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?
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.
Has there been any progress on this issue? This is an expensive “dumb” doorbell.
Yes, you can find more information here.
This issue can affect skybells regardless of the back-end service. Test firmware can be pushed if you would like to try it. Simply let us know here or send an email to customerservice@suretyDIY.com.
Lately, the Skybell regularly fails to record video and I can’t view the stream from the ADC application, despite usually having 90%+ wifi signal. The beta 1148 firmware was pushed a few days ago, but the issue has not improved.
Lately, the Skybell regularly fails to record video and I can’t view the stream from the ADC application, despite usually having 90%+ wifi signal. The beta 1148 firmware was pushed a few days ago, but the issue has not improved.
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but 90% signal strength does not mean that the doorbell has enough bandwidth. More importantly, the link quality being reported by the doorbell currently shows as very poor, and supervision attempts are failing roughly 10% of the time.
Another consideration is the upload speed of your network. The Doorbell cam requires a dedicated 2-2.5 mbps upload (this is in addition to all other device requirements on the network) for best functionality.
You can check the upload speed of your internet connection by running an internet speed test. Search for “internet speed test” in google for a quick test. What is your upload speed?
Have you power cycled your router recently? If you anticipate that you should have enough bandwidth, try a power cycle of the router to see if the speed and connectivity improves.
Thanks Jason, but the Skybell is the only device that has connectivity problems on my network. My ISP is Comcast with reliable upload bandwidth. WiFi is via multiple Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PROs, prosumer grade access points, on the latest firmware and recently rebooted. The Unifi administration console shows both APs are lightly utilized and have plenty of bandwidth. Upload speeds on speedtest.net are consistently >10Mbps over WiFi, even when run when standing at the Skybell.
Upload speeds on speedtest.net are consistently >10Mbps over WiFi, even when run when standing at the Skybell
Upload speed of 10mbps should be fine, yes.
The Skybell is however reporting poor link quality with many failed supervision attempts. This does suggest a network issue of some kind.
WiFi is via multiple Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PROs, prosumer grade access points
Hmm. Any time a surveillance device can connect to multiple access points there is a possibility of error. I’ve not thoroughly tested with the Skybell, but when multiple access points are within range, there is a tendency for static surveillance devices to swap between possible connection points instead of remain on the closest one.
I typically suggest best practice is to have a unique SSID for the surveillance device to connect to if multiple access points are used.
Alternatively, do your UniFi access points allow mac filtering to force connection to a specific AP? You can set a static IP in the Skybell HD during setup instead of using DHCP, and if you can limit the access point it can speak to we could filter out this possibility as an error.
Thanks. I will setup a unique SSID for the Skybell and restrict it to nearest AP.
I did a factory reset (rapid yellow flashing) and removed the Skybell from ADC to start clean and reconfigure it for the new SSID. It now fails to get past the solid-yellow boot phase. Pressing and holding causes a red-yellow flash with the doorbell ringing about once a second while holding the button. Release the button and it’s back to solid-yellow.
From the firmware it looks like this is an original Skybell HD, and this post may be related if you are having boot problems as well.
The issue may be the battery. If you open the Skybell and access the battery, does it appear pillowed, bloated?