Intermittent Disconnecting 3 cameras. Any Troubleshooting Tools?

[Soundchasr]

I have 3 wireless Amcrest cameras. One is working fine (IP2M-841B-V3) but the two others (IPM-HXZ1W and IP3M-HX2W) are dropping the connection all the time. Each drop is only for a few seconds (see below image). They worked great for a year and now they're both acting up. I don't know that I changed anything but I'm not certain.... The router is close to them so I don't think it could be an obstruction issue. Are there any tools for troubleshooting these types of issues?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Soundchasr]

I'm still having this issue. Does anyone have any suggestions on what could cause intermittent disconnecting?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Just a guess, but you're probably seeing those dropouts due to saturation of the RF channel. Keep in mind you have three cameras, probably plus a few other devices, all trying to talk at the same time on the same radio channel. Interference is a given.

 

[Soundchasr]

Just a guess, but you're probably seeing those dropouts due to saturation of the RF channel. Keep in mind you have three cameras, probably plus a few other devices, all trying to talk at the same time on the same radio channel. Interference is a given.

Thanks. Anything I can do to make it better?

 

[sebastiantombs]

To test it out, shut one of the cameras that are disconnecting down. If the remaining camera stays connected solidly, your problem is, indeed, an overloaded channel. WiFi and security surveillance are mutually exclusive terms for the most part for this reason and many, many, others.

 

[Soundchasr]

To test it out, shut one of the cameras that are disconnecting down. If the remaining camera stays connected solidly, your problem is, indeed, an overloaded channel. WiFi and security surveillance are mutually exclusive terms for the most part for this reason and many, many, others.

Will do. Thanks!

 

[jack7]

Are there any tools for troubleshooting these types of issues?

Try an android WIFI Analyzer app. I've used the one by farproc for many years. Quite helpful. I haven't looked at everything in Google Play Store recently. I do remember that IOS apps don't have access to wifi data like android apps do.

 

[Soundchasr]

To test it out, shut one of the cameras that are disconnecting down. If the remaining camera stays connected solidly, your problem is, indeed, an overloaded channel. WiFi and security surveillance are mutually exclusive terms for the most part for this reason and many, many, others.

Well, you were exactly right! I removed one camera and haven't had a disconnect since. That's crazy that 3 cameras will saturate the network. I never would have thought that would be an issue....

 

[marklyn]

I recently had a similar problem. 4 outdoor wifi cams all talking to a UniFi AP within 35' direct line site. After many weeks of issues I disconnected one of my cheapo Chinese cams (Jennov) and the wifi connectivity consistently stayed around 97% for the other 3 cameras. I'm not sure how but it seems pretty certain that that crappy Jennov camera was somehow causing interference with the other 3 cams or the AP. Not sure but it's been 2-3 weeks now and I have solid connections. The Jennov is in the trash. I've always known that many Chinese off brands can be problematic, under par, compared to Hikvision, Dahua, etc., but I didn't realize their crappiness could bleed over to your network somehow. Now I know I guess.

 

[SouthernYankee]

If you have more than one WIFI camera they absolutely need to be on a completely separate network. Use multiple access points, set up unique SSID and different channels. No more than 50% maximum network load.

I would say no more than 3 1080P cameras at 10 FPS per access point.
Note I no longer use WIFI cameras except for initial testing, they are unreliable , and to easily jammed or blocked. Use WIFI for taking pictures of birds or deer, but not for security surveillance

 

[marklyn]

SouthernYankee, I didn't know there should be such a limit on wifi cams per access point. The documentation/literature in regard to my UniFi implies far more connections (don't remember exact language) are possible. What would be a summation of why such limitations are necessary? I'd like to understand more about how to determine how many wifi (camera) connections should be a maximum amount for an AP and how that's calculated.
Right now I only use 4 wifi cams in my backyard, all 2.4ghz (mainly for owl viewing, bird feeders and critters) that connect to my UniFi AP. FPS is 20 on two of them and 12 on two of them. So far I've had really good luck with those 4, good video, very little lag if any, extremely low dropped signals. All cams are also 2mp. I'd live to hard wire some/all of them but is too cost prohibitive.

 

[Soundchasr]

If you have more than one WIFI camera they absolutely need to be on a completely separate network. Use multiple access points, set up unique SSID and different channels. No more than 50% maximum network load.

I would say no more than 3 1080P cameras at 10 FPS per access point.
Note I no longer use WIFI cameras except for initial testing, they are unreliable , and to easily jammed or blocked. Use WIFI for taking pictures of birds or deer, but not for security surveillance

Thanks for the tips. Am I correct they can be on the same access points as my other clients but I just have to have a separate ssd network for them?

Of course, my Synology RT2600AC can't do that.... Grr...

 

[marklyn]

I'd also be interested in hearing this. I think my unifi ap allows for multiple ssid's but not sure I need to do anything since I've not been having any issues now that the bum camera was removed.
I've attached a status screen for my 4 cams and a few low bandwidth connections to my AP. I'm not good at reading and understanding all of it, maybe someone can see something I don't that could use tweaking.
sorry, screen shot sucks, won't get entire screen of stats...

 

[SouthernYankee]

The minute data collisions start happening, because there is a constant data flow at a near constant data rate, from multiple sources the collisions will continue. I tested more than 5 cameras on a single access point with a unique SSID and channel, in a normal suburban neighborhood, and got lost data all the time. The cameras were less than 30 ft for the access point, 2MP, 1080P , 10 FPS, iframe 10. I got the 5 cameras to work more or less reliably, I lowered the frame rate to 6 fps.

I use a unique ssid and channel because, you will not know what happens when there are three TVs running Roku. My security surveillance network is completely separate from my home network.

I no longer use WIFI for cameras, except to test..

Test do not guess.

 

[sebastiantombs]

The bottom line is that having multiple cameras on any, one, WiFi network channel will eventually lead to problems. Think of it like two TV stations, a few hundred feet apart in their case, but both transmitting on the same channel. What kind of picture would you expect to see? Regular data style connections, like a laptop, tablet or "smart" device can handle the interference and collisions easily because they are intermittent users, comparatively speaking, of the same channel, while a camera(s) use it constantly.

 

[Soundchasr]

I put two of the wireless IP cameras on a separate Unifi AP where they are the only clients on the network (I wired the 3rd one). So far, no problems at all. Thanks for the tips, everyone!