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Friday, October 16th, 2020 5:29 PM

Camera Doesn't Detect Motion

My camera is on a 2nd story, looking out over the porch and into the street running parallel to the camera and driveway facing perpendicular to the camera.  It fails to detect anything driving down the street.  Maybe one car of ten or more the last two days.  It sees a fly on the lens, but nothing else, including a FedEx truck going down my street, stopping in the center of the frame, and the man walking up to the house; today at least four garbage trucks driving by and multiple ones stopping to tip wheelie bins in the center of the image; and did not see several visitors to the house who drove down the road and pulled into my driveway, stopping in view of the camera.  

I have the shutter set to open in all three modes, the camera is about eight feet from my wireless AP in the same room, indoors (camera looks through a window).  I have tried changing the sensitivity from medium to high, no effect.  It's only detected maybe one vehicle in three days.

It DOES record a minute of video for each alarm activity, and works in live mode, but that's about it.

I'm including a link to a photo album showing my camera settings, the time it detected a vehicle, before I repositioned the camera to be more useful, and images showing the repositioned camera viewing the street/driveway, and one with a car in the driveway, none of which trigger the motion sensor, aside from the one time the pickup drove at the bottom of the image.

https://imgur.com/a/idemfep

This user is describing the SimpliCam Indoor Camera, fitted with the Outdoor Kit. Because the camera itself is primarily designed for indoor environments, the built-in motion sensor may not perform as well outdoors. But we do already have the Wireless Outdoor Camera, which is designed from the ground up to work best outside - including being weather-resistant and fully battery powered. Learn more here.

Captain

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6K Messages

4 years ago

@currie0999 if you purchased the simplicam within the past 60 days I suggest if you don't want to  possibly use it inside, you take it down, pack it up and call SS for an RMA for a refund. The Simplicam, designed as an indoor camera, in my experience, has a motion range that is limited, say maybe 10 feet.  A position of the camera on a 2nd story isn't going to get the job done.  The doorbell camera, designed for outside use, picks up my neighbors across the street at 60-70 feet with no issues.  SS is working on outdoor cameras now but no idea when they will be released.

1.3K Messages

4 years ago

The main problem is because the camera is "looking" through the window.

Motion sensing by IR doesn't work reliably, if at all, through glass. It's not a SimpiSafe camera thing per se, it's a thing for all/any cams using IR motion sensing.

Captain

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6K Messages

4 years ago

@whoaru99 good catch, I thought he had the outdoor weather kit and had it mounted outside.

2 Messages

4 years ago

Thanks.  I didn't realize it was an IR cam, it was the free gift with purchase recently.  I'll reconsider my location for it.

Captain

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6K Messages

4 years ago

@ lcurrie0999, even with the outdoor kit, the motion sensor is very limited as the simplicam was designed for indoor use only initially. Hopefully the outdoor cameras will be released soon.  And the doorbell camera works well.

3 Messages

4 years ago

Make sure your Privacy Shutter is set to "Open" for all three modes (Home, Away, Off). This is found in the Camera Settings.
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