I have an automation set where motion detected by an Arlo camera at my front door turns on the lights by my front door. It works as expected when there is movement in front of the camera but then, regularly, the lights are also turned on for no apparent reason when this automation is turned on.
I can see in the Arlo app when motion is triggered and I also have the camera connected to Alexa to trigger a notification when motion is detected. Sometimes the lights are turned on (again - only when this particular automation is turned on) but neither the Arlo app nor Alexa will notify about any movement being detected.
Does anybody know what could be causing this, how I can debug this or possibly solve it?
Greatful for any help or tips as this is driving me nuts.
What are the exact steps in the Routine? Have you tried adding “Stays this status for how long?” to see if it changes the behavior?
If there is event history in the ST app for the camera, I’d check there. There isn’t for Ring, but I just checked the new ST Web App Advanced and it does show event history, including motion events, for my Ring cameras.
Thanks for your response and tips. I really appreciate it!
The steps are straight forward.
If it’s night and motion is detected by the camera, the entrance lights (a group of lights) should be turned on.
I’ve thought about the “status stays for how long” but I haven’t tried it. I think the cameras send one notification when motion is detected and then they don’t detect motion again for some time. I have noticed that when letting Alexa notify me about every movement.
I didn’t know about ST Web App Advanced. I will definitely check that out. Thank you!
Motion detectors normally emit “motion detected” followed by “no motion”. How long between depends on the implementation. My GE/Jasco motion dimmers transition after 1 min.
Jun 30, 2023, 2:29 PM GE Motion/Dimmer Switch main Main motionSensor motion "inactive"
Jun 30, 2023, 2:28 PM GE Motion/Dimmer Switch main Main motionSensor motion "active"
My Ring cameras do the same thing. So, you could try adding a “stays on” for 30 secs and see if that has any effect.
The ST Web App Advanced was just released this week. It’s the ST next iteration of the IDE and has many of the same capabilities of the community developed ST API Browser+. It would be interesting to see if your camera is detecting motion or not from the ST perspective.