I have to EufyCams 2cs I just bought a week ago.
I have a long driveway, and then a long walk around the corner to get to the front door. The front door camera doesn’t detect anyone until they are pretty close to the door.
I set up an automation where when Camera 1 (driveway) senses motion, Camera 2 (Front Door) starts recording. My thought was that it will record anyone who is coming around the sidewalk.
It has been working, however, Camera 2 only records for 7 seconds, not long enough to catch who ever is coming up around the corner.
Anyway to change the recording length in automations?
How is the power manager set up?
It may be set to ‘end clip early if no motion’. Usually the cut off is after about six seconds. So it makes sense that it records one second, does not detect movement and after six seconds shuts down again.
You may have to reduce the re-trigger interval. Sometimes when using another cam to trigger the recording, your stream drops out and the triggered cam thinks it’s done. I’d experiment with reducing it to five seconds and see if that helps. If that doesn’t work, use one of the optimal settings that are fixed length.
I used a motion sensor to trigger a situation a lot like yours and it works great. My porch cam is set to Optimal Surveillance and I usually get around 45-60 second clips.
@ammaralo@pysailr I’ve had a similar issue. However, my Cam2 and Cam2 Pro only record 5 seconds if it doesn’t receive any movement. I wish Eufy would allow us to customize these triggered events (even without motion).
Especially, since most of the time the motion event has to be within 20-25 feet of the camera. If I want to record something from a distance to record from a wider angle, I’d like to be able to do that.
@ammaralo Unfortunately, I’ve tried Optimal Surveillance and Customize Recording. Neither option has worked because the actual motion is outside the automation’s triggered camera’s range.
For example, I have a camera in our alley (someone has stolen our trash can in the past). This particular camera catches everything I need. However, I have a second camera that is in our backyard which is over 45 feet away. Add a back fence and distance…and the motion in the alley is not going to be recorded by this particular device. However, I set an automation for it to begin recording so I can see an overview of the event (such as the garbage truck, which is easily seen over the fence line). This is the trigger I wish I can adjust, because it only records for 5 seconds. Pretty much the second camera is not recognizing any motion, it stops recording soon after it begins. I wish we had an option to select an additional time for these automated recordings.
Maybe you should try a motion sensor to trigger your setup. I think part of the problem with having a camera triggering a camera is if the signal from the camera drops and retriggers, it stops the other camera from recording. That’s why I suggested to @ammaralo dropping the re-trigger to the lowest possible setting.
The motion sensor just sends a trigger command and it appears to be handled differently by the triggered device. I’ve looked at the signals from the motion sensor with my spectrum analyzer and they use a narrow bandwidth (100Khz) 920 Mhz signal. The cameras communicate in the 2.4 Ghz spectrum with a much wider channel (20 Mhz). Unfortunately, my analyzer rolls off just below that point so I can’t do any analysis of the signal.
@pysailr Thank you for the info! I would like to try and mess with a motion sensor a little more. Unfortunately, they are not rated to be outdoors, although I use one under a covered porch with no issues…yet, lol.
In this particular setup the camera that is triggered still doesn’t record for long either. For my senecio in the alley, it would definitely be exposed to the elements. My other concern is anyone can easily snap off the sensor and take it. Where as the cameras are more difficult to unscrew and will alarm as soon as the “anti-theft” feature is activated. More of a deterrent versus the motion sensor.
I’m hoping a software update can help remedy this issue and help others who may want to record a trigger event for a set amount of time…almost like their Floodlights where you can set a time on the recording after the motion has been recognized.
