All wireless foscams dropping off network daily

[Maroon Monkey]

I am extremely naive with respect to networking and this sort of technology. I basically know what an IP address is and was able to get 3 different types of Foscams connected wirelessly. 2 with WPS buttons and an older one from 2013. Lingo is not my thing. I do not understand this stuff. I do medical things. Anyhow...

All of my foscams work well after i unplug and replug my router. If I don't use them for a few hours or a half of a day, none of them are seen on the network. They just drop off for no apparent reason. Printer stays on network, as do a handful of other devices. I unplug router and replug and voila, within 2-3 minutes, all are up and running again like nothing happened. Connection strength and internet speed are great.

Why? Things to try (for a novice like me)?

Thanks for the help!

 

[nayr]

Why? Because your on Wireless.. run wires.

Wireless is susceptible to external interference; for example your microwave oven is a mega WiFI jamming device... the more cameras you put on WiFi the more they will fight for bandwidth and they will knock eachother out.. because security cameras are there own kinda WiFi jamming device

Wires will fix all your problems; and its the only solution.. everyone who tries WiFI cameras ends up right where you are now; pissed off there cameras wont stay online.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Also foscam is shit, so there's that, lol.

 

[Maroon Monkey]

Also foscam is shit, so there's that, lol.

You are probably right, but that's not exactly helpful. What is your favorite camera at that price point?

 

[Maroon Monkey]

Why? Because your on Wireless.. run wires.

Wireless is susceptible to external interference; for example your microwave oven is a mega WiFI jamming device... the more cameras you put on WiFi the more they will fight for bandwidth and they will knock eachother out.. because security cameras are there own kinda WiFi jamming device

Wires will fix all your problems; and its the only solution.. everyone who tries WiFI cameras ends up right where you are now; pissed off there cameras wont stay online.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Probably less time consuming over the long haul.

 

[hmjgriffon]

You are probably right, but that's not exactly helpful. What is your favorite camera at that price point?

How much were they, around $80? I have no favorite at that price point, at this point I would not go for anything less than the dahua starlight eco 3 series, around $170 ish each, absolutely worth every dime, it's not about how many cameras you have, it's about where you put them and how well you can identify someone on them, for home security at least. 2 Megapixel

 

[Maroon Monkey]

How much were they, around $80? I have no favorite at that price point, at this point I would not go for anything less than the dahua starlight eco 3 series, around $170 ish each, absolutely worth every dime, it's not about how many cameras you have, it's about where you put them and how well you can identify someone on them, for home security at least. 2 Megapixel

Yeah probably around there. I am using 2 for baby monitors and 1 as a nanny cam, so I don't need to ID anyone. I just need to see what kids are up to.... reliably :/

 

[Maroon Monkey]

So essentially no one can give me a helpful tip on what to try to troubleshoot above problem? I thought maybe the symptoms would give some tech savvy person a lead...

 

[hmjgriffon]

So essentially no one can give me a helpful tip on what to try to troubleshoot above problem? I thought maybe the symptoms would give some tech savvy person a lead...

we did...wifi sucks for cameras, my first security camera was a little foscam pt no zoom, on wifi, even in the same room it would lose connection and when it came back on it would do the dance and then end up pointing straight up, lol useless. I have ONE camera right now on wireless and it runs fairly decently with the settings tweaked but there is an obvious difference between that and the wired ones. super simple experiment, wire ONE of the foscams to a switch, leave the rest alone, see if it has any issues, if no issues, wireless is to blame.

 

[nayr]

wireless is always to blame.. gotta prove otherwise first.

 

[mlapaglia]

What router are you using?

 

[zebrock]

Did the cameras at one point work without issue in their current configuration?

 

[Maroon Monkey]

we did...wifi sucks for cameras, my first security camera was a little foscam pt no zoom, on wifi, even in the same room it would lose connection and when it came back on it would do the dance and then end up pointing straight up, lol useless. I have ONE camera right now on wireless and it runs fairly decently with the settings tweaked but there is an obvious difference between that and the wired ones. super simple experiment, wire ONE of the foscams to a switch, leave the rest alone, see if it has any issues, if no issues, wireless is to blame.

sounds reasonable to me. thanks!

 

[Maroon Monkey]

is there any such thing as a bluetooth camrea? I don't mean for home security, but when you are near it (as a baby monitor for instance).

 

[hmjgriffon]

is there any such thing as a bluetooth camrea? I don't mean for home security, but when you are near it (as a baby monitor for instance).

given the bandwidth of bluetooth I think the picture would be horrible, bluetooth is made for human interface devices and music mostly.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I may have been wrong about that LOL. Bluetooth Camera: Digital Video Recorders, Cards | eBay

 

[looney2ns]

Things to try: Reduce the frame rate in the cameras, reduce the bit rate, take all but one camera offline (unplug power). Does the problem still happen with just one cam running?
Do you have anything else using wifi in the house, do they drop off the network when the cameras are actiing up?

 

[Larry Ray]

Why? Because your on Wireless.. run wires.

Wireless is susceptible to external interference; for example your microwave oven is a mega WiFI jamming device... the more cameras you put on WiFi the more they will fight for bandwidth and they will knock eachother out.. because security cameras are there own kinda WiFi jamming device

Wires will fix all your problems; and its the only solution.. everyone who tries WiFI cameras ends up right where you are now; pissed off there cameras wont stay online.

This will seem like a dumb question Nayr, but that is the way I learn stuff sometimes...ask, even as old as I am. If you run your cameras on wires will it increase your monthly ISP Gb data?
I'm on AT&T DSL. They keep raising my internet rate trying to push me to uVerse a little cheaper and a little faster Mbps. And I see on uVerse that they have a monthly data limit of 1 TB.

 

[nayr]

traffic from your cameras to your recorder, or from your clients to the recorder over the local network should not traverse the internet.. typically you'll only use internet data when your viewing your cameras over the internet remotely while away from the house..

however thats not always the case; cameras line NestCam and stuff that use cloud storage will chew up your monthly data limits because the recorder is internet based... IIRC NestCam wont let you record locally w/software like BlueIris without downloading it back off the internet.. so you end up using 2x data in those cases..

If your on a metered internet connection; its highly suggested you avoid using any cloud based services; video surveillance or anything else, cause when you run out of data the apps all stop working or your paying out the ass for em.

 

[olyteddy]

I bought an Amcrest IP2M-842W (Foscam replacement) Wi-Fi camera and while the picture isn't great I solved the random drop problem. The first way we did it was by cycling the power. Then I discovered there was an option in the firmware to have the camera reset itself once a day. I still occasionally have drop outs but it is better.