I have an entry sensor automated to trigger a camera but I can’t figure out how to set the length of recording to it only records for 5 seconds. I also hate the fact theres a 5 second delay in recording captures, so even if the camera starts to detect motion, there’s time missing between triggers. I feel if an automation sets a camera to record then the camera should continue recording if motion is still present. The video doorbell has a 2 second delay, which is better, but I have all my cameras plugged to continuous power or solar panels, I’m not trying to conserve battery any longer.
Turn off the setting under Customized Recording that says “End Clip Early if Motion Stops”. That should fix the problem of only getting 5 seconds worth of recording when triggered from Automation.
As for the delay in triggering. That is because the cameras use PIR to wake the camera on motion detection. Just because you are powering the camera all the time doesn’t change how they work. They are designed to conserve battery power and not record continuously.
Also, Lithium batteries don’t like being kept at full charge over long periods of time. The Eufy solar panel will cycle charge so it doesn’t stay fully charged, other panels just jam in whatever charge they can.
I’ll try the suggestion of turning “end clip early if motion stops” off. But it’ll just make actual motion detection capture a lengthy clip, as well as the trigger. I was looking to be able to adjust it in automation but apparently it doesn’t work that way. Like “if door opens, camera records for 30 seconds” and if the camera is detecting motion then it’ll continue to record for longer. I guess the doorbell/camera triggers work a little differently. I wish camera settings could be adjusted in automation and modes, seems like we can only adjust recording length and sensitivity on the cameras. So modes imo are somewhat worthless other than turning off system completely or lack of notifications you receive.
As far as the batteries go, yeah pretty much any battery needs cycled, the battery isn’t removable and I don’t want to tear them apart, so I’m really only sacrificing the battery from that one camera that’s plugged in other than my battery doorbell that has the option for continuous power, maybe it’s got some built in cycling feature? Who knows. But maybe that’s why the doorbell can be triggered at 2 seconds vs 5 seconds over the camera (as conserving battery isn’t an issue because it’s detecting it being hardwired) but setting the camera power to solar would indicate it’s getting more charge time so battery consumption is no longer an issue.
Thanks for your reply, seems like their working on a new app entirely so maybe I just need to wait it out. I’m happy with the system, I can’t help to compare things to my old Arlo system, but not paying monthly fees and actually getting quality recordings has been a huge benefit.