup, to get a motion sensor in smart things to trigger a recording in Arlo I have Arlo set to disarmed mode. If Arlo is in any other mode then the cameras get triggered by the built in Arlo motion sensors. So are you talking about external sensors or built in Arlo sensors.? The problem here is external sensors triggered through smart things. As a use case for explanation, my cameras are setup inside so the built-in motion sensors don’t work in this case. So I have external sensors connected the smart things which are supposed to trigger Arlo recordings. This used to work as mentioned with Arlo in disarmed mode.

@Charbo26 My cameras are set to record if motion is triggered by ST sensors as well as the inbuilt camera sensors. For me, as mentioned before, it doesn’t work if the Arlo base is in disarmed mode. It only works correctly if in Armed mode and only retains the Armed setting if I delete the ST mode.

An example of my config: If motion is detected on one of the ST hall sensors, record clips on all internal downstairs cameras. I do this because of the delay in recording between ST and Arlo.

My setup: 3 bases, external cameras (wired) always active, internal cameras (battery) activated/deactivated by Smart Home Monitor.

The Arlo Q Plus camera has this same SmartThings issue.

I have the Arlo Q Plus camera, but I was just using Arlo app for recordings. So, I wanted to try the SmartThings integration shown in this thread. So, I setup SmartThings security to record from the Arlo Q Plus when another motion sensor was triggered. I enabled the Arlo Q PLus camera and put it in Armed mode. I then triggered the other motion sensor. SmartThings showed in the history that motion was detected and the recording began. However, when I select the history item, I see the video box, but the video clip doesn’t generate, and it doesn’t let me view the video when I tap it.

I read that I can have four cameras for free with 24hr history in SmartThings. Is that still true?

UPDATE: My Arlo Q Plus actually did record a 2 minute video when the other motion sensor triggered it. It just took a really long time, but the video finally appeared in the Arlo app. However, I still cannot view it in the SmartThings app.

Does anyone have an update on this issue? The official Arlo forum I have been tracking just had someone from Arlo say that we need to reach out to smartthings support for this issue. In other words they are saying it’s not their fault or problem.

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I had my Arlo’s set to use ST mode and would record when they detected motion or when a door or window sensor was tripped. This worked out well for me and hadn’t been working for a while now. At first it would record clips on some cameras but not others. My friend told me I need to remove and re-add the cameras in the Arlo app. I did that and still nothing. Now I’ve tried removing the ST mode and setting them to armed. ST will turn them off and on but the only recording I got was when I had a camera set to record from audio in the Arlo app. ST will say it’s generating clips but then it doesn’t. This is very frustrating.

Well I removed Arlo completely from ST and then re-added. It will turn off and on (which it actually did before I removed Arlo) and it appears to record on sensing motion. So I made some progress. Unfortunately I can’t get the cameras to record when a door or window sensor are triggered. I had this working before all of this by setting them in SHM. I’m still using the old app. Maybe I need to try using the new app? I was going to but I noticed that while it does appear to show all of my things it doesn’t port over any of the routines I have setup.

I have the same problem. I was using successfully before the camera to record when triggered from some ST sensor. I tried last week to set it up again, but I’m having the same problem.
It happens to me that if I open Arlo cameras from ST (both new and old version) the app crashes and reboot itself, without being able to open the device. As a result of it, the status mode on the Arlo app switch to disabled.
I tried to remove the Arlo from ST and replace it, but it did not help to solve the issue.
Automations triggered from motion from camera still work though .

has anyone contacted the Smartthings support about it?

Same issue here…
Cameras works perfectly while not integrated to ST…
As soon as I integrate them the stop recording. I can see they detect motion.
Apparently it’s a fair amount of users having the issue and it seems to be connected to the WMB4000 hub and it’s firmware update… (again)

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I got mine working about 50% of what I used to have. When the problem first started I’d some cameras recording and not others and then eventually no cameras would record at all. They might say motion was detected or something through Arlo but no recording. Before these problems I had it set to record on all cameras when a door or window sensor was triggered as well. That is still not working. I was able to get them working again using their motion sensors only. I removed each camera from Arlo and re-added. that didn’t seem to work. I switched to Armed mode instead of ST mode. Nothing changed. I delete ST mode and still nothing. Finally I removed all Arlo devices from ST and then re-added them and now the camera will record on motion. This seems to work the same with either Armed or ST mode in Arlo settings. I’m leaving it in Armed mode and have routines turning cameras off and on as before. To get around the problem of not triggering with door or window sensors I’m going to setup all cameras to record when motion is detected on any one camera (done in the Arlo settings).

I hope they get this fixed soon. I prefer the way I had it working.

@ste000 I have now but the more who contacts them the better I guess…

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Reading this post, It seems that it might be related only to a specific model of base station.

I have VMB4000 base station, but I’ll test it soon with a newer one :slight_smile:

I am also part of that thread over in the Arlo Forums. We have pretty well validated that the VMB4000 is at the center of the problem. I even went as far as going to BB and picking up a new Pro 2 kit with a VMB4500 base station and a Pro 3 kit with a VMB4540 base station. Both of which worked fine with Arlo Assitant, and other test apps I have written triggering Pro 2 cameras.

The problem is that the VMB4000 seems to be the hub most people have.

I would also point out that in pretty much every case from my testing the Arlo cameras have to be in a mode that provides some level of being armed. That can either be the Smartthings mode or the Armed Mode. Many have reported issues with the cameras getting disabled when trying to do things with them and not being in the Smartthings mode. If you are having suggestions with the cameras and Smartthings Mode isn’t working as expected unfortunately the only fix i have found is to completely remove the cameras from Smartthings, remove the Smartthings modes from all of the camera’s (Arlo Q’s) or Basestations, and then completely add it all back. That has fixed it for me on occasion when it does things like changes to disarmed repeatedly.

The basestation issue though is only a issue when using the Wirefree cameras. So for those above that talk about the Arlo Q or Arlo Q plus it must be something different. My Arlo Q cameras are working fine with Arlo Assistant.

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That would explain why my VMB4000 is having so may issues…namely disarming the mode and then missing recordings.

I also still have not been able to get my cameras to trigger on motion even though I have activity zones setup. IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY.

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Issues as well with my Arlo hub VMB4000r3. I have been having trouble getting IFTTT to record from WebCoRE for months.

I just contacted Arlo Support via their chat. They are aware of the issue and are don’t have ETA for fixing it. Guessing it isn’t highest priority with all the other new models out :frowning:

I recommend everyone having the issue contact them and get a case number:

Arlo Support Chat Link

Arlo Support United States contact information: 408-638-3750

According to the Arlo community forum there was to be fix for the VMB4000 released early this month (Dec. 2019). Does anyone know if this fix has been implemented by Arlo?

I just checked in on my ticket this afternoon and they said it is not fixed. Again recommend… anyone having the problem to bug them, create a ticket.

It is fixed to a certain extent. I am able to trigger recording on IFTTT and so will probably be able to do so in ST. A new problem has come up though. Arlo camera has disappeared from my device list. I deleted it and added it but now it is not showing in the app. But it is in the IDE… bah

Yes, the Arlo integration seems to be working again. I’m getting recordings off of SmartThings events.

Although something unexpected is starting to happen. I Arlo mode is automatically changing from armed to disarmed whenever there is a Smartthings event triggering a recording.

Back when this was working before, ST automatically created a mode in Arlo called “SmartThings”. When the integration went down back when, this disappeared (or maybe I removed it). Now that it’s back up and semi-working again, I had the same issue where ST was “turning off” the mode (none were selected). So I went into my Arlo app and created a mode called “SmartThings” and set the actions to “do nothing” so Arlo doesn’t automatically record on motion but sends the events to ST. So far, Arlo is staying on the “SmartThings” mode, but I’m still testing other functionality.

EDIT: I have confirmed that with the configuration described above, ST is triggering recordings in Arlo, so full functionality appears to be restored for me.