Adding wired IP cameras destroys my wifi

[Zanzibar1]

I have a strange phenomenon going on with my network and the IP cameras attached to it. Please refer to the attached sketch for an overview.




There are 9 IP camera's which are PoE wired to a managed PoE gigabit switch. These cameras all have a fixed IP address (192.168.0.50 -> 192.168.0.58). De switch has a fixed IP address 192.168.0.2.


This PoE switch is wired to an unmanaged gigabit switch. This unmanaged switch is connected to my broadband wireless router (192.168.0.1).


The video from the cameras is streamed to a Synology NAS (fixed IP address 192.168.0.4) that is wired to the unmanaged switch.


There is a number of desktop stations wired to the unmanaged switch. Their IP addresses are assigned by the router (DHCP). Wireless devices connect to the wireless router, either on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz channels and are assigned IP addresses by the router (DHCP).


When the cameras are physically not connected to the managed switch (i.e. their RJ cables are not plugged in) everything works flawlessly. Wired and wireless internet connections have excellent speed. The range of the wireless router is excellent.


As soon as I start connecting the IP cameras, strange things start to happen.


1. The 5 GHz wireless channel becomes unusable. Signal strength remains excellent, but wireless devices can no longer connect. They get bumped by timeouts.
2. The 2.4 GHz wireless channel is still there, but wireless transfer speeds drop to 10% of what they were before.
3. The green control LED on the RJ45 port of my wireless router starts blinking like crazy. I would have thought that all video traffic would go over the unmanaged switch and wouldn't need to go over the router, as the NAS is connected to unmanaged switch as well.
4. All wired devices still work without a problem, even with 9 IP cameras connected.


As soon as I disconnect the IP cameras, everything reverts back to normal.


Each device has a unique IP address. The fixed IP addresses were assigned in the 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.99 range. The other ones are assigned by the router/model by DHCP and they all start fro 192.68.0.100.


There is a number of things I experimented with. I switched off Bonjour and Multicast services for each camera. I also set the bitrate to 1024 kbps. It did not change a lot.


I also disabled the NAS and the surveillance plugin, but this did not give any improvement either.


The next thing I did was disabling the router/wireless functions of my cable modem and plug in a separate wireless router right behind the modem. IP addresses are now in the 192.168.1.x range. See the second sketch for this new setup. I still have the same problem. Wireless network performance degrades when I add the cameras, but wired connectivity remains perfect.


Hardware details:
Cameras: Dahua HFW1300S.
Managed switch: TP-Link TL-SG2424P
Unmanaged switch: Phicomm FSG-1024
NAS: Synology DS-214
Wireless router: Dlink DIR-825


Any idea what could cause these gremlins?

 

[Kawboy12R]

Some reading in this thread might be helpful-https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/9033-Garage-door-opener-interference-from-cameras?highlight=Ferrite

 

[smoothie]

If you disconnect the managed switch from rest of the network but leave the cameras connected to the managed switch and operational does that have any effect on the WiFi ?

The PoE switch (managed) could be causing EM interference with the WiFi signals?

Make sure you don't have any looped connections, between managed/unmanaged/router, having a loop could cause a broadcast storm.

In the first image you show the desktop connected to the unmanaged switch, in the second image you show the desktop connected to the router. Which way is it connected ?

Make sure everything is connected except all the cameras from the managed switch. One at a time connect the cameras with 5 minutes between camera connections. Check the WiFi functionality after each camera is connected.

Physically separate the managed and the Router/WiFi farther apart from each other.

Perhaps install software like Acrylic WiFi Home and see how to the radio spectrum (limited because you are using the WiFi antenna to detect it) is effected when the cameras are connected, disconnected, and connected one at a time slowly.

 

[smoothie]

Do the PoE cable runs go thru the area where the WiFi is being used ? in the ceiling above, under/on the floor, etc. Perhaps those PoE energized cables are causing EM interference. Get a long CAT5e/6 cable and move the WiFi access point well away from the cameras/PoE cables/etc and try to use the WiFi then. Perhaps put the WiFi access point and the laptop in the front yard or something and see if the problem continues after moving outside the range of the PoE switch and the PoE cables, the farther the better.

 

[turbov6camaro]

verify the uplink to the broadband is 1G and not 100Mb on both sides, verify it is running in full duplex mode on both sides. verfy the processor and/or memory on the boardband is not maxed out.

run some test on the network

windows 7 - click start type CMD in the search and hit enter (command promt)
windows 10 - just put cmd in the search

once it comes up type this:
pathping 192.168.0.1

once that is done
pathping 8.8.8.8

then unplug cameras and try the above again.

verify power cables do not run with cat5 cable (they must cross at 90 degrees id they must be close)

 

[kroorda]

Using CAT6 cable, with a messenger/ground should resolve the issue.

 

[Zanzibar1]

Update:
I checked the wireless signal and the strength was OK, even when I could not get any data over the WiFi. So this basically means the router was just not accepting WiFi data, even though its signal was strong.
I eliminated the cable between the unmanaged and the managed switch and installed a power-line adapter at each switch. So now the two switches are connected over the electricty network. And... all of sudden all my problems are gone. So I suspect there is something fishy in the original link between the two switches. I will make a long temporary UTP cable to hook up the two switches and see if this solves the problem.

 

[whoslooking]

Sounds more like your router is just not upto the job, and not able to route everthing.
The faster connection (wired) will hog the bandwidth leaving the slower (wifi) with less.

Using a wired access point away from the router could over come this, but a good router is important.

 

[Zanzibar1]

If the router is not up to the job, why does the whole setup work flawlessly if I change from UTP cable to Power-Lines to connnect the two switches? I still suspect the cable between the two switches was at fault.

 

[whoslooking]

It's possible. are you 100% you have no conflicts, or a faulty wifi device that's could be trying to connect, the wifi will always be the first thing to slow.
I have found power-lines will over heat and die if used for to long on cctv, but they are great just for testing.

Also try using DHCP connection.

 

[smoothie]

I think you are on the right track with suspecting that cable @Zanzibar1.

If the router were the issue changing the fabric between the managed and unmanaged should not have an effect.

I admit I am having trouble wrapping my head around how that cable seems to work fine without the WiFi connected yet falls apart when it is connected, but the facts are the facts.

Once you build that temporary cable and test the connection that should help shed more light on the reliability of the original connection between the switches.

If the temporary cable allows the setup to function flawlessly you could try cutting off both ends of the original cable run between the two switches and applying new terminations to it and see if that works, perhaps one of the original cable terminations was faulty and that is somehow manifesting as an issue when the WiFi was connected. If the new termination on the original cable doesn't allow the system to function flawlessly on the original cable but the temporary cable does, then I would think the next step would be to pull a new cable, perhaps even the temporary cable that you know works, through the original cable run.

If you pull the temporary cable through the original cable run and it stops working correctly then you know it is something about the original cable run path that is causing the issue, like proximity to a refrigerator compressor or a 220V junction box, or a rift in the space-time continuum.

It sounds to me like you are narrowing in on the cause and ergo the solution.