Security camera sending constant false motion alerts
easy 20–60 min
Tools: phone with the camera app, screwdriver or hex key for the mount · Materials: none
Steps
- Open the app's activity history and note what triggered the last twenty alerts; the pattern — headlights, a branch, a spider at night — tells you which fix to apply.
- Draw motion zones that exclude the street, the neighbour's driveway and any tree; keep the zone on your own path, porch and door.
- Turn on person detection (or 'smart alerts') if the camera offers it, and turn off animal and vehicle alerts unless you want them.
- Drop the sensitivity one notch at a time and test by walking up the path; you want the alert on the walk-up, not on the shadow.
- Re-aim the camera downward and away from the road so passing cars leave the frame; a camera looking along a wall sees less sky and fewer headlights.
- For night-time insect alerts, move any porch light away from the lens or set a night schedule with lower sensitivity.
Stop and call a pro if
- the camera has no zones or person detection and still fires all day — the model cannot do this job
- alerts stop entirely and a real visitor is missed after tuning
- the camera needs moving to a new spot that means running cable or fitting a new mount at height
What a pro does that you can't
A smart-home installer re-sites the camera to a mount height and angle that limits the field of view to your property, and configures detection zones and schedules across all cameras.
DIY cost: $0