Amcrest Wifi IP Camera With BlueIris, Wifi Only Setup

gregm

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Hello All,

How do I setup multiple (4 ish) Amcrest Wifi IP cameras with BlueIris (BI) using a router (if needed), a dedicated PC, and Wifi only (ie, no internet)?

For now, assume all cams will be located on the exterior of a small building. After the initial setup, i'll address any security or other issues, but for now i just want a working system.

Here's what I tried so far.

1, successfully setup everything using a router connected to internet
  • cable modem and internet come into the house ...
  • modem goes to router ...
  • now router is connected to internet ...
  • get the camera IP via ...
    • connect cam to router with Ethernet
    • go inside router settings, get IP
    • disconnect cam from router (ie, disconnect the Ethernet, now the cam is wifi only)
  • install BI on dedicated PC, which is connected to the router and thus internet
  • open BI, add camera, fumble around with settings until all cameras display correctly.
  • works great; love BlueIris.

2, successfully setup most of my desired goal, using a (different) router NOT connected to the internet BUT the cameras are connected to the router via Ethernet (i dont want the cams connected to router via Ethernet)
  • get the camera IP via
    • connect cam to router with Ethernet
    • go inside router settings, get IP
    • leave cams connected to router via Ethernet
  • uninstall BI (just to make sure)
  • install BI on dedicated PC, which is NOT connected to internet (same PC but i disconnected it from the internet router and connected it to the spare router that i may or may not need)
  • open BI, add camera, fumble around with settings until all cameras display correctly.
  • works good, but i dont want the cams connected to router via Ethernet.

3, (Here is the problem)
  • when i disconnect the camera from the router (via Ethernet), BI complains there is "No signal".
  • what i expected to happen was to disconnect cam from router from router and BI can see,
  • but what happens is No signal
I'm sure this is a simple fix, but I have yet to find an answer.

Please let me know if you need more info.

Thanks in advance,

gregm
 

wittaj

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The cameras still need a way to talk to the BI computer. You need a switch that the cameras are hooked to and the ethernet from the BI computer is hooked to. Your router, even without internet connected to it was serving as that switch.
 

concord

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Welcome to the forum. As you may hear on the forum, wiring your cams up is the best way, however you may have limitation and need to use wifi cams.

What is the IP address range on each of your routers?

Did you assign a static IP addresses to the cameras? If so, what is/are they (i.e. 192.168.1.100, .101, .102, etc)?

If you have different SSID name for each router and used the SSID from router 1, the cams are set to connect to it, the SSID name on router 2 may be different and cams won't connect.
 

SouthernYankee

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Provide a list of all your IP address, cameras, routes, switches and the BI PC
Does the BI computer have Two NICS ?
What are the SSID and channels are you using on each router?
A network diagram would be helpful in understanding your configuration.
=================================

I have posted this before.
I did a wifi test a while back with multiple 2MP cameras each camera was set to VBR, 15 FPS, 15 Iframe, 3072kbs, h.264. Using a wifi analyzer I selected the least busy channel (1,6,11) on the 2.4 GHZ band and set up a separate SSID and access point. With 3 cameras in direct line of sight of the AP about 25 feet away I was able to maintain a reasonable stable network with only intermittent signal drops from the cameras. Added a 4th camera and the network became totally unstable. Also add a lot of motion to the 3 cameras caused some more network instability. More data more instability.
The cameras are nearly continuously transmitting. So any lost packet causes a retry, which cause more traffic, which causes more lost packets.
Wifi does not have a flow control, or a token to transmit. So you devices transmit any time they want, more devices more collisions.
As a side note, it is very easy to jam a wifi network. Wifi is find for watching the bird feed but not for home surveillance and security.

The problem is like standing in a room, with multiple people talking to you at the same time about different subjects. You need to answer each person or they repeat the question. All you end up with is Noise.

Test do not guess.

For a 802.11G 2.4 GHZ wifi network the Theoretical Speed is 54Mbps (6.7MBs) real word speed is nearer to 10-29Mbps (1.25-3.6 MBs) for a single channel
 

gregm

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It seems my question is a moot point.

The purpose of this project is general "surveillance and security", so it sounds like wiring it up is the way to go.

That said, I'm thinking a dedicated PC w/ BlueIris, X number of cams, a router, a switch, and all connected with Ethernet.

Any objections? Or further suggestions?

Thank you all.
 

Old Timer

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It seems my question is a moot point.

The purpose of this project is general "surveillance and security", so it sounds like wiring it up is the way to go.

That said, I'm thinking a dedicated PC w/ BlueIris, X number of cams, a router, a switch, and all connected with Ethernet.

Any objections? Or further suggestions?

Thank you all.
For a simple answer, yes. Wireless access is all buy useless for video cameras.
Wired access is the way to go. With wired, you can run POE also, so you don't have to run a second cable
to the cameras for power.

You can set each camera for a static IP (one that does not change) and set your blue iris PC to a static IP,
then you can use a switch to connect all of the Ethernet cables to. This will allow all of the cameras to connect to the PC,
and not have internet access.

If the PC needs internet access, search this forum for adding a second NIC (ethernet) to your PC, to connect to your
internet connected router.
 

gregm

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For a simple answer, yes. Wireless access is all buy useless for video cameras.
Wired access is the way to go. With wired, you can run POE also, so you don't have to run a second cable
to the cameras for power.

You can set each camera for a static IP (one that does not change) and set your blue iris PC to a static IP,
then you can use a switch to connect all of the Ethernet cables to. This will allow all of the cameras to connect to the PC,
and not have internet access.

If the PC needs internet access, search this forum for adding a second NIC (ethernet) to your PC, to connect to your
internet connected router.

Very helpful suggestions; thank you.
 
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