90% WIFI Signal but Camera Keeps Losing Signal...HELP!

ThatOneGuy

n3wb
Sep 14, 2017
2
0
Lexington, Kentucky
I have a new Amcrest outdoor cam connected through WIFI (with 90% signal strength). The camera feed in Blue Iris is verrrrrry slow and drops the signal every few minutes. I tried adjusting the buffer, turned off RSTP keep alives, and several other random things to no avail.

What other steps should I take to troubleshoot?

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I have a new Amcrest outdoor cam connected through WIFI (with 90% signal strength). The camera feed in Blue Iris is verrrrrry slow and drops the signal every few minutes. I tried adjusting the buffer, turned off RSTP keep alives, and several other random things to no avail.

What other steps should I take to troubleshoot?

View attachment 21755

View attachment 21756
Wifi is not suitable for surveillance cameras that need a constant data throughput...
 
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Wifi is not suitable for surveillance cameras that need a constant data throughput...

Not sure I understand what you mean. When the camera is running over wifi through the Amcrest app, it's smooth as butter. It's only when I setup the static IP and run it through Blue Iris that it's dropping the signal. Again, the camera is showing 90% signal strength over wifi, so it's not a range issue. Also, I'm only using this camera to record motion...it's not there to record continuously. I have seven other wifi cameras running around the house and they all work fine, but for some reason this Amcrest cam is being wonky in BI.
 
Not sure I understand what you mean. When the camera is running over wifi through the Amcrest app, it's smooth as butter. It's only when I setup the static IP and run it through Blue Iris that it's dropping the signal. Again, the camera is showing 90% signal strength over wifi, so it's not a range issue. Also, I'm only using this camera to record motion...it's not there to record continuously. I have seven other wifi cameras running around the house and they all work fine, but for some reason this Amcrest cam is being wonky in BI.
It doesnt matter if you use motion or continuous the signal is sent 24/7...
the web page does not use the same protocols as the rtsp stream to blue iris...to test, use steam the rtsp stream to VLC...
You will have issues with wifi, it is inevitable..it will happen when you need it, murphy's law...running cable is the only acceptable solution...if you refuse to do that install an sd card for backup...
Also there is no need to redact the local ip address..there is nothing that can be dont with that info, its only local to your network..leave rtsp keep alives checked..
 
WiFi is trash. I can get a better connection from 4 miles away, 120Mbps from a node sharing to 100s of others via 4GLTE. 3x as fast as I can from 48 inches. I just can't understand why one wireless technology works and 802.11 just can't get it's sh*t together.
 
I have 2 wifi cameras (Sharx brand) that have worked reliably (in BI) for close to 10 years. My other cameras are wired. I use my cameras with MPEG connections. Other than a bug that was introduced late in BI 3 life (fixed when 4.0 came out), I've had no issues. So its worth fiddling with options in the feed config.

I can also tell you that I found my wifi cameras could not handle a shared network name (e.g., I have 3 access points, and their wifi SSID needs to be different). Definitely an oddity with the cameras, but no big deal to avoid.

No question that wired is better, I just haven't gotten cable out to these locations.
 
No doubt that you are correct. There is just one advantage to wireless cameras. I'm sure no professional would use one in a permanent way. In my case I can't run cables to the 2 locations where I use wifi without have my reproductive equipment damaged (i.e., my wife will hurt me, badly).

If a device does not move it should have a cable plugged into it. Save wifi for tablets and phones.

Can you make the cam work over wifi? Of course! But as you have learned it's going to take some fiddling. Is your BI computer also wireless? If yes get a cable to it, they will up some. As you are discovering though, you probably have more hours invested in this problem than you would have had running a cable to the cam.
 
I tried wireless at first and got completely frustrated with it going out for a few seconds, minutes or hours. I got an app to view wireless networks in the neighborhood so I could try to pick wireless channels not in use but that didn't help either. I know our microwave oven always knocked the wireless out, could a neighbors microwave knock it out too? I don't know but interference seemed to be coming from somewhere. Finally I decided, what the hell, I'm gonna have a cable running to the cam either way, either power cable (extension cord?) or the better alternative - POE. I never regretted moving away from wireless.