‎Video Doorbell not detecting people until they are leaving | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
VWN's profile

4 Messages

Saturday, July 15th, 2023 4:03 PM

Video Doorbell not detecting people until they are leaving

Over and over my video doorbell doesn't record or alert me until the person is leaving the porch.  This happens with the mailman all the time. He comes all the way up the walkway, puts the mail in the mailbox which is right in front of the doorbell, then is walking away from the house before I get an alert or the video starts.  This happens frequently--not recording anything that is happening right on my front porch. Last night we came home around 9pm and unloaded packages to the front porch and it didn't register anything at all.  Does anyone know how I can fix this?  Connection tests always say full blue bars (and I run the immediately after this occurs).  Also the camera is set to the highest sensitivity. 

Overall this doorbell is a huge disappointment. I would return it if today wasn't the last day of the return window and I had another one to install! 

Community Admin

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3.1K Messages

1 year ago

Hi @VWN, 

Since your Video Doorbell has a strong connection, we'll have to troubleshoot the environment to figure out which motion detection feature isn't working as it should.

When you look at the settings for your Video Doorbell, is it currently set to People Only, and do you have any motion zones set up? If you do, I would recommend removing the motion zones and enabling All Motion to see if that helps.

When All Motion is enabled, it uses a more traditional infrared motion sensor. It works by detecting heat-generating objects in contrast with the rest of the environment. Due to this, it may struggle to pick up full motion events when it is very hot outside. It also works best when picking up lateral movement, meaning it will detect motion easier when a subject is moving across the field of view. It may help if you change the angle of the doorbell so people coming up to your front door aren't walking directly towards it. Our Support team can send you a Horizontal Wedge Kit to do that.

4 Messages

Hi, 

It is set to ‘all motion’ and there are not any zones set up. 

The walkway is not direct towards the camera- the camera is already naturally at an angle and the person walking up crosses many squares left to right if you are looking at the zones image. I’m not sure the wedge will change anything but I would be willing to try it. 

4 Messages

By the way, this didn't fix it.  It NEVER picks up any recordings at night, even when someone is standing right in front of it. I had someone banging on my front door late at night and I didn't have my phone to check the camera live.  When the coast was clear, I tried to review the camera footage, and there was none!! To knock on the door the person had to be standing directly in front of the doorbell and have walked all the way up the path. It was very upsetting.  As soon as I have time to do some research, I am investing in another system. 

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