Hamrolte Hi3518E

[Fettkeewl]

In regards to the camera found here:
US $22.59 10% OFF|Hamrolte H.264+ XMeye Hi3518E 720P/960P 802.11 b/g/n Wireless IP Camera Bullet Outdoor/Indoor Wifi Camera Motion Detection-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Any one else owns one of these?
I'm at my wits end, I've been troubleshooting and searching Google for far to long trying to find a solution to why my camera is dropping the Wi-Fi connection.
The camera is connected to an Asus RT-AC2900 with full signal strength and I'm getting wifi drops at random without the camera reconnecting until power cycled.

Yes yes I've read all about not using wifi for cameras since this is to be expected.. But at full signal strength and a position of a few meters from the router this should not be an connection based issue rather some type of software interference, perhaps a specific setting somewhere.

Camera has static IP setup in both router and cam config, upnp disabled on both.
All extra services on the camera is disabled and only the rtsp stream is used on my pc with surveillance software

I do have two indoor models runningoon wifi and they never lose connection.

All in all, any one know how I can try to narrow down the culprit?

 

[alastairstevenson]

But at full signal strength and a position of a few meters from the router this should not be an connection based issue rather some type of software interference,

There might be a neighbour WiFi also strong on the same channel, causing some occasional disruption.
It just needs a de-auth packet from something trying to re-establish connection.
Do a survey of your WiFi environment using one of the various phone apps such as WiFi Analyser, see what compteing signals there are.

 

[Fettkeewl]

Thank you for your response, I live in a house not apartment so there is a sufficient distance between my neighbours , as per the image no one is around to disturb the signal

Care to elaborate on "It just needs a de-auth packet from something trying to re-establish connection." ?

 

[alastairstevenson]

as per the image no one is around to disturb the signal

Well, that's looks pretty clean. Scratch one idea for the problem.

Care to elaborate on "It just needs a de-auth packet from something trying to re-establish connection."

With the quiet environment you've shown, you're not going to get a foreign device sending a packet to request a disconnect due to congestion.

 

[Fettkeewl]

Ah now I understand.

My last resort is ordered. The camera sits behind a wall switch indoor so I can power cycle it. Will be replacing that switch with a sonoff touch switch that is wifi enabled so I can remotely power cycle at will and/or setup automation that pings the camera every so often and fires a reboot when no ping response is received.

I just find those kinds of solutions tedious and annoying, should not have to do it. Already have a reboot schedule on my camera set to every day to "half"-remedy my situation..

 

[TonyR]

. The camera sits behind a wall switch indoor so I can power cycle it.

Is that "wall switch" an AC power switch?

If so, any chance for test purposes can you move the camera at least 3 feet from that wall switch for a time to see how it responds?

I'm thinking if it's VERY close to AC voltage it may create some issues not with the apartment's Wi-Fi signal itself but with cam's internal circuitry that controls how it connects with the apartment's Wi-Fi.

If that helps, you can slowly move the cam closer to the wall switch and see what happens.

 

[Fettkeewl]

It's not the switch that is the culprit, it is recently added, I had the same connectivity issues prior to adding it. Just a bit more annoying to power cycle before.

As per the images, the wall switch is on the opposite side of the router, the switch is tied to an outlet that is hidden in the space above the camera. The camera is connected to the outlet and has a distance of approximately 0.5m to the outlet.

 

[VorlonFrog]

If you can open the camera, there may be a loose u.Fl antenna cable connector, or excess antenna cable looped inside the camera. This can be the source of the disconnects. Good luck!

 

[Fettkeewl]

If you can open the camera, there may be a loose u.Fl antenna cable connector, or excess antenna cable looped inside the camera. This can be the source of the disconnects. Good luck!

Hmm loose.. I doubt it at full signal strength, but the other option is possible, perhaps I'll open up my spare to check the insides thank you

 

[VorlonFrog]

This camera is probably based on the Xiong Mai Hi3518 module, and the WiFi device is likely a separate USB board. Check to be certain the USB cable connecting the wifi board to the Hi3518 module is also well-connected.

I previously worked with a few XM3518 cameras and the wifi was always less than reliable, usually a Linux driver or hardware issue. It's unfortunate, but a regular problem with these inexpensive Chinese cameras.

 

[Fettkeewl]

Yes the camera is based on Hi3815e according to the link in the first post.

Managed to open my spare one.. See the images
Printed IPC-WIFI-38X19, Not that it gave a whole lot 4 sites in Chinese..

I've booted up the spare one to check how it performs on wired

 

[VorlonFrog]

That's a better wifi card configuration than I've seen in most Hi3518-based cameras. The u.Fl antenna connector looks solid and the brass stand-off posts mean the wi-fi card is solidly bolted to the main camera board, so there's no chance of a bad ground. Please let us know how the spare performs on wireless as well. If it exhibits the same issue, it's likely a board design or firmware issue.

You should run the 'nmap' program against the running camera, to determine if either 23/Telnet or 22/SSH ports are open. If so, you may wish to try the default username/passwords found on this web page.

Finally, and this is the very last hope, attempt to login to the camera via SSH or Telnet. Their web page at AliExpress says user "Super" and password "null" so that may be useful. Otherwise, there are several different known passwords for most Hi3518 camera modules. Most of them were extracted from the firmware and the password hash run through JohnTheRipper. If there is a firmware file on the CD included with the camera, please post it here. It could also tell us which wifi module is being used. Typically, they are a RealTek RTL7xxx or RTL8xxx variant.

 

[Fettkeewl]

That's a better wifi card configuration than I've seen in most Hi3518-based cameras. The u.Fl antenna connector looks solid and the brass stand-off posts mean the wi-fi card is solidly bolted to the main camera board, so there's no chance of a bad ground. Please let us know how the spare performs on wireless as well. If it exhibits the same issue, it's likely a board design or firmware issue.

You should run the 'nmap' program against the running camera, to determine if either 23/Telnet or 22/SSH ports are open. If so, you may wish to try the default username/passwords found on this web page.

Finally, and this is the very last hope, attempt to login to the camera via SSH or Telnet. Their web page at AliExpress says user "Super" and password "null" so that may be useful. Otherwise, there are several different known passwords for most Hi3518 camera modules. Most of them were extracted from the firmware and the password hash run through JohnTheRipper. If there is a firmware file on the CD included with the camera, please post it here. It could also tell us which wifi module is being used. Typically, they are a RealTek RTL7xxx or RTL8xxx variant.

The spare one is up and running since I posted about it, until now it hasnt failed. The installed one failed once an hour ago, starting to suspect a fault WiFi board... we shall see, need a longer runtime period. If it is the case then I will try to swap the WiFi modules, having translated the chinese sites that mention it I found out that its a plug and play module basically. Ill try reading what WiFi module is installed after my testing, I think its under the sticker.

I've tested telnet/ssh connectivity via Putty and both connections were refused, thats all well I guess, dont like having services im not using availible.

With that said. I have managed to find my image file of those CD's doubt there is any firmware there to be found but its availible here for 30 days
Uploadfiles.io - IP Cam Installation.iso

approx. 200 mb

 

[VorlonFrog]

I didn't find any firmware files inside that ISO, only PDF documents. This is normal with inexpensive Chinese cameras from Aliexpress. You're correct, the chip ID should be visible beneath the label/sticker. It appears a very small postage stamp sized wifi module is edge-soldered to the larger triangular board. It's possible one of those edge connections is faulty, and a touch-up with a soldering iron MIGHT resolve the issue.

 

[Fettkeewl]

I didn't find any firmware files inside that ISO, only PDF documents. This is normal with inexpensive Chinese cameras from Aliexpress. You're correct, the chip ID should be visible beneath the label/sticker. It appears a very small postage stamp sized wifi module is edge-soldered to the larger triangular board. It's possible one of those edge connections is faulty, and a touch-up with a soldering iron MIGHT resolve the issue.

Luckily I'm packing both a soldering iron and a heat gun for smd soldering

My understanding of Hardware tells me its as simple as 1/0 either works or it doesn't.. Having a semi-loose connection causing random wifi disconnects seems improbable but it's worth investigating. Randomness usually lies in software.. This atleast for stationary parts

 

[VorlonFrog]

Luckily I'm packing both a soldering iron and a heat gun for smd soldering

My understanding of Hardware tells me its as simple as 1/0 either works or it doesn't.. Having a semi-loose connection causing random wifi disconnects seems improbable but it's worth investigating. Randomness usually lies in software.. This atleast for stationary parts

You are wise in the ways of hardware/firmware/software, @Fettkeewl
Believe it or don't, a cold solder-joint can work fine until it warms up, causing a disconnect.
Then it cools down, connects again, and works again.

 

[Fettkeewl]

You are wise in the ways of hardware/firmware/software, @Fettkeewl
Believe it or don't, a cold solder-joint can work fine until it warms up, causing a disconnect.
Then it cools down, connects again, and works again.

Wise, would be an exaggeration haha just speaking out of experience. I'm kind of square that way.
Either way it's definitely worth the investigation!

Happy new year to you all

 

[VorlonFrog]

Wise, would be an exaggeration haha just speaking out of experience. I'm kind of square that way.
Either way it's definitely worth the investigation!

Happy new year to you all

Gott nytt år!

 

[Fettkeewl]

Gott nytt år!

Well played!
And thank you, that comment made me notice I incorrectly input my birth year by 9 years !

 

[Fettkeewl]

Just an update, both cameras still going strong since the problematic one had its disconnect.
One thing I changed was to enable "H.264+" which is supposed to be a compressed version that decreased the bandwidth used by rtsp of the faulty camera as well as change both cameras ntp refresh rate (against my server pc) to 600 minutes instead of 60.

Fingers crossed.