Issues with Camera Motion Detection

The main problem is with my garage door camera.  It is missing most of the activity in my driveway.  It either takes too long to “wake up” or, if it does “wake up”, the video is so short it doesn’t record the whole time.  It’s plugged in to an outlet, so it’s not just on battery power.  I’ve reset the camera and have the settings on the most sensitive but it still misses a lot of activity.  Thanks for asking.

@ mamasams In order to wake up once motion is detected, the Outdoor Camera relies on its connection to the Base Station; and in order to actually record the movement (and the whole motion event), the camera taps into its Wi-Fi connection. Since you are experiencing issues with both the camera waking up and recording complete motion events, we would want to troubleshoot both connections.

Concerning the connection to the Base Station, try moving the Base Station closer to this camera, that can help strengthen in. And regarding the Wi-Fi connection, we always recommend starting with our in-app Connection Check tool. This tool will scan your camera's connection to your network and provide personalized troubleshooting tips to strengthen it.

You can access the Connection Check tool in the SimpliSafe® mobile app by navigating to My System > Camera Settings > pick your Garage Door camera > under Connection, select Connection Check > Start Connection Check. For more information on the Connection Check tool and what your results mean, check out the How to Troubleshoot Your Camera's Connection article in the Help Center.

Thank you for your response.  The connection is good and always has been.  The base station is centrally located for the other 3 outdoor cameras, including one on the lower level.  Do all the other sensors connect with the base station?  I’m afraid if I find another place to put it, that everything else will be affected.  I suppose I’ll just have to experiment.  

@ mamasams​ might be a little technical explanation.

Yes, the sensors communicate via RF signals, 433.92ish MHz. RF is radio frequency.

Will moving the base cause sensor issues? Possibly yes.

Try unplugging the AC power from the base for testing. Get a helper to carry it around, raise it and lower it and see if garage camera improves, or not. Testing only. Camera improves? No sensors drop? Open space is best not in a cabinet or something.

The base station signal has to penetrate all walls, go around refrigerators and whatever. All weaken the signal.

A garage can be like  or similar to a faraday cage, that cage can prevent signals from entering and leaving easily.  Sorta like a lead box.

So a garage can be related to the issue you're having. If it's the only major or worst problem for your OD cameras.

The garage doors have steel straps to strengthen the doors. Some may have steel in the door panels. Since it's a garage, most would assume it has cars inside it. A signal deflection possibly.

Anything steel, maybe even aluminum soffit etc. could deflect or scatter the RF signal to cameras or the RF sensors. At least weaken it 

If you can't resolve the problem with all above testing, try putting the base station back centrally located, plugged in.

Have a helper unplug the garage camera, move it away from cars and doors etc. butvtowards the base and see if it works any better just running as a battery powered outdoor camera, may be slower than when plugged in.

If a better location has a receptacle and covers the driveway you're good to go if this test works.

But you should see improvement if there is any to get.

Good luck!