Camera misses activity

[funFred]

Hello! I purchased and installed a 2-pack of 1st gen weatherproof cameras in Sept of 2022. One camera is installed on my front door and the other one in my garage. My front door camera (closest to the internet router) has missed activity since the very beginning. Ive tried doing several things ive seen recommended here (turn on/off, add zones, etc) but it’ll still miss some activity. Its not always and its not consistently only during day or night. See example below from this am… someone walked out my front door (camera 1) towards gate (camera 2) and the whole episode was missed by camera 1. Does anyone have any advice?

camera 1: alleges nothing has happened since last night… to get a sense of how much opportunity the camera has to detect activity, see recording from yesterday of how long the corridor is https://video.nest.com/clip/d308dd72865949b2af483ca344eb8457.mp4

camera 2: https://video.nest.com/clip/bfc0e2da13e54d1db59536d1232cdcf8.mp4

[avlphoenix]

I have the same problem with one of my cameras. All the others work properly, I have reset it to factory, added and deleted zones, doesn't work.

[oldkid6]

i have the old school hardwired Nest outdoor cameras and while they work "fine" (1080p), the one thing it has never done well to this day is accurately sense motion regardless of the zones I've set. It's the most frustrating thing about the camera, and from what I've read and seen on YT, the problem has only gotten worse since they don't support the Nest app anymore. To be blunt, they've pretty much ruined what was the best 24/7 monitoring camera. I think they even stopped selling the hardwired version from old and advertise the new wireless cams as an optional plug in. But in summarize, the problems you're experiencing are not new and just get used to false notifications along with actual notifications. As soon as another company comes up with a better camera and app support I'm jumping ship, but for now I'll keep using my old cameras until then. GOOGLE, IF YOU'RE LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS GET A NEW HARDWIRED 4K 24/7 MONITORING CAM, NOT EVERYONE WANTS GOOGLE HOME.

[Super_paulie]

its pretty ridiculous. Who on earth wants a security camera that you need to remove to charge every week, i mean these things are meant to be high enough up that they cant be tampered with. Or one that has a trailing power cable to an outside socket, its just stupid and a total bodge of a job.

[avlphoenix]

That was annoying, then I got a solar charger/ gutter mount and it hasn't been an issue. It's high enough up to not worry about theft and I haven't had to charge it.

Wasserstein 2-in-1 Gutter Mount for Google Nest Cam & Wasserstein Solar Panel

[nerys]

Hello there,

Thanks for posting in the community!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are not seeing the video history from your Nest Camera. No worries; I'm here to help! Just to start, I have a few questions to help me understand what's exactly happening:

• Is all video history missing, or are only certain portions missing?
• What Nest Aware subscription plan do you have (if any)?
• How's the Wi-Fi signal strength at the camera's location?

Knowing this information will allow me to provide you with the best troubleshooting.

If you have more questions for me, feel free to reply to this post. I'll be happy to assist further. 

Best regards,

Nery.

[funFred]

hi Nerys, please see answers below:
• i wouldnt call the issue “video history missing”, but rather the camera not catching activity and therefor theres no video history. I have several examples where people have walked in and out my front door where the camera is directly pointing at and it doesnt register any activity .
• How do i know what nest aware subscription i have? I have one, not sure which one.
•  wifi signal is good, theres another camera further out and it works fine

[nerys]

Hi funFred,

Thanks for your reply!

Thanks for clarifying this information. I'm here to help! Here are some steps and some information we can consider:

Make sure that the camera's settings are properly configured.

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap Favorites or Devices.
3. Tap and hold your device's tile. More menu Settings.
4. Select Events.
5. Verify that the events you want to receive are on.

Also, you can check the kind of Nest Aware using the next settings:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap settings
3. Tap Subscriptions, and then Nest Aware.
4. You can verify the kind of subscription you have.

If you have more questions for me, feel free to reply to this post. I'll be happy to assist further. 

Best regards,

Nery.

[Annon]

My outdoor cam was sporadically missing people and activity within a few feet of camera.  After the Nest app update 6/3, it is not picking up much activity at all!  Seems to happen every tine there's an update.  It won't even capture me walking up to the camera!  Nothing has changed, except for the app update.

[nerys]

Hi Annon,

Thanks for posting in the community!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are experiencing difficulties with people and activity. Don't worry, I'm here to help! Have you tried the steps mentioned above? Also, sometimes it is important to refresh the settings of the app, so you can also follow the next steps:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap Favorites or Devices.
3. Tap and hold your device's tile, then More and finally Settings.
4. Select Notifications.
5. Turn off all the notifications.
6. Close the app and wait 30 seconds.
7. Open the app and turn on all the notifications again.

Hopefully, taking these steps might solve this situation.

If you have more questions for me, feel free to reply to this post. I'll be happy to assist further. 

Best regards,

Nery.

[Annon]

Notifications are not the problem.  The outdoor cam simply isn't catching activity, especially people, although it is notifying about people talking.  It does seem a little better today, after the Home app updated, even though I use the Nest app.

Does high heat index near 100 impact the cam's ability to catch activity?

[nerys]

Hi Annon,

Thanks for your response and for clarifying the information!

Here are more steps we can consider since this situation is caused by camera motion and you already have the app up to date.

• Create an activity zone.
• Change the camera position to avoid bright lights.

If you have more questions for me, feel free to reply to this post. I'll be happy to assist further. 

Best regards,

Nery.

[Annon]

I already have activity zones set.  The cam has been in same location for years--under roof, no bright lights, and it's happening all the time (day and night).

[nerys]

Hi Annon,

Thanks for your reply!

Perfect! Thanks for checking all these steps. Here are a few more steps we can try:

• Check in https://goo.gle/2UZL8VI and see if there is the same amount of activity.
• Verify that the camera is within 10 feet of the router or the point.
• Perform a restart of the camera.

Also, as a last resort, you can perform a factory reset. This will erase all data and videos stored on the camera. Proceed with a factory reset only if the previous steps don't resolve this.

I hope this helps! If you have more questions for me, feel free to reply to this post. I'll be happy to assist further. 

Best regards,

Nery.

[oldkid6]

With the advent of A.I. it feels like the responses are AI generated when you post anything in this forum. The Nest outdoor cameras have NEVER had good motion detection. Meaning, it either gives you too many or not enough and it's NEVER consistent. Why doesn't Google update the firmware to be better at actually capturing people, not oncoming headlights from cars, that would be helpful. I have tried every combination of zones to no zones, and a tiny square, it still triggers motion from cars in the distance and when there's contrast between sudden sun to cloud changes in the sky, WTF, let's go!