Why does my outdoor camera spotlight have a delay?

I have done all these steps two times. And still the spotlight is delayed. What else can I do?

I have the same problem.  The camera detects something and it starts recording but the spotlight does not come on until halfway through the recording.  By that time whatever set off the camera has departed the area.

@pamiller89​ and @kind55,

Since resetting the Outdoor Camera didn't help to turn its Spotlight on in time, this is something that our engineers would want to look into a little bit deeper. I've forwarded both of your case details to them; some will reach out to you soon to investigate further. 

Okay thank you Emily but waiting too long is not getting the correct use out of these cameras and the service I am paying for.  I would like a replacement in the meantime while they investigate and I would be happy to forward you the videos.

@pamiller89​ If you contact our Support team they will be able to assist you with a replacement.

Update as of 12/12/2023. Tech support sent a replacement camera and the new one works as it should. Great customer support. Thanks.

Update.. I spent a lot of time with tech support. Ended up moving the camera to several different locations and the problem followed. After lots of troubleshooting, simplisafe agreed to replace the camera. I'm waiting on the new camera now. 

@ssj003​ 

After getting replacement cameras, one of those new cameras (was replaced around last Christmas) is already doing the same. When it is activated, it’ll record for about 10 seconds then the spotlight will turn on.

@ssj003​ Did you notice this delay in the replacement camera's spotlight right when you installed it? Or did this just recently begin to happen? I'll forward this information to our engineers. 

It was after about a month of use.

@lance843​ Thank you for reporting this. Our engineering team is looking into this - I've added your case to their ongoing ticket!

@Runkeldc​ more than likely they will send you another one as I just had the same thing and they sent another one and it's working. I believe it has something to do with updates and the updates fix one thing but are causing another, I'm not sure but seems to be what is happening. 

@Runkeldc​ Thank you for reporting that you're experiencing this as well! Our devs are currently working on a solution to this problem, and I've added your case to their on-going ticket.

I just had the same thing happen with my five SimpliSafe outdoor cameras This week. Motion will trigger the camera, but the infrared or spotlight have a 9 to 10 second delay before they come on. I’m guessing it’s either an update issue, or a base station issue, Because they all failed Within a day.

I reset my base station (pulled batteries, unplugged) and the cameras began working better. The light or IR light issue went away, as did the “ghost” tripping where all five cameras would trip simultaneously and record. I now can’t livestream after dark on all cameras or during daytime on three cameras. I’ll be factory resetting the cameras today. 

@infob19e82​ Do you see any error message when you try to view a livestream of your cameras or is it just a blank screen? Also, do you run into this issue when using the web app as well?

If resetting your cameras does not help please let me know and we can continue to troubleshoot.

@skibumz​ I'm sorry to hear that you're still running into this issue. Our engineers are continuing to investigate this to find a solution. I've added your case to their ticket.

@Gator​ It sounds like you're experiencing a similar issue as others in this thread, so I moved your comments here. Our engineers are looking into why there is this delay for Night Vision/the Outdoor Camera's spotlight, and I've added your case to their ongoing ticket. 

And if you haven't already, I would also recommend toggling the Night Vision setting off, saving that change, and then turn it back on again. 

I'll try that. Thank you. 

@emily_s​ didn't work. Still a 9 second lag for the infrared to kick in once the camera wakes up. Which sucks beacuse we had a break-in nearby and he walked thru my yard twice. Both times he was out of range before night vision kicked in, so video was of no use to police.

Mine is 6 months old and started doing this about a month ago. SS needs to fix this fast. We had a break-in next door and the suspect went through my yard twice. Video was useless to the police because dude was gone before the IR kicked in. My yard is very dark at night. 

@allen2158​  Mine is 6 months old and started doing this about a month ago. SS needs to fix this fast. We had a break-in next door and the suspect went through my yard twice. Video was useless to the police because dude was gone before the IR kicked in. My yard is very dark at night. 

@allen2158​ today I took my camera battery out for about a minute. Put it back in. I then went into my settings and removed my camera from the system. I held the reset button until the camera made a sound. Went back into the app to add a device. Followed all the instructions to put the camera back into the system. Tonight I checked my camera and it worked perfectly again. IR and spotlight both came on immediately. 

So basically, remove the camera from the system. Do a hard reset/reboot. Add the camera back into the system as a new device. 

@allen2158​ Our engineering team is working on a fix to this issue, which should be released in an upcoming firmware update.

@Gator​ Hopefully it doesn’t start doing it again in a couple s

weeks.  Like I said, mine worked great for a month and then one and then the other started doing this.  It’s as if they updated it with a bug in the code.  Will yours update in a week or two and set you back to square one?  I hope not…

@pamiller89​ try removing the camera from the the system, do a hard reset of the camera, add the camera back in as "new" device. That's what worked for me. 

@pamiller89​ I am sorry to hear about this. Our engineering team is still actively investigating this issue, and I just let them know that this is still ongoing for you.

@pamiller89​ try doing a hard reset. Worked on mine. The delay seems to happen after system updates. 

@Gator​ I did that this weekend it did not work. This is the new camera that they sent me. It was fine for a couple months and now it’s starting again.