Skybell HD Acting Up

My Skybell HD has become rather problematic. There has been no change in my WiFi setup, but for several weeks the app will intermittently tell me that the Skybell is not responding. In 12-24 hours that typically clears up. More recently, the camera continues to sense motion for several minutes after an actual motion event. This morning I left the house at 7:47; the camera kept sensing motion until 7:53. The front door was opened again at 8:35; the camera kept triggering until 8:39.

Motion sensitivity has been disappointing since the Skybell was installed. We often receive deliveries or other visitors on the porch that, if even slightly off-axis from the doorbell, do not trigger the camera.

Currently your Wireless signal strength is between 64 and 68%. This needs to be at 90% for the SkyBell to function. How far away is your router from the SkyBell? What type of material is the SkyBell mounted on?

Additionally, what is your upload speed at the SkyBell? It needs to be at least 2.5MBPS. You can test this via a speed test with a laptop or mobile device at the install site.

With regards to the motion, there will need to be about 5 seconds of motion in from of the camera before it will trigger motion so depending on how long someone is at the door/porch it may not register.

My SKybell is also acting up. I live in Las Vegas and I have noticed that when the rain storms come in and lower the temperature the unit cooperates. What is the maximum outside temperature that the sky bell can reliably operate. It is in direct sunlight given the location.

The Skybell HD has a top operating temp of 140 F. Hovering around there for too long may affect functionality.

If it is in direct sunlight most of the day, and especially if it is mounted to a metal door frame or otherwise metal surface, it could possibly near or reach that temp. You could do a rudimentary check with a laser thermometer on the skybell and surrounding surface.

Thanks for the tips. My access point is a fair distance from the Skybell, but I’ve always gotten good speedtest results from the location using my phone. I’ll see if moving the AP closer yields an improvement. The Skybell is mounted on a wooden door frame.

Temperature shouldn’t be a problem with my installation. While the ambient temp here gets hot, I have a deep covered porch and the door area is always shaded.

I haven’t relocated the router yet, but something is obviously wrong electrically with the device now.
Besides filling up my video quota because of the repeated recordings, it also causes the doorbell assembly to rattle.

When the camera is off, there’s stray current causing the electromagnet in the doorbell to hum, which in turn makes the whole assembly rattle. I just noticed it, but my wife says it’s been making noise for about a month. Turn the camera on, and the hum/rattle stops. Kill the camera, and the noise returns.

Besides filling up my video quota because of the repeated recordings, it also causes the doorbell assembly to rattle.

What is the trigger for the excess recordings? Are they all triggering on motion or any on errant button presses?

The problematic trigger is on motion. I’ve reduced the sensitivity to the minimum. It’s intermittent, but for instance last night it triggered when we returned home around 8PM. There are 10 additional recordings after all activity on the porch had ceased. Some vehicles can occasionally be seen passing by, but the skybell is a good 60’-70’ back from the street.

Are vehicles in all of the additional recordings? Do the headlights shine directly on the skybell?

There are vehicles in most, but not all of the clips. Headlights are never straight on. The attached clip is from about the middle of the extra recordings last night.

Front-Doorbell_1506913719000.mp4 (475 KB)

Hm, that is very strange. False recordings can occur for many reasons but that clip does look like there is no reason. And it was definitely a PIR triggered clip?

The only movement is the sprinkler, though that should have no effect. Since it does not make sense anyway, on the off chance, do the recordings start when the sprinkler starts and stop when it stops?

The recordings don’t coincide with the sprinkler schedule. They start with a legitimate trigger from motion, usually someone entering/exiting through the front door. The skybell simply doesn’t stop recording like it should. It keeps going for 10 minutes. It did it again 45 minutes ago when my wife used the front door.

Neither the repeated recordings nor the buzzing/stray current issues were present for the first several months of use. Initially the skybell wasn’t sensitive enough and it would miss events that it should record, or begin recording too late to be of use.

After speaking with some video folks at ADC it looks like there are a few other similar reported cases. We’ve added your account to the main ticket at ADC to help resolve this issue. It sounds like there are no suggested resolution steps, at least that haven’t bee tried elsewhere, but I would recommend trying to remove and re-add the Skybell HD to your account as a test.

Thanks. Any thoughts on the stray current causing vibration in the doorbell assembly?

No, I’ve not heard of that as an issue previously.

How are you testing to determine the cause?

Do you have an analog or digital door chime? If digital, did you install the digital adapter?

It’s an analog chime, purchased new to go with the Skybell.

When I discovered noise coming from the chime, I removed the cover and found that the electromagnet that actuates the hammer was humming/vibrating slightly. I opened the ADC app on my phone and activated the doorbell camera, at which point the noise stopped. When I turned the camera stream off, the noise returned. I repeated this several times to confirm, and the pattern was consistent.

We will bring that issue to ADC regarding the Skybell and attempt to test ourselves. What is the power supply for the doorbell circuit you are using?

Thanks. This transformer is the power supply, also bought new for this installation.

I had to disable recording on motion. Twice today it’s gotten stuck. Around noon it started recording and ran for half an hour, until someone rang the doorbell. I just noticed it started again about half an hour ago and was still recording. Nearly 100 clips so far today.

PastEvents.csv (12.2 KB)

We can see events in your history get requested. There is certainly an issue occurring at the Skybell HD with processing motion recordings.

I would say since a resolution is not known but the issue is known it would be best to leave PIR triggered recordings disabled for now. We will update this thread as soon as word is available from ADC on the recording issue, or the buzzing.