Foscam 8910 Wireless issues

J

Jeff Fabiani

n3wb
Nov 10, 2014
9
1
Hello all,

I have an issue with my home Wireless IP cams and am curious if anyone can lend their knowledgeable opinions my way.

To go over it briefly, I have a dedicated machine running Win7 that runs Blue Iris Software for my home security cameras. It is an HP with an Intel Dual Core @ 3GH Proc, 4GB of RAM. Nothing special, but doesn't need to be for BI. I have 2 Foscam 8910W cameras running wirelessly in my home. One on the front porch and one on the back porch. The distance between them is the length of the house, maybe 60 feet tops. My router is an ASUS RT-AC66U. On the 2.4GH wireless band I am broadcasting using Auto (N + Legacy) with b/g protection enabled. That router is upstairs, dead center of the house, one level up between the 60 feet distance of each camera.

With this setup, each camera could connect wirelessly but with a weak signal and would cut in and out over time. Because I can't move my router to the main level level directly between each camera, i decided I would get a wireless N extender to put on the main level to help push the signal to each camera (there is roughly 30 feet from the extender to each camera, and the extender is directly one floor under the router). The extender is a Netgear WN2500RP.

When i connect each camera to the extender SSID, it is rockin, getting a solid connection on each camera at about 8fps. both cameras will hold for hours at that fps level. However, on a daily basis, each camera will drop fps from that 8fps range to 3fps and 1fps respectively and when they are that low, one camera actually has no signal at all and the other is very slow and unresponsive. Both will stay this way for hours. Then again, it will go back to normal and rest at 8 fps for hours on end.

My first instinct is to look for interference. There is a microwave between the extender and one of the cameras, but obviously it is not being used much, definitely not for hours on end. There is base board heating, house lights, tv, and....can't think of much else that could possibly effect wireless.

My question for anyone who may be able to give input, why might my cameras drop connectivity like this? Could it be interference? Is this just normal for wireless IP cameras? Is this just the effects of using an extender?

Any info would be grateful. If anyone wants to help me but needs more info (blue iris config info, router config info etc) please let me know and i'd be glad to give that info. Again, any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Its normal for foscam ip cameras and to some extent all wireless cameras.....you could spend hours trying to get this to work properly or you can run a cable to them (or pay a professional)...another option is using powerline adapters..but nothing beats a cable...once you run a cable you should consider a high definition POE (power over ethernet camera)..
 
Going back to when wifi first came out, yes, it is normal to have interference and there's no way to avoid it. Microwaves can knock wifi out cold for a good number of feet away from the device. Typically what one expects to happen is that things go back to normal once the microwave is done cooking. But, maybe in your case the cameras throttle down and don't ramp back up after the signal is restored.

Is your house standalone? Or direct neighbors? As I've seen issues with common walls and apartments. You may not hear the neighbors microwave or smell what they're cooking, but doesn't mean they can't interfere.

30 ft to each camera should not be an issue for a router, but house construction can degrade a wifi signal in as little as a 1ft. The house we lived in back when wifi came out, does not allow a wifi signal to transmit through a single interior wall. 100% on one side. Maybe 5% with an ear against the other side of the wall. Literally drove me nuts in the beginning where I could not get wifi outside of the home office unless you stood in the hallway.

You tried good with the wireless extender, but I don't like them. I still have PTSD from the first ones Linksys brought out back in the day. There's too much overhead and doesn't solve interference. If it were me personally, I'd return it.

Most of us in the forum agree that hard wiring cameras is the way to go for surveillance and the most headache free solution is Power Over Ethernet. Obviously in a finished house, running cables through the interior can be a major issue or next to impossible if there is no basement or attic with access.

Obviously you have power to the cameras. So, if the cameras have ethernet ability (didn't check the models you have), you may want to look at power line ethernet. Presuming you have a single electrical panel without a lot of noise on the lines; they may allow you to easily broadcast ethernet over the 110 lines and pick up on the two circuits you have the cameras on; in a one transmitter two receiver type setup, if I make sense.

Beyond that it would take some thinking about house layout and build/construction to figure out a way to have a small Power Over Ethernet switch and get ethernet lines out to where you have the cameras. Or without POE switch, standard network cables with an injector.
 
Appreciate the responses so far. Yes, it is an older home, built in the late 30's and unfortunately running ethernet POE is not an option. That would be ideal, but it's just not feasible unless I want to tear my walls down and start from scratch.

I have one neighbor that is fairly close to my house, so i suppose there could be some interference from his house. One thing I did do was download a program called inSSIDer on my laptop. This program analyzes all wireless networks in the area. it gives you strength, what band, what channel etc. Both my router and extender are set to auto channel. When i tested this last night, my extender was running on channel 1, but there were other wifi networks from neighboring homes that were also on channel 1. I changed the channel to 11 because no other networks were on this channel. I thought this might make a difference, but it didn't really seem to. I set it back to auto, and magically both cameras picked up at full strength.

As you have both suggested, i suppose this will just continue to be a battle i will fight due to the inconsistencies of wireless.

I do appreciate your thoughts on this. It always helps to have other opinions when i'm been banging my head against the wall with these issues.
 
Most of the time you dont have to tear any walls down or even make holes larger than 1/2 inch to run cable...you need a professional who does this all day..these guys can snake wire almost anywhere you want with minimal damage if any..It will cost you 100-200 per run, but in the long run, its a good investment as you will have a solid connection and more importantly your choice of the latest and greatest in ip cameras as the evolve...
 
Where are you plugging your camera in for power? Unless your running off battery why cant that be a power line ethernet port aswell?
 
POE is definitely king, and preferable, but if you can't do it next best is powerline, as mentioned. $30 gets you a well rated powerline kit on amazon and 200 mbps will be plenty for you. Once it's going you will be good to go. Even a current best-rated $150 router can struggle mightily at fairly short ranges, depending on the environment (house or other interference). You've done all the right things: You have a great router, you looked around for other wifi networks, too. Sometimes it's still just a struggle and worth biting the bullet and going wired. I've gone through much of the same. I had that router at one point, I also put my router right in the middle of the house, but sometimes the range on these things (consumer routers) is just ghastly anyway and not consistently reliable. Works well for surfing the net and streaming video but not everything.

The money you've spent so far is not wasted, though. You have an above average wifi setup at home, so it's still going to be of use for other devices, but I really think cameras need to be wired--and that's after spending a couple of years with wifi cameras.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom