‎Camera detecting motion but is offline/disconnected | SimpliSafe Support Home
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sterumbelow

21 Messages

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021 8:00 AM

Camera detecting motion but is offline/disconnected

Hi, everyone.

One of my cameras is playing up as of last night. I've had it happen once before.

The camera shows as offline/disconnected and isn't accessible. However, it still detects motion (and puts the event in the timeline, with no video) and I can see it is connected to the router (my mesh system shows devices that are currently connected).

The router it is connected to is 12ft or so away, and hasn't moved. No settings have been changed, this has just happened all of a sudden.

Has else experienced this, and if you have, what was the fix? It's incredibly annoying.

Thanks,
Ste.

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Updated 

6 months ago

1.5K

5

Accepted Solution

sterumbelow

21 Messages

3 years ago

This is now fixed.

Unplugging it for 30s or so and then plugging it back in worked.

Super weird. To confirm, these are the details:

1. Camera offline/disconnected
2. Still accurately detecting motion and adding video-less entries to the timeline
3. Connected to WiFi
4. Close to router (12ft)
5. Restarting router didn't work
6. Unplugging camera for 30s fixed it

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sterumbelow

21 Messages

3 years ago

I've double-verified that it IS connected to the WiFi by rebooting the part of the mesh system it was connected to. It automatically switched to another unit.

This has to be some kind of bug because it certainly isn't my WiFi or internet connection, and nothing has changed.

The annoying thing is that the camera is outside abs mounted pretty high, so resetting it is a pain in the bum.

Appreciate any help.

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captain11

Captain

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6K Messages

3 years ago

@sterumbelow I am going on the basis its a Simplicam and not the doorbell causing the issue.  Placement is key to avoid this kind of issue.  I also have a mesh wifi (Google WIFI) and 3 Simplicams.  All are  normally very stable, once I got them to an acceptable location for coverage and signal. All were fine, or I thought when I first got them, but signal interference was causing drops on one of them.  A movement in location, even in inches, can make a big difference.  There is an excellent troubleshooting tool in the phone app that will provide you the estimated signal strength AND connection speed, with the recommended minimum values for both. I suggest you use that tool on the camera giving you issues. I found the connection strength and speed just below the recommended values and, with a small change  in location (inches) of the camera I was able to improve both speed and strength that there are no longer any issues. Please post your outcome here after you try this if you have the time. Thanks!

Update: As soon as I hit enter, your new post appeared. Glad you found a solution!

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sterumbelow

21 Messages

Yeah the testing tool is helpful. Though, when nothing changes and all of a sudden it goes off, it doesn't make much sense.

Totally understand that position matters. My SimpliCam is mounted outside, above my garage door. The door definitely interferes with signal, but has never lowered it to the point of being a problem. One of my mesh stations is in the garage, so it's literally 12ft away. Connection strength still says 'fair' (-61dBm) which obviously isn't perfect, but the connection speed is as high as it'll go. These cameras have notoriously bad range, and I feel like the only way you'll get it to be better than 'fair' is by having a direct line of sight to it, and not too far from the router.

I'm mostly just curious to understand why it might go wrong like that. It's been installed in the same location for 15 months now, and occasionally just throws this major wobbly.

Thanks again,
Ste.

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3 years ago

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krstrick

136 Messages

3 years ago

FWIW I too have a mesh system. I was having a good deal of trouble with the doorbell. Surprisingly changing the orientation of my ORBI (turned 90) made a significant difference in the signal strength of the door bell even though the doorbell is 3 feet from the Router.

I've had intermittent issues with the regular cameras similar to yours (mine are also outside with outdoor kits), sometimes simply closing the app and reopening it helps. I think this is more an app/website connection problem though I will say the cameras don't seem to deal well with any latency, so depending on how your mesh backhaul is set up and if you can monitor it you might see if there is any relationship to the camera issue and the latency or backhaul status.

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rushperry

12 Messages

6 months ago

I still get irritated by being told the Camera is offline, but getting continuous notifications of movement from said "offline" camera. Dashboard doesn't show it is offline. Connection test says it is offline. Notifications of new videos keep happening - 10 second recording of "No Video." Simplisafe doesn't seem to resolve any/many "bugs" and continues to focus on growth with devices that only occasionally work in the best of conditions. 

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davey_d

Community Admin

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5.6K Messages

@rushperry​ so it sounds like your camera is still able to link with the Base Station, but when it's time to link up through WiFi transmit video, it is having trouble. And when you try the Connection Test, it fails completely? It's possible that your WiFi router may be blocking the connection.

It might help to set up a secondary or guest WiFi network on your router, locked to 2.4GHz and with WPA2 security, and have only your SimpliSafe components connect to it. Your camera may have a better time establishing a link.

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6 months ago

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