My cameras stop recording after 13 sec - They are set to 300 sec

[Khone]

My cameras are set-up to record when motion is detected.

Is there any way to set them up so that recording continues beyond a few seconds.

I just had a recording of someone trying to break-in to my car but it stopped after 13 seconds and didn't follow the individuals beyond that time. I need the cameras to record long enough to catch all of their movements. Extremly important as this is the 4th time this has happened. I've searched through the Settings and didn't see anything to extend recording time. If needed, I can furnish a video of this event.

Any help appreciated.

[TomMac]

You need to EDIT your Mode that you are arming with....

change the recording session from " until motion stops " to a "fixed" time if it is set ( as sometimes when camera no longers see motion it will stop ) and/or increase the fixed time ...it can be set up to 300 secs, about 1 min+ is usu good.

[Khone]

Thaks for your response.

My cameras (3) were originally set on a schedule and it said when motion is detected, up to 300 seconds. Apparently that doesn't work all the time because I've had some videos record "all" movement and some stop short.

I then clicked on Armed and by doing that, the cameras are on continuously which is no good because there is movement all the time and I get alerts all day/night.

I'd like to leave them on a schedule, but don't know why they don't record until movement stops.

Guess I'll just leave it on the Schedule and hope it works.

Thanks again.

[jguerdat]

As stated many times here, record up to 300 seconds while motion continues actually requires motion to not only continue but also to be detectable by the camera. If the subject moves outside of the range of the camera's PIR detector, recording will stop. Just because you can see it doesn't mean the camera can, which has a max of 20-25 feet (depending on the camera model) for people if the sensitivity is cranked all the way up.

[Khone]

Thank you guru for your response.

I didn't mean to be a "pest" or anything. The only reason I made the post is I thought that as long as the camera can see an individual, and movement, it would record.

This morning, @ 2:15 A.M., an individual (1st) was attempting to break into my car. Approximately 30 feet beyond that a second individual (2nd) is seen one moving around as if a "lookout". That means the camera was able to see at least 40 -50 feet or more. The 1st individual had not stopped trying to break in (motion), the camera stopped recordiing.  If I have my cameras  set for motion, 300 seconds, and it was able to see the 2nd person about 25 feet beyond the 1st person, even in the street, then I do not understand why the camera stopped rercording even with the  1st person moving.

I apologize for being such a ignorant fool. I've always believed that when something is promised to do a certain thing, it will. In this case, not true. FYI the camera recoreded for a total of 12 seconds, damn far short of 300 seconds.

If you want, I will upload a video, if that's possible on this site.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

That's why timed recordings may be the better answer. You're not ignorant but you may want to read up on how PIR sensors work and their limitations. Motion directly towards the camera is a problem as well as movement that works its way away from the camera. The IR signature from the subjects is also important since nighttime may cool them off and clothing may help mask it. The other guy at 30 feet is just too far away in the first place. It's a function of the PIR sensor, not the video lens.

I did a series of tests early on to see how this feature worked. I started by walking side to side close to the camera and slowly moved away from the camera. As expected, when I got to approximately the max range of the detector the recording stopped. I did find that the recording kept going for ~5 seconds after motion was no longer detectable so it's not instantaneous. If your subject was far enough away and stopped moving (or was moving very little), I would expect the recording to stop.

I'd suggest spending 10 minutes testing the system as above to find real world results in your situation. And, yes, please provide a link to your video (you can't upload it, just link it).