Active zones not working

[Retired_Member]

I had a problem with getting too many events. I set up some activity zones, but I get notifications even when outside the zones. I’ve excluded the street. But it identifies passing vehicles as animals!

Also, we had a situation where several friendly kids came to our door. The video event stopped after the second child approached. There were several more shortly after. In fact, you can see motion in the frame when the video stops. 

[ShayneS]

May I ask which troubleshooting steps you have performed so far? I don't want to suggest anything you have previously performed.

[Retired_Member]

I’ve redone the zones and rebooted the door bell. I haven’t gotten a false event in two days. 

[ShayneS]

Thank you for the update.

[Retired_Member]

It seems to be working better, but I am a little concerned that I am getting some events that are only a second or two or three long - not much use. I think that in most (but not all) cases, it stopped recording as soon as motion towards the doorbell ceased. In some cases, it stopped even when I was approaching!

I've restarted and Wi-Fi strength is good. I'm not very confident this will work when it is needed.

[jguerdat]

Short recordings may be due to signal strength/quality issues between the doorbell and your router or hub. Lots of reasons for what could cause this such as house construction, distance, nearby wireless devices that use the 2.4GHz band, etc. Try moving your router or hub some to see it that helps. 

[Retired_Member]

I’m not sure that is the issue. The router is about 20-25 feet away with only the exterior wall separating. We don’t have many other devices and no streaming. No other devices seem to have a problem. I guess interference could be the problem… I wish there was some way of telling…

[StephenB]

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@Retired_Member wrote:

I’m not sure that is the issue. The router is about 20-25 feet away with only the exterior wall separating. We don’t have many other devices and no streaming. No other devices seem to have a problem. I guess interference could be the problem… I wish there was some way of telling…

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You could try running speedtest (the ookla app) on your phone when you are at the doorbell location, and see what performance you get.  Disable mobile data to make sure you are using your wifi.

[Retired_Member]

I have a Netgear Nighthawk 7900 router and the Netgear app has a speed test. I got 371 mbps down, 12 mbps up and 20.71 ms ping. Spectrum/charter internet.  Had my phone outside right next to the doorbell with the phone cellular turned off. 

[StephenB]

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@Retired_Member wrote:

I have a Netgear Nighthawk 7900 router and the Netgear app has a speed test. I got 371 mbps down, 12 mbps up and 20.71 ms ping. Spectrum/charter internet.  Had my phone outside right next to the doorbell with the phone cellular turned off. 

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I believe the Netgear app is testing the speed at your router, and not measuring it at the phone.  If I'm right on that, then it won't show any speed drop-off due to a poor wifi signal at the camera location.

I suggest testing again with the ookla speedtest app (which is free).

Upload speed is the critical parameter here - 12 mbps isn't great, but should be ok in most situations (depending on what other internet use is happening when the camera is streaming to the cloud).