Outdoor Camera Delay

Seems everyone is having this issue. Davy?

Is this a community help site or is actually someone from the company monitors the threads? 

Hi @siameselynx,

It's both! And yes, we've been hearing some reports of sluggishness from the Outdoor Camera - perhaps partially a side effect of the camera's Deep Sleep feature that helps preserve battery life.

Improved responsiveness is definitely a focus for future firmware updates. Stay tuned.

@davey_d​ thanks!
Is there a way to have the recording running 24/7 to make sure every event is captured?

@davey_d​ Looking forward to this update. My outdoor camera is missing a lot of stuff. I have it set to people only and medium sensitivity. I tried high, but the battery drains quickly. Also the activity zone blocking does not work well at all.

@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.

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.

@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.

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

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?

I am having the same issue. I have been experimenting over the last month with different settings and have even tried changing the location for a different angle, nothing is working. There are a lot of complaints, and the response from customer service reps is that it is a "top priority", but that remains to be seen.

So sorry to hear about your experiences. We did release an update earlier this year with some improvements to performance. But our engineering team continues to work on further optimizations.

@Austin​ we hear you. As I mentioned in a different comment, we've made some progress, but we're still working on it and more improvements are on the way.

These cameras are such a waste of time and money.  Customer service is the worst!  They just lie to get you off the phone or passed to the next.  I was told my order from 11/21 would be delivered this week and it hasn’t even been processed.  Email was sent out it will be another 5-6 months for smoke detectors.  Took too long to get cameras so can’t return to Best Buy.  I 100% regret SimpliSafe.   

I have the same issue... very slow to wake-up. It's not worth the money. I'm thinking of mounting it on a tree in the yard.  In addition, while I receive audio from both the outdoor and indoor cameras, pressing the microphone alerts me it needs permission... which, I don't think can be forced.

Greetings Cyb10389.  I setup 3 outdoor cams when these were released, and returned them all after weeks of testing and help from a SS engineer.  Detailed feedback on my experience was posted here in the community.  Bottom line, the cams  are brilliant, but the current software driving the cams is not. They attempt to record everything that moves, 24 hrs a day, triggering too slowly to see anything useful and draining the battery.  I also had trouble with the spotlight turning on randomly, and not turning off after a recording event. There’s no way to schedule the time they’re active, and turning them on and off takes too many steps to reach in the menus. So the battery dies. Not useful at all.  

However, my indoor cams and SimpliSafe sensors have performed flawlessly for a couple years now.  I’m sticking with SimpliSafe, and recommend to friends and family.  Just not the outdoor cams.  I’m hopeful these software flaws will be fixed, I will buy them again if these issues are addressed.

Thanks for the feedback, @cyb10389 and @andrewss2 ,

Improving the Outdoor Camera's performance is definitely a top priority for us. Our engineering team has already pushed through a couple of firmware updates this year that bring some improvements, and more are on the way.

In particular, there was a known issue that caused severe battery drain like cyb10389 was describing. So I strongly suggest checking in your Camera settings section to make sure that your camera has been updated to the latest version - 1.7. For more info, please head over to this thread.

I’ve been a SimpliSafe customer for years and was really looking forward to the outdoor camera when I finally bought two this year. I have been comparing it side by side to a Ring cam on my system for a couple months now and I’m ready to send the SS back. This camera should not have been shipped to customers, IMO. I’m not an engineer but the camera responds way too slowly, it doesn’t connect half the time despite it being 10 feet from a router, and it’s UI is inadequate. Does it even have an adequate processor for video streaming? And the video quality in daytime is way over-exposed compared to my Ring. It actually offers better video quality at night than during the day. I have zero issue pulling up my Ring (which is 2x farther from my router) every time and getting fairly true colors and decent clarity. I’m bummed.

The outdoor camera definitely wakes up too slowly.  Most of my recordings are of people at the top or bottom edge of frame disappearing from view in the first couple of frames, and that's people walking directly towards or away from the camera, not crossing left to right.

The toggle to night vision is also seriously flawed.  Half my videos at night are pitch black because the camera stays in color mode even though it's dark out.

A simple fix would be to set a timer on the camera that turns a camera to night vision only during certain times of the day.  The only way to do that now is to log onto the web UI (the app doesn't allow you) and set night vision to always on or always off, but you have to do that yourself, twice a day, for each camera.... which is of course a really inconvenient work-around.

This whole delayed capture thing has to be figured out.... It's not acceptable to tout an outdoor camera that catches things after the fact. In what world is that remotely helpful to anyone? This needs to be corrected immediately. The best way for a business to take quick action is when it hurts their bottom line so anyone who has experienced this should leave a one star review on Simplisafe's google result and anywhere else to get the attention. I have seen too many times on here they invalidate and dismiss the feedback of customers on here. Time to let them hear it loud and clear. 

@sherrieo78  The design is the same as the outdoor camera, and the wake up to live stream does take significantly longer than the doorbell pro and simplicam.  Since the release of the outdoor camera, I should note the time lag has improved and if the camera is not on a battery source (AC, solar pannel) SS has to find out a way to skip the start up process entirely.  My two Live Guard cameras will eventually both be on AC only (one is unplugged now to test the battery. Living in the greater Chicagoland area and the Mrs. who doesn't want cameras on the ceiling or walls make batteries a no no in our home and we are fortunate to have an AC source very conveniently nearby (indoor) and had a line run to the outdoor locations. 

Back to your original speed issue, suggest you use the Connection Check Tool to see what the signal strength is and the upload speed. I moved one of my Google mesh points directly between the two outdoor cameras and improved their performance.

As Don stated in the second paragraph, I would recommend running the connection check (Cameras > Settings > Select a camera from the list > Connection Check > Start Connection Check > Let's Go and wait for the results. This flow should help identify what the issue might be. 

We are working hard to enhance the Battery Camera experience. You should see improved speeds in the coming weeks/months. 

As Don stated in the second paragraph, I would recommend running the connection check (Cameras > Settings > Select a camera from the list > Connection Check > Start Connection Check > Let's Go and wait for the results. This flow should help identify what the issue might be. 

We are working hard to enhance the Battery Camera experience. You should see improved speeds in the coming weeks/months. 

The cameras are definitely slower to connect than I would like. By the time I am notified of activity and get the camera running the incident is over. This is not bad when it is just a delivery but in a real emergency or break in it would make a difference.

@dinosm​ thank you for your feedback, and so sorry to hear you're seeing poor performance from your Outdoor Camera. We have been making solid progress over the past few firmware updates, but our dev team still has a way to go.

On the user end, however, and apart from making sure you have good bandwidth, the other piece is to make sure that there's a good wireless link between the camera and your Base Station. The camera needs the Base Station as part of the wake-up process, and that connection uses the same local RF as your sensors. So it might help to move the Base Station closer, or to a different spot where that link would have a better chance of connecting.

I sincerely hope we can help turn this around for you. But we thank you for giving us a tr.

@davey_d​  Well, the expression "blowing smoke" has found a home. LOL.

I spent last week making 3 phone calls, 2 resets, one camera complete disconnect and reset, updates checked, etc etc..  Nothing changed.  I didnt find this link till today, but thats what I kept telling the agent that it seemed like the camera is not waking up, and they acted like I was blowing smoke.  Well I had an unused camera that was going to put in backyard but never did.  So I switched it out and Shaazam, still has terrible wake up time.  I never see a face of anyone coming to the door and usually get their back only when leaving.  My driveway is about 70' so thats how slow and rather useless the camera is.  Your updates if improving it must be in milli-seconds.

@KCOC​ We have an upcoming update on the way that will improve the Outdoor Camera's wake-up time when plugged into a Solar Panel or power cable. Once this feature is live, an update will be provided in this thread. 

In the meantime, I would use the Connection Check Tool in the SimpliSafe mobile app to help see if the camera has a strong connection and signal strength or not. This can be done by taking the following steps:

1. Tap the “Cameras” icon at the bottom of the SimpliSafe mobile app
2. Choose the gear icon in the upper right corner
3. Select your camera
4. Under “Connection” select “Connection Check”
5. Tap “Start Connection Check” to find your Video Doorbell’s connection strength

@tomgunderson01​ I'm very sorry to hear this. Improving the wakeup time of the Outdoor Camera is a top priority for our dev team. They've made some improvements, and there are more to come. 

I recommend running the Connection Check tool for your camera to ensure it has a strong signal strength and connection speed. This can be done in the mobile app by navigating to Cameras > Settings > [your camera] > Connection Check > Start Connection Check. If the strength and speed are low, it would be helpful to move the Base Station close to the Outdoor Camera.

Thanks for reporting, @blueelfaloe9 . Sounds like the connection to your WiFi router is great, and that's good news.

But the other connection we want to keep tabs on is between the camera and your Base Station, because that communication is part of how the camera wakes up. Where is the Base Station located in relation to your camera? It might help to move it a bit closer, if it's not already.

@kurtissmith118​ Great news! That feature is indeed currently in development. Follow this thread to be notified when it's ready.

@jenniferriedel99​ Using the Connection Check Tool on your offline camera should help diagnose what the problem may be. You can do this in the SimpliSafe mobile app by taking the following steps:

1. Tap the “Cameras” icon at the bottom of the SimpliSafe mobile app
2. Choose the gear icon in the upper right corner
3. Select your camera
4. Under “Connection” select “Connection Check”
5. Tap “Start Connection Check” to find your Video Doorbell’s connection strength