‎Outdoor view delay | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
dmedwick's profile

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022 1:38 AM

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Outdoor view delay

When checking the outdoor cameras first it says "waking up camera", then "connecting", then "launching live view". If you get an alarm you want to see the camera quickly not 5-8 seconds later. Can anything be set to speed that up?

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KNOWN ISSUE: Outdoor Camera Delay

Official Solution

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

3 years ago

Hi @dmedwick ,

Yes, this is a side effect of the Outdoor Camera coming out of Deep Sleep, which is designed to preserve battery life when not in use. There's a little bit of a delay with the chain of connections, from your phone to our servers, then from the servers to your home's WiFi, then from your WiFi to the camera.

There should be a slightly faster response when the camera is triggered by actual alarm system events, as well as from the built-in Motion Sensor. But there's definitely room for improvement. We recently released an update with some gains on performance, but there is definitely more to come on that front.

Captain

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6.1K Messages

@davey_d​ Pointing out in my earlier post I am not an engineer, can you possibly ask one of the "techno wizards" what prevents a change in the firmware not to have the camera go into a "deep sleep" when the battery charging is no longer an issue due to the AC adapter providing power all of the time?  As a customer this would seem, on the surface, an easy thing to do, however, I do know in the real world that is usually not the case.

2 Messages

My ring doorbell records seconds BEFORE the motion... and doesn't drain the battery as fast as this outdoor camera. It is very disappointing. Had a strange guy come up, but it only recorded him leaving.. his back.. so no idea what he did. 

17 Messages

@davey_d​ I plug my camera into a power source so I don’t use the battery. Can you write a firmware for people who plug their cameras in. 

Captain

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6.1K Messages

3 years ago

@dmedwick I called support to ask the same question. They advised that due to the battery architecture these were necessary steps. Not being an electrical engineer like my father was (I know which end of a screwdriver to hold, however :-) if there is another power source like my two AC adapters for my cameras, I would think there would be a way to by pass that. Confident other, much smarter folks than I will explain the challenges.

On the plus side, the outdoor cameras are definitely getting faster to start streaming after each firmware update. And, for comparative purposes, the Simplicams were very slow when first released, but now are only a second or two.

3 years ago

I would really like the camera to stay awake if plugged in to AC, especially since the cable was $50…

29 Messages

3 years ago

It would seem that at the very least, if the charge of the battery is sufficient, the circuit to SS should be sustained, in the same way it appears to be for the powered doorbell camera, or perhaps a variation of that so that a new circuit between the camera and SS doesn’t have to be initiated.  

What I don’t understand is if a trigger sends a notification and a video to SS which is accessible to a client app in a matter of a second or two, why does it take so long to establish a real-time connection? All the prep for establishing the circuit should have been done. Where’s the holdup?

5 Messages

2 years ago

I can tell you that currently the slow reaction of the camera at night is the reason I will be sending my system back. It's almost worthless. You can see motion is being picked up as the status light blinks blue, but I have already walked 50ft and on the porch before it records any visible video. So evidently, the updates are not adequate to say the least. For $890 I expect way more than this.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@qsharrison​ I'm so sorry to hear that, but thank you for your feedback. Our engineers continue to work hard on optimizing performance; an update is currently rolling out, and more are on the way.

9 Messages

2 years ago

So fed up with SimpliSafe. Replacement outdoor camera now also does not wake up and record. First the doorbells now the cameras. All firmware is up to date. The cameras just stop working for no reason.

Captain

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6.1K Messages

2 years ago

@dmedwick unfortunately, at this time that's how the outdoor camera works. Many, including me, have asked SS to update the firmware that if there is an AC adapter or solar panel in use it would skip the wakeup step and just stream like the other cameras.  They say it isn't as simple as coding "if AC or solar then skip...." but since I am not a programmer, well, you get the idea..:-)

11 Messages

2 years ago

I was a programmer for 40+ years. I'm not buying it, there's more to the story. Maybe the programming is outsourced, or by the actual manufacturer (same as outsourced). Either way I hope they can get it resolved quickly. If not relatively soon I may dump the entire system, some of the cheaper cameras available send a notice almost instantly, so it can be done.

28 Messages

@dmedwick​ I'm a former programmer, and I'm quite disappointed at the super slow wakeup - it needs to be under a second.

4 Messages

2 years ago

The lag is a problem....I just had a person knock on my door as a prank and I could not see who it was...how can I get a refund on the camera?

3 Messages

2 years ago

I just had someone break into my house over the weekend and my cameras didn't record a single thing until they were halfway out the backyard into my neighbors yard. They literally walked directly in front of 2 cameras. I'm so disappointed in Simplisafe. I'm paying for a service that they are not providing. 

11 Messages

@Benjaminadams89​ That's absolutely horrible and inexcusable! I'm considering dumping my system also.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@Benjaminadams89​ I'm very sorry to hear about this. I'm requesting a call from our escalation team to take car eof you.

2 Messages

2 years ago

I likewise am disappointed in the lag time.  Also, half the time, after waiting 15 or 30 seconds to connect, I'll get an alert that says  "Camera Disconnected - Your camera is disconnected from the internet."  How do I check to ensure my hardware and software are the latest?  I have invested too much into SimpliSafe to have this minor issue happen.

28 Messages

2 years ago

For those with external power, wakeup needs to be under a second.  Otherwise a second or two.  As is, the camera is not doing its job.  We need a management response here.

17 Messages

2 years ago

write a firmware update so the camera senses that it's plugged in to house power so the camera will wake up faster.   Other than that, this is a waste of $150.  

1K Messages

2 years ago

You guys should try arlo that I used to have, they took forever to load up but the only good thing g was you got the video in your cloud within 10 seconds after the camera shuts off but yes I do agree the wake up time is killing me lol 

28 Messages

2 years ago

The worry - where we live, a car could be stolen or the cat converter sliced out in the time that this takes to start recording or go live.  Absolutely defeats the purpose.  We also have a doorbell camera which wakes up very quickly, but it does a lousy job of covering the driveway.

What I don't get - this complaint about the cameras - ones with external power, goes back quite a while, more than enough time to fix.  PLUS - delays ought to be controllable by the home owner, a concept Simplisafe is quite familiar with.

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