Recently, I’ve been diving into integrating my Arlo cameras into Home Assistant, and it’s been a bit of a learning curve! I’m really excited about the possibilities, but I hit a snag when trying to set up a live stream from my cameras on a custom Lovelace card. Let me walk through what I’ve discovered and how I’m working through it.
First off, I love how Arlo integrates with Home Assistant. The cameras show up automatically, and I can access live feeds and snapshots right from the dashboard. But I wanted something more customized—a floor plan view where each camera’s status is clearly displayed. I found some great examples online using Picture Elements and custom cards, so I decided to give it a shot.
I edited the Lovelace configuration to include my Arlo cameras, specifying the entity and various attributes I wanted to display, like motion detection and battery level. But here’s where I ran into an issue: no matter how I tweaked the settings, the camera icons wouldn’t appear on the floor plan. I added the mdi:cctv icon in several places, but nothing showed up. It was frustrating because the rest of the card worked perfectly—just the camera icons were missing.
After some research, I realized that the custom card I was using might not support the icon placement the way I expected. I found a helpful thread where someone suggested adjusting the style properties, like top and left, to ensure the icons were positioned correctly. I played around with those values, and finally, the icons appeared! It was such a relief to see everything come together.
Now, I’m really impressed with how the cameras integrate. I set up a simple automation where the cameras send a notification if motion is detected after sunset. It’s given me peace of mind, knowing I can monitor my home even when I’m away. Plus, the battery level indicators are super handy—I can keep track of which cameras need charging without having to check each one individually.
For anyone else looking to customize their camera setup, I’d recommend starting with the built-in integrations and then exploring Lovelace cards. There’s a wealth of resources and community support out there, so don’t hesitate to ask for help if you run into issues. Happy automating!