I have a Cam Pan V3 that I put out back yesterday (one of two Pan Cams that I got but the other needs a warranty replacement).
I was checking the events (looking to see where this possum goes) when the only events it detected since last night were up high in the trees. It detected it as a vehicle but it was just trees waving. I then went to see if the detection zones work and tried setting them, The detection zones seems to move with the camera lens.
Is there a way to keep the camera from looking up above house level so that it stops detecting the trees waving as movement?
Note that I have one of the waypoints set to look directly below the camera at a point where I think an animal might be getting into my house. So setting a detection zone might interfere with what it sees down there (assuming the detection zone will always move with the camera).
Note that I use waypoints to quickly look at certain areas and none of those waypoints point up to where it identified the trees waving as vehicles. I did have motion sensitivity set to 50% but reduced that to 40%. I set sound sensitivity to 25%, so maybe setting those will work.
If you have “track motion” on the detection zone is essentially ignored. There is no way to limit where it tracks, but there is a wishlist topic asking for that very thing that you can go add your vote to. In the meantime you may want to just use pan/scan without motion tracking. Still doesn’t really use the detection zone but at least keeps it within the confines of where you tell it to scan.
I don’t see that topic under the Pan Cam Wishlist ideas.
I found it…
If you want to keep trying track motion, if possible try to keep the trees (or as much as you can) out of their main/home view so they’re less likely to track them.
I’ve never figured out 100% for sure, but you could try lowering the sensitivity and see if that helps. I seem to recall it didn’t (or didn’t help much) with motion tracking, I think it might be another thing that applies to detections only.
I’ve gotten mine to the point they work pretty well, with the exception of my one in the driveway when it switches to IR, the LEDs track bugs, mist, snow, etc. I could use an external IR light for it to prevent that, but it isn’t frequent enough to be a big deal.
It’s not that the detection zone is ignored, the issue is detection zone moves along with the camera. The result is that it’s pretty useless.
The detection zone is ignored as far as tracking motion. When my cam is in the home position and something moves well outside the DZ, it tracks it, thus putting it into the DZ, and thus recording an event. I was originally under the assumption (like many) that stuff outside the DZ would not cause it to track, but that’s definitely not the case unfortunately.
Detected motion (pixel change) isn’t necessarily the same as recognized AI object tags. If a vehicle is stationary in view and something else is detected as motion, the AI will still label the event with the vehicle tag (if the AI works as it should).
Ok, but why all the way up in the trees above the house and about 160 degs in the opposite direction?
It tracks a little upward from some bit of motion, then a little more from the new motion it can now see, then a little more, etc. With mine when the IR lights are on it isn’t uncommon for it to end up staring at a wall or at its own base, etc.
No idea, but like @dave27 said, it probably saw something in frame, tracked them saw something in the new frame, tracked farther away from “home” and so on. If you want to post the event video, that would be helpful to show what your seeing and for us to understand better what is happening. And AI recognition has nothing to do with motion tracking currently fyi, it strictly is looking for pixel change then starts tracking.
This is why I highly recommend multiple fixed cams to cover the area the pan cameras would (or pans with tracking and scanning disabled), don’t have to trust the tracking to work perfectly and with multiple cameras You’ll have redundancy and a larger coverage area
I’ve sort of pondered whether that would be better for where I have mine, but the two spots I’m using Panv3s they actually work out well. One in the driveway that will track you into my back yard (eliminating the need for a dedicated back yard cam, which would probably make people uncomfortable) and the one on the front of my house overlooking my front yard and street works pretty well.
I’d basically need at least 2 cams in the driveway and 3 on the front, plus the high endurance SD cards, etc. On the front I do have other cams that monitor specific spots like my front door/stairs/walkway and a nearby dangerous intersection.
Honestly not sure if I was starting over which way I would go. The pans are nice for their flexibility. I guess each person needs to look at their situation, if there is a lot of extraneous motion, or if you want constant views of the entire area, then 2 or 3 fixed cams may make more sense. I definitely would not want to rely on pan/scan alone to monitor an entire area.
We may need to put together a little summary of how the pan cams work and what their limitations are to help prospective buyers. But of course they likely only come here after they set them up and are confused by the behaviors.
I agree with that idea.
Cams in the front and back cross paths to cover the area from multiple angles.
I wonder if a pan cam could lose its concentration watching a waving branch while Intruder enters my house.
This wouldn’t work as I only have two outlets outside with two plugs each, and they’re on opposite corners of the house. I’d need a lot more than just two cameras in each location to cover everything I need to cover. I use at least one plug in each outlet during the warmer months for yard work and power washing the house along with power tools when I am building or repairing something.
Not to forget that I’d need extra High Endurance SD cards along with an outside power adapter for each camera. An outdoor power strip for the extra cameras just adds more cost and set up on top of everything else.
All this together just isn’t feasible, so I’ll stick with the two Cam Pans for now.
If Wyze ever comes out with affordable POE cameras then I’d probably go with using them.
Bear in mind you can get USB adapters with many outputs on them, you don’t have to use the Wyze ones. A single outlet can run 4 or more cameras. However yes I’m in agreement that it would take lots of cams and SD cards to cover the same area, but depending on your situation, it may be a better solution if you aren’t able to get them to stay focused where you want them to.
I don’t think the regular USB PSU’s are rated for outdoors and probably aren’t good for extended (years on end) periods outside like the outdoor power adapters are.
Besides that would be exactly the same as getting an outdoor powerstrip.
I have discovered there is one other thing about these Pan Cam V3’s, the resolution is not as good as the Cam V4’s resolution. Especially in low light without night vision turned on. Note that I have to have night vision off because there are lots of lights in the area at night and having night vision on everything black and white.
The wyze plugs (other than the outdoor one) are not outdoor rated either. I have multiple USB power blocks inside weatherproof boxes outside for years with no issues, but there are ones that are outdoor/wet rated too. Honestly I would still put those in a weathertight box anyway.
Yes the v4 has a higher resolution than the v3/Panv3, however it also uses higher compression, so some stuff will look better, other stuff won’t.
Where this a will there is a way. My house has one Dual outlet outdoors at the back, that’s it. I had my friend change the outlet to an outdoor GFCI and covered it with a waterproof outlet box. That feeds two cams with smart plugs. For one side off the house I opened the sliding window, removed the screen, slid a flat USB cable through the window, put the screen back on and closed the window. The camera gets power from indoors and works great. I water tested the area where the flat cable exits the window/screen with 50 psi of water pressure from my hose and no water got inside.
I did have my first camera with the USB PSU in a weather safe box outside but the outdoor PSUs are pretty cheap and they look so much better. I just need a good way to hide the cable going up the side of a drain on one side of the house. On my front deck I am using some white cable guides that are held on by the tape that comes with them. I am sure that tape will fail given time being outside as well as the white plastic eventually yellowing, but hopefully I will find an alternative before any of that happens.
That would be an idea except for the way my windows are. The window slides down into a groove (1" deep on the outside and 2" deep in the inside) that is a very tight fit and even a flat USB cable would not fit in there very well.