Troubleshooting Ineffective Cove Activity Zones
Cove's activity zones are a powerful feature designed to reduce the number of unwanted motion alerts by focusing only on the areas you care about. If you find your zones are not working as expected—either by sending too many false alerts or missing important events—this guide will help you troubleshoot and configure them for optimal performance.
## Common Problems with Activity Zones
- Alerts from outside zones: You receive notifications for movement in areas you have excluded.
- No alerts from inside zones: A person or vehicle moves through a designated zone, but no alert is triggered.
- Inconsistent performance: The zones seem to work sometimes but not others.
These issues can usually be resolved by adjusting a few key settings.
## How to Optimise Your Cove Activity Zones
Follow these steps to fine-tune your camera's motion detection and get the accurate alerts you need.
### 1. Review and Redraw Your Zones
The way you draw your zones is the most critical factor.
- Cover the Whole Target: When drawing a zone over a path or driveway, make it slightly larger than the area. Ensure it's tall and wide enough to detect a whole person, not just their feet.
- Avoid Zone Edges: Do not draw the edge of a zone right next to a busy area. For example, if a busy road is at the edge of your view, leave a small buffer between the road and the start of your activity zone.
- Simplify: Instead of drawing multiple, complex, small zones, try using one or two larger, well-defined rectangular zones. This can often be more reliable.
### 2. Adjust Motion Sensitivity
Motion sensitivity determines how much pixel change is required to trigger an alert. It's a balancing act.
- Too High: If sensitivity is too high, the camera may be triggered by things outside your zone, such as the moving shadows of a tree or car headlights sweeping across the scene. This is a common cause of "false" alerts. Try lowering the sensitivity.
- Too Low: If sensitivity is too low, the camera may not pick up genuine movement inside your zone, especially if it's subtle or far away. Try increasing the sensitivity.
Make one small adjustment at a time and test the results before making another change.
### 3. Check Camera Placement and View
The position of your camera can significantly impact the effectiveness of activity zones.
- Angle: Avoid pointing the camera at areas with constant motion, like a busy street or rustling trees. Even if they are outside your zone, rapid changes can sometimes trigger an alert.
- Obstructions: Ensure there are no obstructions, like a wall or a large plant, blocking a clear view of the activity zone.
- Lighting: At night, strong light sources or deep shadows can interfere with motion detection. Ensure the area within your zone is as evenly lit as possible.
### 4. Update Your App and Firmware
Finally, always ensure your Cove app and camera firmware are up to date. Updates often include performance improvements and bug fixes that can resolve issues with features like activity zones.
By systematically working through these steps, you can configure your Cove activity zones to be a highly effective tool, alerting you only to the events that truly matter.