Hello @Sbring ,
So far, it does sound like you been doing an excellent troubleshooting job and provided good information about what you have already tired. Your update post helped too. I don’t know if the information I can provide will be helpful or not, but I do own 5 Stick-up (Plug-In version) outdoor cameras and maybe something I say might give you an idea or be useful. Your update of expanding your motion setting FOV to include the street kind of rules out that the motion sensor is defective, which is what I initially thought from your first post. And the ability to command a “Live View” and RSSI value tend to also rule out an Wi-Fi issue.
Looking at you pictures, I feel that your Stick-Up Cam Battery (3rd Generation), both the location and height that you chose for mounting is not ideal. So therefore, you are not allowing your cam to work as well as it could.
**1. ) **First, I think mounting your camera 10-feet up is a bit too high. Ring does provide recommended outdoor mounting heights. But these are just recommendations. And depending where you look for that recommendation, it varies. Online, the Stick-Up Cam Battery for outdoors recommendation is about 9-feet. But the recommended height for the Stick-up Cam Plug-In is 5 to 7 feet off the ground. Huh? Why?
Both your battery and my plug-in Stick-Up 3rd Gen cameras are identical with the same hardware when they departed the factory and with the same factory Firmware installed. But your box came with a “Quick Release Battery Pack” (without a cord) and mine came with power cords (without a battery). During the set up, when we designated whether it is “Power Outlet” or “Battery” powered, that’s when our Stick-Up cameras became different, as they downloaded the appropriate additional software-Firmware. In order to extend battery life, yours only downloaded more simple, less-power-hungry computing algorithms. But since mine is not concerned about battery life, it downloaded more complex, more-power-hungry computing algorithms to provide extra features you do not have, such as the highly adaptive custom motion zones. Now I have read online that beginning October 2020, Ring has begun releasing new Firmware updates for battery-powered devices called Customizable Motion Zones. And I don’t know if it uses the same power-demanding firmware as mine, or if it they figured out a newer and simpler, less-power-draining algorithms, to replicate what zone abilities that I have. Customizable Motion Zones have been a standard feature on wired-powered Ring devices for some time, but they will soon be an option for those using battery-powered devices. My point is, even though there are differences now between our two cams, they still use the same hardware and I don’t think the firmware alone explains the differences in mounting height. I think you’ll have better detection and longer range detection at a lower height. You’ll also have better “facial” images and less “top-of-head” views too. I have some of my cameras mounted as high as 8-feet and one as low as about 6-feet. I’ve noticed the lower cam definitely has better movement detection and farther detection range, because the angle is ‘looking’ more horizontally outward and less ‘towards the ground’. So, although you can mount your cam as high as you have it, I think that’s a partial reason your detection ability is not ideal.
BATTERY Stick-Up Cam:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032203412-Stick-Up-Cam-Battery-Solar-3rd-Generation-Information-
PLUG-IN Stick-Up Cam:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032274852-Stick-Up-Cam-Plug-in-3rd-Generation-Information-
A common error is mounting Stick Up Cam too high, and aiming it too low:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/211898103-Proper-Positioning-for-Your-Stick-Up-Cam
New Battery Customizable Motion Zones:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050360052-Customizable-Motion-Zones-for-Battery-Powered-Devices-
I’m not too concerned with my lower camera getting stolen, because with a police report Ring will replace it free, as it would with your very low mounted Ring Doorbell. Plus the “Ownership” feature of Ring devices make them non-operational and useless to the thief.
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003475783-What-to-do-After-the-Theft-of-Your-Ring-Device
**2. ) **Another factor is that you’ve mounted your camera to look down the length of your driveway towards the street. I too am monitoring my driveway but the location where I mounted was very different, to achieve better motion detection. It is important to think about “How” your camera detects movement, and the choose a location to optimize that.
- During the day, my powered Stick-Up Cam " Plug-In" uses “Advanced Motion Detection” algorithms, which is when the camera looks for light changes physically in the designated motion Field-of-View (FOV) that is adjusted in the motion settings.
- At night, my " Plug-In" cam still uses “Advanced Motion Detection” but also uses Passive Infrared (PIR) to verify the motion (checks to see if it was something with a heat signature moving around, as opposed to a mere change in lighting, which is poor to detect at night).
I find that the “Advance Motion Detection” algorithms compute much faster and more easily when the movement moves across the FOV, verses when the movement is towards (grows bigger in size) or away (grows smaller in size) in the FOV. It takes a few more moments to detect the size change to trigger the camera.
Now as for your Stick-Up _ Battery _ cam, it uses the PIR sensor day and night because a PIR device is a passive low-battery-drain sensor. I don’t know if the new upcoming battery version of the “Customizable Motion Zones” will also include some simpler algorithms for a less-battery-draining version of the powered “Advanced Motion Detection”, but I suspect your camera will still rely heavily on the PIR sensor as it does now.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is that a characteristic of PIR Motion Sensors is that they are most sensitive with motion across the field of view, and least sensitive directly toward or away from the sensor. So again, my point is that both the “Advance Motion Detection” algorithms AND the PIR sensor work best when something is moving across the FOV. You currently picked a location that is aimed for people and cars to detect movement “towards and away” which is the least sensitive! This is also why your cam does pick up street traffic that is moving across its’ FOV. Not optimum for detecting objects coming up your driveway towards the cam.
For example, instead of mounting my camera to look down the length of the driveway towards the street, I mounted my camera perpendicular to look across my driveway. So now cars and people travel across the cameras FOV, not toward or away. It doesn’t have to be perfectly perpendicular . . . you can angle it a bit, but you are trying to increase ‘across’ movement. The FOV of these cameras is surprisingly very wide and can probably can cover most, if not all of your driveway mounted on the side wall. Since my driveway goes down along the side of my house and is very long, I used two Stick-Up cams spaced far apart, “Linked” so that if one detects motion before the other, they both begin recording and provide total coverage of my entire driveway. I not saying you need another camera. I am saying I think you should have mounted your camera in a different location.
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022461232-Motion-Detection-in-Powered-Ring-Devices
From looking at your first picture your attached, I can’t see the entire area nor do I know what areas that you want covered. But I would recommend to remount your camera to a lower height and try to take advantage of the the better PIR sensitivity from ‘across’ movement. For example, maybe you can mount your Stick-up cam lower on the building wall (that is on the right-side in the photograph), so that it is aiming towards the white Lexus passenger side? You could mount it in the alcove, just left or right of the building’s doorway. Or you could mount it on the wall where the alcove ends at the corner (where it juts back out), near the Lexus’ rear-passenger fender (to increase the FOV coverage more towards the street to cover the entire driveway).
Also settings of “People Only Mode” or “Motion Verification” may limit the camera’s notifications. You already correclty changed the “Motion Frequency” to “Frequent” which should help (but may result in less battery life and more freguent recharging).
Again, I don’t know if anything will solve your detection issue, but I do think better placement will help improve it. You did say, “Open to any ideas you may have.” So at least I’ve written something for you to think about.
If you still find the detection poor, then I recommend you telephone Ring Support for help:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036196372-Get-in-Touch
Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19, their available hours have been changed also:
https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041597471-Ring-s-Response-to-COVID-19
