A Troubleshooting Guide for Eufy Motion Detection
When your Eufy security camera fails to detect motion, it can undermine your entire home security setup. Whether it's missing crucial events or bombarding you with notifications about falling leaves, most issues can be resolved by correctly configuring the settings in the Eufy Security app. This guide will walk you through the steps to get your motion detection working perfectly.
Eufy's system offers a great deal of customisation, which is powerful but can sometimes lead to misconfigurations. Let's start with the most fundamental settings.
Step 1: Check the Basics - Is the Camera Active?
Before diving into motion settings, ensure the camera is actually on and set to monitor for activity.
- Check the Security Mode: Open the Eufy Security app. On the main 'Security' tab, you'll see the current mode (e.g., 'Home', 'Away', 'Disarmed', 'Scheduled'). If the mode is set to 'Disarmed', the cameras will not detect motion or record. Switch the mode to 'Home' or 'Away' to activate detection.
- Check Individual Camera Power: In the 'Devices' tab, make sure the camera in question is not turned off. You can toggle each camera on or off from the main device list.
Step 2: Optimise Your Motion Detection Settings
If the camera is active but still not performing as expected, it's time to adjust its detection parameters. Navigate to the specific camera's settings by tapping the cog icon, then select 'Motion Detection'.
Choose Your Detection Type
Eufy's AI gives you a powerful choice to reduce false alarms.
- Humans Only vs. All Motion: You will see an option to detect 'Humans Only' or 'All Motion'.
- For fewer false alarms: Select 'Humans Only'. This is the recommended setting for most outdoor cameras, as it uses AI to ignore movement from animals, vehicles, and other non-human sources.
- To capture everything: If you want to be alerted to any movement (e.g., a car pulling into the driveway), choose 'All Motion'. Be aware that this will likely increase the number of notifications you receive.
Adjust the Sensitivity Level
The sensitivity slider determines how much movement is needed to trigger a recording.
- If you are missing events: The sensitivity is too low. Increase the sensitivity by moving the slider to a higher number.
- If you are getting too many false alerts: The sensitivity is too high. Decrease the sensitivity by moving the slider to a lower number. This may take some experimentation to find the right balance for your specific location.
Configure Activity Zones
Activity Zones are essential for telling your camera exactly where to look.
- What they do: This feature lets you draw one or more boxes over the camera's view. The camera will then only detect motion inside these boxes.
- How to use them: If your camera's view includes a busy street, you can draw an Activity Zone that covers only your path and garden, ignoring the movement on the street. This is one of the most effective ways to eliminate unwanted alerts.
- Troubleshooting: If you're not getting any alerts, make sure your Activity Zones are drawn correctly and actually cover the areas you want to monitor.
Check Power Manager Settings (for Battery Cameras)
For battery-powered Eufy cameras, the power setting can influence detection performance.
- Optimal Surveillance: This mode provides the best detection performance, recording longer clips and minimising the "cool-down" period between events. However, it uses the most battery.
- Optimal Battery Life: This mode conserves power by having a longer interval between detections. This might cause the camera to miss events that happen in quick succession.
- Customise Recording: This lets you set your own balance between clip length and detection interval.
If you are missing events in a high-traffic area, consider switching to 'Optimal Surveillance'.
By working through these settings, you can tailor your Eufy camera's motion detection to be both highly responsive to real threats and blissfully ignorant of irrelevant movement.