WiFi Camera Range Poor

M

Mainsail

Young grasshopper
Jul 28, 2019
60
19
Puget Sound
I have a few wifi cameras to supplement my 8-camera POE system.

It uses its own wifi NVR to receive and record the signals.

Two cameras are 100%, but the one out on the fence keeps dropping out.

If I reset the power it'll work great for about 15 minutes, then drop out. It has power, I can see the NV LEDs from another camera, so the power isn't dropping out. That leaves the wifi. I think the 300' range spec by the manufacturer is somewhat optimistic, the camera is only about 80' straight-line distance.

The previous wifi camera had the same issue, only worse.

I would like to try a remote antenna, something with some gain, but reviews are spotty- some say this or that model works, someone else says it sucks and doesn't work at all. Same with high gain antennas for the NVR.

Does anyone have a model they'd recommend?
 
WIFI and IP cameras do not work well together.

What is the make and model of your cameras. Wat is Iframe, frame rate and resolution, compression of the cameras ?

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 your 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.
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
 
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I don't know any of the answers to those questions, other than the brand; TMEZON.

The previous wifi camera that was in that location used my home wifi, that's why I was looking for a camera with its own wifi this time.

I don't understand why it will work, then stop working.
 
Think of WiFi like a roomful of people all talking at the same time. You can hear a lot of them that are close by, but the ones further away you only get a snippet, every now and then, of their words.
 
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Mainsail said:
I don't know any of the answers to those questions, other than the brand; TMEZON.

The previous wifi camera that was in that location used my home wifi, that's why I was looking for a camera with its own wifi this time.

I don't understand why it will work, then stop working.
Click to expand...
it's simply that if you want it to be reliable don't use wi-fi. If you need to have a camera that is wireless then connect it to two nano ubiquity links. you have to run power to it anyway correct? So why not run ethernet cable and use Poe instead?
 
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looney2ns said:
it's simply that if you want it to be reliable don't use wi-fi. If you need to have a camera that is wireless then connect it to two nano ubiquity links. you have to run power to it anyway correct? So why not run ethernet cable and use Poe instead?
Click to expand...
Because then I have to drill a hole through the house to run that cable. I have eight cameras that are POE, but I wanted to supplement those with some that can be moved around to where I want them.

I changed the wifi channel and that helped a lot, it goes half a day or more now before it drops out.
 
sebastiantombs said:
Think of WiFi like a roomful of people all talking at the same time. You can hear a lot of them that are close by, but the ones further away you only get a snippet, every now and then, of their words.
Click to expand...
And at the worst time, like when you want to ask them a question, they have run off somewhere or have dozed off for a couple of minutes. :highfive:
 
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if you must use WIFI the best way to do it is to use an Access point for the cameras only. Set it to a different SSID and channel (1,6,11) then your home network. At most this will 3 cameras more or less reliably. You can also try powerline adapters, i have not had much success with these because of power interference,
 
SouthernYankee said:
if you must use WIFI the best way to do it is to use an Access point for the cameras only. Set it to a different SSID and channel (1,6,11) then your home network. At most this will 3 cameras more or less reliably. You can also try powerline adapters, i have not had much success with these because of power interference,
Click to expand...
The NVR has it's own wifi, the cameras don't run on my home wifi at all.
 
not sure if this is your same model, but could only find a TMEZON manual in the Web, which allow to extend the range of the cameras by changing the settings to "repeater mode" (page 17, section 4.3.5). Check if your NVR Kit allows for this mode. Check also page 63, Q&A section for additional information and also how to install an additional wifi repeater

 
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make sure that the wifi are on different channels and different SSID.
 
You may want to try a high gain WiFi antenna after you find a quiet channel. A cheap way to solve problem. Here is an example.
www.ebay.ca

12dBi RP-SMA 2.4GHz 5GHZ High Gain WiFi Router Antenna for Wireless IP Camera | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 12dBi RP-SMA 2.4GHz 5GHZ High Gain WiFi Router Antenna for Wireless IP Camera at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.ca
 
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Mainsail said:
Because then I have to drill a hole through the house to run that cable. I have eight cameras that are POE, but I wanted to supplement those with some that can be moved around to where I want them.

I changed the wifi channel and that helped a lot, it goes half a day or more now before it drops out.
Click to expand...
You can use a cable splitter that allows two cameras to use the same cable. Just use them for true POE don't try and use 12volt power injectors with them. Cable splitters and poe problems.
 
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An antenna will not solve wifi traffic collisions. When there is more than one device transmitting collisions will occure. The more devices transmitting the more collisions and retries.
 
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Thanks all.

It stays on several hours. The nearest wifi by half is the NVR's wifi. I have one neighbor to the rear of the house and their wifi is about twice as far as mine. Same for the neighbor on the left across the street. The easiest and strongest signal should be the NVR.
 
How many Wifi cameras, what is the resolution, frame rate, iframe value ?
 
Have you tried not using the NVRs Wifi? Connect the camera to your local WiFi and the NVR should be able to scan the network for cameras and add it that way. I honestly wouldn't be blasting some off brand NVR WIFI network out, its probably no the most secure thing in the world.
 
Well I've switched channels again and it's been on 24 hours so far without dropping off. I would still like to get a better antenna on the camera, maybe on the end of a short cord to get it up higher.

The NVR is of course password protected, but is the signal between the camera and the NVR protected at all? In other words, is it possible for someone to view the camera's signal?
 
My guess... based on my own experience... it will work for a while. Then stop working. Then you'll do what I did... buy antennas, and more routers, etc. If you start going down that route, get out while you can and get a proper ethernet camera. Until then, I hope it works well for you.
 
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