Outdoor Camera Delay

@lanishban​ When the Outdoor Camera isn't in use, it enters a deep sleep to help preserve its battery life. To wake up and begin recording, the Outdoor Camera relies on its connection to the Base Station, so bringing the Base Station a little closer to the camera can help prevent recording delays. 

I switched to Arlo solar/battery system.  Still has a little lag but is consistent and works.

Yes the exterior camera is useless. I never have this problem with my ring system. 

@lanishban​ Agreed. I was considering Ring, but now Amazon owns them. They had some issues in the past with people looking at security camera feeds. I probably won't go with them. 

@larrhurd​ yeah, back to the drawing board and researching alternatives. Dont want Arlo or Ring.

Hi @numbersplus09 ,

We're really sorry to hear about your experience. Please know that our engineering team is constantly at work on improving performance for your cameras. It sounds like you have two different types of camera: the Video Doorbell Pro and the Wireless Outdoor Camera. Since they each use very different technology, it's important to troubleshoot them separately. We do have a general guide here that can help with both.

For the Outdoor Cameras, it's not only important to have a good connection to your WiFi router, but also to the Base Station - because it's the Base Station that tells your cameras to wake up from Deep Sleep. So it may help to move your Base Station closer to the cameras - for example, nearer to your front door (though not right next to the door; preferably away from immediate view of intruders walking in).

Another factor is that the Outdoor Camera's Deep Sleep goes into effect to save battery life. If it's connected to a power source (like the Power Adapter, or the Solar Panel accessory), it will stay awake, and should react faster when there's an event.

And finally, to answer your question about motion sensor range. Unfortunately, we're not able to give precise numbers because they work using infrared - that is, they're activated by sources of heat moving around in the scene. Then if you have People Only enabled, the camera will analyze the image and look for anything shaped like a person.

But that heat sensing means that the range will differ greatly depending on the environment. So the best thing to do is to test it out where you want it, and that's how you'll know for sure.

@jfmdegra12​ sorry to hear that you're still having trouble. It might help to consider that you're not just dealing with the WiFi connection, but also the radio connection to the SimpliSafe Base Station. To save battery, the camera goes into a deep sleep, and it's actually the Base Station that tells it to wake up when there's an event. So we'll need to troubleshoot that connection for better response times.

You might also want to consider plugging your Outdoor Camera into a power source - either a Power Adapter to AC, or the Solar Panel. That will enable Performance Mode, meaning that the camera won't go into the deep sleep at all, and would be much faster.

All of my outdoor cameras have solar power.

@jfmdegra12​ ah, that's good to hear, but not great that it's not able to help. How far are these cameras from where your Base Station is located, and is there anything in between? Like any walls or appliances directly in the way? Could it be possible to move your Base Station closer to where the cameras are?

You might even want to test with one of your cameras in the same room as the Base Station. If you no longer get the severe lag, then we'll know for sure it's a Base Station range issue.