"home false sense of security" :P

[BLINGMW]

Both still way too big for my application. It shouldn't be that hard to make a slim/small one, given phones can do it.

How is an inch thick and an inch wide *way* too big? It's like, almost the size of a normal doorbell, though a little taller. Do you want something people cannot find?

[Apoc]

When you have an 80 year old house with a custom front door. What's not obvious in this photo is the wood it's currently installed on is beveled, like a chair rail. There's no way for me to use these larger applications without destroying the wood or building some large-ish custom mount.

[JustinG]

Not really. I had sensitivity set to high. It would pick up cars driving by about 20yds from the front door.

One thing FP said is it has to have at minimum 90% signal strength to function properly.

My door bell is about 15ft from the router, and was only getting 92%.

So check the signal strength from the camera settings page.

[WRXtranceformed]

You know what picks up motion well and has customizable sensitivity and motion window? The camera I told you to buy like a year ago.

I know but it opens an entirely different can of worms to hire an electrician / GC to install a GFI outlet on the outside of my house where one doesn't exist right now.  I just don't want to go that route

---

Not really. I had sensitivity set to high. It would pick up cars driving by about 20yds from the front door.

One thing FP said is it has to have at minimum 90% signal strength to function properly.

My door bell is about 15ft from the router, and was only getting 92%.

So check the signal strength from the camera settings page.

Thanks

I called Skybell and they are forwarding the latest firmware to the camera which should fix it.  Apparently it was running on the old firmware.  If it doesn't, they have some kind of computer learning beta program we can join that is supposed to work pretty well.  We'll see how the update performs!

[WRXtranceformed]

Update: New Skybell firmware fixed our sensitivity issue. It's picking up all person-based motion even out to our driveway, which is perfect. All is well

[JustinG]

I may have gone a bit overboard....



But at 55% off ($19-21per depending on switch) at various Walmarts I couldn't help myself and cleared out 2 near me.

Plus I'm bored at home and the wife is out of town for work this week so it gave me something to do.

I wanted to automate some lights for safety, so now all the lights upstairs leading to an exit will illuminate should something happen, plus the major lights downstairs.

All exterior lights are automated too, and will illuminate if something triggers an alarm.

I put our main overhead LED can lights downstairs on a dimmer so we can still have some light but not ON 100% when watching TV downstairs.

Same deal for an LED above the downstairs bath so guests can find their way at night.

Automate all the things!

[Apoc]

No outlets? Noob!

[JustinG]

I see more of a use case for lights. What do you use your outlets for?

Aside from the outdoor outlets I got for holiday lighting.

[Apoc]

We have a floor lamp that is automated and I also use one for the Christmas tree. Alarm on, tree off means it's always off if you leave the house or go to bed. I'm pretty proud of that last one, if I'm honest.

[Jewels]

Not gonna lie Derecola, I think that's pretty awesome.  I don't have an alarm system, but automating the Christmas Tree to that is pretty smart.  In the rush of getting the kid out the door I feel like that's a thing I could possibly miss.  Gives me some more food for thought.

[ViPER1313]

https://youtu.be/4qst6pKpj18

[Jake]

My parents' neighborhood has had random bouts of dumb teenagers doing dumb shit (bashing mailboxes and so on). Apparently now it's turning into loosening lug nuts on driveway-parked cars. Anyway, they're thinking about doing some sort of camera setup for the house and I figured it could be a good Christmas gift from me to them.

They'd want three cameras minimum (front door, back door, basement walk-up door) although a fourth could potentially prove useful. Are there any that don't come with a monthly fee? I think there is definite appeal in reviewing things from their phones and getting some sort of motion-based alerts.

[JustinG]

From what I've read the Arlo cameras are pretty good cameras. Also saw there is a deal on em at Costco.

[Jake]

Thanks Justin - thinking about this more, a doorbell cam would work for the front door, and some "camera only" solutions for the other two. Looks like Ring would be the solution to use for that although I know Lee had a bad experience with them. I got some reading to do.

[JustinG]

Get a Skybell if you want a doorbell cam.

[WRXtranceformed]

Get a Skybell if you want a doorbell cam.

What he said, Ring hardware is decent but their software is trash.  Our Skybell has been flawless and it costs nothing for the live view and recording / cloud clip viewing.  I also heard Arlo cameras are good but have no experience with them.

Your parents may also just want to invest in a motion-activated floodlight, that does help to discourage people from hanging around doing asshole things like loosen lug nuts.  Who does that??  Seriously what is wrong with people?

[JustinG]

FP has 20% off all their equipment today

Coupon code "CM20FP17"

[JustinG]

$40 off Schalge smart locks for front point. Til the 30th. Cheapest I've ever seen these things.

[Nis01]

Well my doorbell has been sporadically working for about a year now and I have been too lazy to change it out.  Recently replaced it with a Nest doorbell that I found on sale.  Install took about 30 minutes for everything, automatically connected into my limited Nest ecosystem.  So far so good, I have no reference of comparison but it seems to notify me within 2-3 seconds and have a very clear picture.  It seems to have the typical features including motion zones and "aware" which does facial recognition type notifications.  Anyways, hadn't seen anybody on here install one of these so I figured I'd post up a positive review.

[JustinG]

I've been kicking around the idea of going nest when my 3yes at front point is up