28 Messages
Doorbell camera night vision not working
Is anyone else still experiencing doorbell camera auto night vision failure?
I can get it work once after turning the feature off and then turning it back on but then it stops functioning again.
Is there something more I can do or will I have to wait for a software update?
I can get it work once after turning the feature off and then turning it back on but then it stops functioning again.
Is there something more I can do or will I have to wait for a software update?
mdolfan
197 Messages
3 years ago
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davey_d
Community Admin
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5.6K Messages
3 years ago
The Auto setting allows the Video Doorbell Pro to automatically switch between daytime mode and night mode based on light levels in the scene. So if it's failing to switch over automatically, I suspect that there's some sort of light source that's messing up the detection.
Do you see anything like that on your cam? And if so, do you think there's a way to change what the camera is pointed at? For example, sometimes it's a wall light that can be turned off. Or maybe if the light source is from a neighbor's house, you can angle the Video Doorbell away from it (using an angled bracket).
We're reporting to our dev team, of course. They're always adjusting and improving the algorithms in the cam for better performance. But in the meantime, it would help to look options in the environment.
- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security
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json924
28 Messages
3 years ago
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mdolfan
197 Messages
3 years ago
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davey_d
Community Admin
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5.6K Messages
3 years ago
It would be more that the Video Doorbell Pro uses an algorithm for light detection, and that algorithm is configured for our best guess of lighting conditions in a typical front doorstep. Unfortunately, we can't account for 100% of what's possible out there, so we might just need to consider environmental solutions to compensate.
But as we mentioned, our dev team is always working on tweaking those algorithms. It's possible that a recent such update is what's prompting this current behavior. So a future update might resolve it, too.
- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security
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jermo
1 Message
2 years ago
Having the same issue, it's intermittent. SS will tell you there's a light source interfering when in fact there are no lights, my backyard is pitch black at night and auto NV doesn't work Intermittently. My guess is that they offshore programming and pay the lowest bidder.
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vistaronn
19 Messages
2 years ago
This is an ongoing issue with the doorbell camera that has been discussed in other threads. In my experience, it has nothing to do with light sources. I live in a very dark neighborhood and have seen night vision fail to turn on when it is pitch black outside. The camera essentially gets stuck indefinitely and I have to toggle a setting, such as auto-off-auto, or 720p-1080p-720p, to get it to work again. Then it immediately starts working with the same lighting conditions as before. It would be great to hear from SS if any future update is expected to resolve this issue. I had the camera replaced and the replacement has the same problem. As it stands now, the doorbell camera is unreliable for nighttime security. Amazingly, I have never seen night vision fail to turn on for the new SS outdoor cameras. If only the doorbell camera had the night vision performance of the outdoor camera, and the outdoor camera had the recording/wake-up speed of the doorbell camera, we'd be all set!
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frodo922sr
3 Messages
2 years ago
My doorbell camera does that also. Out in the sticks with no external light source. The garage inside camera has a slightly different problem. The night vision goes on in auto but the camera only shows total black. I put a motion nightlight out there but no help. I can see and walk through the garage with only the nightlight but the camera only shows black.
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musicmaster622
1 Message
11 months ago
I see this problem has been going on for over 2 years, and there is still no fix. What a shame. I just got my doorbell camera and I'm having the same issue. The camera does not automatically switch between day/night vision. I'm probably shouting into the void here, since it's still a problem over 2 years later, but I wanted to register my issue.
Simplisafe needs to add the feature to simply schedule night vision to come on between, say, 9p and 6a, or something like that. That would solve this problem quickly and easily.
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pixelbabe74
4 Messages
10 months ago
For the past few weeks we have had this issue. It would switch to night mode then when you armed the system you would loose night vision then it switched to just randomly loosing night vision, ss sent us a new camera and sometime between 8-9 pm tonight that one lost night vision. The only thing we noticed that happened is a helicopter flew over and there was as an automatic test signal when it happened. The doorbell is under an overhang so I don’t think it was the helicopter,
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ironi
3 Messages
9 months ago
It's the end of 2023 and this issue still persists. Is SimpliSafe even working on this, or is the default response just to ignore customer complaints? Someone suggested an option to schedule the switch to night mode at a specific time. Can we at least get that? Shouldn't take more than a few of lines of code.
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cjkfamily
2 Messages
6 months ago
We've had our SS doorbell camera for 2.5 years. It unexpectedly lost its regular in-color mode, paired with murky B&W night vision during darker nighttime hours. It effectively operates in-color during daylight hours. Nothing has changed with respect to our outdoor lighting or environment.; so please, let's rule that out once and for all. It's a time-wasting stumbling block! We are in a private wooded setting with no traffic. Our camera doorbell is protected from the elements within our outdoor porch setting. Settings have not been touched in these past 2.5 years. I went to my settings and changed them tonight from 1080p, now set to 480p and I completely turned off the night vision. Voilà! Night Vision has been restored. In other words, when I bypassed the 1080p mode and reduced it to the lowest setting, 480p, coupled with turning off night vision, our SS doorbell camera is now properly working. Go figure. We also had a similar problem with one of our new indoor cameras being used for outdoor purposes at the same interval this week. It recently developed similar glitches, encountering 50% loss of contrast and mirky video quality during nighttime hours. We have never encountered these problems with previous older cameras used for outdoors. Our older cameras are 720p; whereas the new one is 1180p. We unplugged the electrical power adapter from the outlet source for five minutes and plugged it back in. Our new 1180p camera is now working. Unplugging it rebooted the camera. SS has been super to us - professional, intelligent, accommodating, and polite. Thank you! That said, these cameras are imperfect. Wi-Fi is imperfect. IMHO, we are living in the similar age of early 1930s when radio was embryonic. We have a long way to go before these products improve and stabilize without all the hassles. They're nice, but at the same time, a real drag. I'd much rather be living off the grid and hiking in the woods and am seriously considering it. Best!
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