‎Camera/base station hardware and software have major issues | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
jc5830's profile

Sunday, March 12th, 2023 9:40 AM

Camera/base station hardware and software have major issues

​My camera keeps dropping connection (no it is not too far away from the router) and re-connecting is a crapshoot.​

​First issue​
​First of all, my camera shutter clicks on and off randomly, especially when I'm trying to sleep so there is that.  I have the setting so that it's supposed to be closed for privacy.​

​Every few days my camera disconnects from wifi and it can't reconnect.  Just now my app said it failed to connect yet the camera audio said that it connected successfully.  I look on my app and my camera is listed as disconnected.  This happened before and randomly one day I saw that my camera was connected.​


​My wifi is great and connection is strong.​

​Second issue​

​For the last week my base station stated it had no connection to dispatch.  I unplugged it and plugged it back in to reset a couple times.  That worked and then it apparently dropped later.  Im supposed to have cell connection but guess not.  I saw that there was an update.  I didnt sleep and waited 2 hours for it to download without wifi​

​Good thing I sprung for the enhanced monitoring last month + camera + more sensors + another keypad.  Good use of money right for bad technology right?​

​Is SimpliSafe just lousy tech or do I have defective equipment?  Even the plastic sign they sent me was defective!​

21 Messages

2 years ago

And as I just finished writing this, my system suddenly went from Home to Off.  No one touched anything.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

2 years ago

Hi @jc5830 ,

I'm really sorry to hear you've been having so much trouble with different parts of your system. Let's tackle each piece one by one.

First, your Indoor Camera could be switching open and closed for only a couple of reasons:

  • When switching from one mode where it's set to be closed, to one where it's set to be open, and vice versa
  • When triggered by an event from the main alarm system - including Secret Alerts
  • If the camera is on a very unstable connection, forcing it to reboot to try and re-establish the connection

From what you've mentioned, it sounds like the last one is the problem here. You mention that you WiFi is strong. Is that what your camera itself is reporting? You can check by using the Connection Check tool in the Camera Settings. the readings from that may help us learn more about what's going on - e.g. if there's not enough bandwidth, or if the signal strength to the camera itself is weak.

As for your Base Station issue; a "No Link to Dispatch" means that both the WiFi and the cellular backup are currently not available.

If you don't have your Base Station connected to WiFi yet, we strongly recommend it. You can find instructions for that here.

Cellular backup is indeed included with Monitoring Service. If your Base Station is having trouble connecting, then there may be an issue with cell reception in your home, or in your neighborhood. It might help to move your Base Station to different spots, especially closer to (but not directly in front of) a window, to help the unit link up with cell the cell sites in your neighborhood.

A Base Station reset (a full power cycle) may help by forcing the unit to reboot and restart all its connections. But because the Base Station has backup batteries that keep it online for up to a day, just unplugging isn't enough. We have a step-by-step guide here.

And one more thing; it's important to note that Firmware Updates are supported only through WiFi (due to the stronger connection and higher download speed). That would be why you had to wait a while for that download to complete - the Base Station needed to connect with the WiFi first.

Hopefully we can get all of this resolved soon. If you like, I can even have your case escalated so that a senior specialist can give you a call, and get all of this figured out ASAP!

21 Messages

i have had the same problem. wifi is strong. the router is maybe 10 feet away. the problem stopped maybe a few months ago, although sometimes it still pops up.

it's either the hardware/firmware having issues, or the network infrastructure of simplisafe.

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