Intermittent Solid Red Light on Indoor Camera

@middlemaan I could only find a solid red light article for the outdoor camera, zip on the indoor simplicam.  I suggest you call support, see what they say and also request they update the support center with an updated article.

Also, doubt its a hack with the connection being encrypted, but is there anyone authorized in the past that has access to your account?

Hi middlemaan,

You're right, there's currently nothing assigned to a solid red indicator, for the Indoor Camera.

If your camera is currently in Night Vision mode, because of low light, the camera does put out a faint red light that acts a little bit like a spotlight to illuminate the scene a little bit. But that lamp is at a different position below the lens, so you might not be talking about that one.

There's also a 'secret' indicator that is actually purple, rather than red. That indicates that the camera has somehow entered Developer Mode (which our engineers use for debugging, etc.). You can try resetting the camera back to factory settings by holding the button on the top for 16 seconds, then setting the unit up again through the app.

- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security

@Johnny M

You can try resetting the camera back to factory settings by holding the button on the top for 16 seconds

Does this reset only the camera settings or will the firmware also be reset?

Thanks for the replies ..... I may need to have my daughter take a picture of short video of it while the light is on to try to determine for sure what she is seeing.

Does this reset only the camera settings or will the firmware also be reset?

You're right, a reset wouldn't be exactly the same as a factory reset. It wipes only the settings, but the latest firmware update would still be on there.

- Johnny M.
SimpliSafe Home Security

My guess it's the IR illuminator.

Is the red light near the very top edge of the camera or is it in the raised circular area that surrounds the lens?

You're right, a reset wouldn't be exactly the same as a factory reset. It wipes only the settings, but the latest firmware update would still be on there.

Oh, I wasn't sure one way or another actually. (Even though it's just a settings reset I think it's still worth doing.)  I'm just insatiably curious and would prefer to know than assume. :)

I don't know about SS camera, but offhand I don't recall any other device I've worked with where a "factory reset" in terms of consumer access (which makes "factory reset" somewhat of an oxymoron) reverts updated firmware back to the original/factory version.

On our indoor camera, we also have a solid red light above the lens. It's not blinking, and it's directly above the lens. It is not the same light that blinks blue when the camera is on. I just looked at that camera in live view and it is using night mode. The room is on the dim side, it's a rainy day, but all the lights are on down here. That's a little odd.

Hmm. And after using the live view for 5 minutes, no more red light.

Is the IR illuminator supposed to stay on?  I noticed the one on our camera is back on again. I might be wrong, but I think that previously the IR illuminator was only turning on when the camera lens opened. Now it's staying on, day, night, lights on or off.  I noticed it a couple weeks ago but have been too busy to investigate. Then I saw this thread and was wondering if someone else was seeing something similar.

Or, honestly, maybe it's always worked like this and I just never noticed before.

The IR illuminator does not require the privacy shutter to be open to turn on. The light sensor is on the opposite side of the lens housing from the IR illuminator. Usually you can put your thumb over that area and cause the IR illuminator to turn on if it's off.

Doesn't necessarily matter just that there are lights on in the room. What matters is the amount of light the sensor detects. At this moment there are two lamps on in the same room as one of our cameras and the illuminator is on. But, the illuminator does turn off if I turn on more lights or will turn off after I raise the blinds, the sun begins to rise, and some additional light comes in.

Consider seasonality too. Here the days are getting noticeably shorter and the nights longer which can/will influence the illuminator's on/off cycles.


As an easy check, turn on your smartphone flashlight (or other) and shine it on the camera from a foot or two away. After a delay of a couple of seconds the illuminator should turn off. Or, if it's off, cover the bottom area of the lens housing with something light can't pass through (my thumb works for me) and after a couple seconds the illuminator should turn on (provided of course, you don't have it deactivated in the settings).