Setting alerts properly: fewer false alarms, miss nothing
Sensitivity, minimum duration, pauses and triggers: how to set up VintageCam so that it reports when it matters and is quiet otherwise.
An alarm that comes too often will eventually be ignored. An alarm that comes too rarely is useless. The art lies in the middle, and it is a little different for every room.
Noise alert: threshold and minimum duration
VintageCam measures the volume every 40 milliseconds. Everything above the threshold counts as loud time, while every measurement below it only subtracts half the time again. The alert is sent as soon as the loud time reaches the minimum duration, by default half a second. That way a child who catches their breath while crying still triggers it, while a single click does not.
The camera sets the threshold itself in the first three minutes after starting, to about 6 decibels above the basic noise level of the room. That suits most rooms. If you want to intervene by hand, activate advanced mode and you will see a white line for the threshold in the level bar. If you lower it, the camera becomes more sensitive. It is best to look at how high the level swings for the sound you want to hear and set the threshold just below it.
Pauses between alerts
After an alert there is an adjustable pause. It prevents a crying child from notifying you every minute. Set it long enough that you are not flooded, and short enough that you notice when it starts again after a quiet phase. Rather shorter for a newborn, rather longer for a dog that barks now and then.
Motion alert
The motion alert in the Complete plan is off by default. Sensitivity ranges from 1 to 10, the default is 5. The higher it is, the less change in the picture is enough. Be careful in rooms with curtains, a fan or a TV: they move constantly. Test the setting for a day or two and lower the sensitivity if you get too many notifications.
Tamper protection and phone protection
With Ultimate, triggers can be switched individually: movement of the device, change of location via GPS, charging cable and covered lens. Each has its own response: automatic, silent notification only or siren. A sensible split for the phone in the handbag: report lifting and movement silently only, so that not every step raises the alarm, and answer the change of location with the siren. For a camera phone in the nursery: charging cable and movement with siren, GPS switched off.
Test first, then rely on it
Trigger every alarm route once on purpose before you rely on it: clap loudly, lift the phone, pull the charging cable. Check that the notification arrives on all phones in the household and how quickly. Also check that your battery optimisation does not slow the app down.
When too much comes in
Too many notifications are almost always a sign of a threshold that is too low or a sensitivity that is too high, rarely of a technical problem. Only change one setting at a time and watch for a night what happens.
