The Cam v3 for which I am a shared user at my remote location seems to be turning itself off. When I open the app it invariably says the camera is off. As soon as I back out of the live stream (to look at another camera at a different location), it apparently turns itself off.
More detail: when opening the app the on/off icon on the right says the camera is off. I can click on it and turn it on. But when I click on the image of the room, it still says “Your camera is turned off.” I click on the power icon and it goes through the loading process and comes back to the live stream. Backing out with the < at top left of screen causes the problem camera to turn off.
My other camera never does this.
Since you are the shared user, there is a possibility that the Account Holder of the cam or another shared user is turning off the cam thru their app or that any one of you has a Rule programmed to turn off the cam on some sort of trigger or schedule.
When you turn on the cam using the ON icon in the Home Device List, it isn’t immediate. It takes a couple seconds for the command to get from your app, to the server, back down to the cam, and for the cam to go thru it’s initialization process to secure the P2P stream. If you click into the Live Stream before all this finishes, you will get the “Cam is Off” screen until you click the ON button there.
SlabSlayer, Got it about the delay. You were, of course, correct.
I have looked at the Rules of the account holder. The only Rules I see are “I’m away” and “I’m home.”
- Using her iPhone I armed the system to away and saw the message about the camera having an issue that needed resolution in order for the system to function correctly. (We have temperature and water sensors connected to a SmartHub, and they seem to be reading correctly.)
- Clicked on Monitoring and then MORE by SECURITY CAMERA and I see the live stream.
- Backing out by clicking on HOME the camera says it’s OFF.
- Back to Monitoring and the live stream is back.
- Click on the image of the room and it says “Your camera is turned off.”
Seems like the camera is monitoring and on but says it’s off. ???
Trying to update the firmware from 4.58.11.4679 to 4.58.0.3210, but after 10 minutes “Update Failed.” (Both sending signal where phone is to where camera is located are not strong [T Mobile]).
The Preset Template Rules for I’m Home or I’m Away that show in Rules are only active if opened, modified, and saved. They are just inactive templates that you can choose otherwise.
If activated, these will then show as buttons in the Shortcut bar at the top of the Home screen. Pressing one of these will turn ON\OFF the cam, Motion Detection, and Notifications for any Cam on your account that is left within the Actions list when editing. Doing so will create an entry within the Rules History list.
Arming the HMS does not have any affect on the status of the cams that are included within your 5 Security Cam list unless you have added Trigger\Action\Service Rules that will trigger from the HMS Mode and Action Cams On\Off. Again, a Rule such as this will create an entry within the Rules History list.
From the symptoms you are describing: the cam showing as Off within the Home page Device List and the HMS indicating that the Security Cam is offline when arming but still being able to secure a Live Stream within the Security Cams multi-cam view (verify that the timestamp is actually counting and you aren’t seeing a static snapshot placeholder), and the updates failing… It makes me believe that there is an issue with the connectivity the cam has with the WiFi router. It may be getting a poor or intermittent signal.
First thing to try is to move the cam temporarily closer to the WiFi router and try the update and test it there. It would also be beneficial to test the WiFi signal at the current cam location to see what strength of RSSI it is getting there and what the ping time is.
Thanks, I will try this all when I get back to the camera’s location this Friday.
The camera is about 15-20 ft from the router/modem. I know the signal is not all that great, but this is a new problem; the camera and system has been there almost a year and until recently, was not an issue. We can can stream Netflix and other video wirth that signal, so it can’t be too bad.
The live stream is real – the time stamp is operational because I can see the seconds pass.
One more bit of info – we had not been to the camera’s location for a month. Sometime during the period of absence I noticed the camera was off and we could not connect. Restarting the camera did nothing – still could not connect. When we were there last weekend, I first checked the wireless signal to make sure
the router/modem was working (it was), then unplugged the camera for a minute or so, plugged it back in, and all was fine, or so we thought, until after returning home we detected the “camera off” routine.
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New connectivity issues that crop up without any change in the network or updates are difficult to pinpoint. The only thing that comes to mind is a new device in the surrounding area that may be throwing some 2.4GHz interference in that is disrupting the signal.
“The only thing that comes to mind is a new device in the surrounding area that may be throwing some 2.4GHz interference in that is disrupting the signal.”
Ha! There is no one remotely near us. Not within 200 yards. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Could it be an actual problem with the camera?
I would definitely get the firmware updated.
You could check the rule history to see if something is triggering this.
Or the camera could just be bad/inconsistent. I have one v3 that was frequently going offline- i scheduled a rule to turn the camera off for 1 minute every day at 5am- this has reduced the number of problems.
Since the location is remote, even without this problem i’d suggest a wifi enabled plug as a worthwhile investment. For less than $10 you will be able to power cycle the camera remotely when not responding, or even schedule a cycle every day overnight as a mitigation step. When I travel it seems inevitable that 1 camera will go offline, and I have never regretted the money spent for a remote plug. The wyze plugs work well, or pick a different brand
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It can’t be ruled out. But I would suspect a failing power adapter first that may be fluctuating the power supply to the cam and not providing the power needed. One test for this is to activate the siren and the spotlight at the same time while live streaming and see if it falls on its face.
When the power drops, the cam antenna will be the first to loose function.
Very sound advice. I have all my cams on smart plugs for this eventuality. I no longer have the need to schedule any power cycles since I upgraded my router network, but an occasional firmware update will necessitate one. They are extremely handy for power cycling cams remotely.
So using a smart plug on the camera will cause all firmware updates to take place remotely/automatically?
No. Currently the only cams that have Automatic Update options, which can be disabled within the Device Settings>Device Info>Firmware>Auto Update menu are the V3, V3 Pro, and Outdoor Cam. But look for this option to be introduced on other cams in the future. Unfortunately, we have found that the default setting right now is on.
Sometimes a firmware update will make it so that the cam needs to be power cycled. With a Cam at a remote location, that isn’t easy. But, if it is plugged into a Smart Plug, you only need to use your phone to turn off that smart plug, wait 30s or so, and power it back on…remotely. The cam is power cycled and it reboots.