Is My POE Cam Wired or Unwired (WiFi) in Mesh System?

[DroMike]

I'm about to purchase and add my sixth camera to BI. My five current cams are all WiFi, but this would be my first POE camera.

I plan on connecting it from a POE switch attached to the single Ethernet port available on one of my three TP-Link Deco M4 mesh modules. [See pic below.] The module in this connection is itself, NOT wired, but simply one of the two slaves from the base module/router in my 3-module mesh system.

I guess this probably means my POE camera will technically be a WiFi camera, right? If so, then my follow-up question is, since all my three mesh modules themselves posses strong and fast WiFi signals, would wiring a camera in this fashion make it in any way less way less susceptible to WiFi dropouts than if the camera itself were strictly a WiFi camera?

Any answers or general comments would be appreciated.

 

[ipOsX]

You should be able to plug your POE camera into a POE switch wired to a wireless mesh node and have it show up just as though it had been hardwired to the primary router. Each node is effectively a router and acts like one.

When my mesh was wireless (I have since wired all my nodes together) the nodes never dropped the wi-fi connection but wi-fi cameras often did. I hoped that wiring the nodes together would give me stronger wi-fi signals everywhere (which it did) and reduce the number of camera drop-outs (which it didn't). I tested an outside wi-fi camera which was 10 yards away from a node in direct line of sight through a window and my wi-fi signal meter was maxed out with a LAN speed test on my mobile phone beside the camera returning a mahoosive 600Mbps.

What this indicates is that there is nothing a network expert can do to eliminate the problem of cheap, underpowered wi-fi transmitters/receivers inside the camera.

Having said that, my wi-fi cameras at the time were not premium, semi-pro brands so your experience with Hik or Dahua wi-fi cameras may be different. I now have wired Hikvision cameras everywhere and they are like chalk vs cheese in terms of performance, speed, robustness and efficiency. I would never again deploy wi-fi cameras in mission-critical CCTV locations.

 

[DroMike]

That's an extremely informative, interesting and ultimately helpful response. Thank you for that great input which at minimum at least confirms I'm on fairly solid ground here. - Mike

 

[looney2ns]

Best if you can avoid WiFi cams, if you care about reliability at all.

 

[DroMike]

Well, years ago I got caught up in the initial consumer Dropcam (now "Nest") and Arlo cam craze touted as easy setup. Once I became disillusioned with those I started obtaining Amcrest products which have actually proven reliable, even though they're WiFi. But I am finally seeing the light re POE and quality cams. I don't mind making a few mistakes early on so long as I DO learn the hard lessons from them going forward.

 

[looney2ns]

Amcrest is rebranded Dahua

 

[Sybertiger]

The thing I don't get about WiFi IP cams is that you have to provide power to them (unless it's battery operated) so you have to run wire anyway. Running 120v Romex wire is more hazardous and difficult than running POE Cat6. It would seem that most folks will find that power is more likely to be unavailable than available at the preferred IP cam install location. To a point, I understand why some folks are installing doorbell WiFi cams as there's already doorbell power available from a transformer and some doorbell locations are an absolute beotch to run new wire.

 

[DroMike]

The thing I don't get about WiFi IP cams is that you have to provide power to them (unless it's battery operated) so you have to run wire anyway.

I can appreciate your understandable observation. It's really about convenience and aesthetics. Of my five WiFi cams, three are indoor. The electrical outlets are merely a few feet away, so wiring them with 50 feet of Ethernet cords around the inside perimeter (under rugs, over thresholds, etc.) of my home would both an unnecessary hassle and also unsightly. Similarly, the (at present) two outside cams are near outdoor electrical outlets so they were also easy to plug in that way. The POE cam I'm about to obtain will be near a mesh Wifi module/node in my garage and thus easier to wire traditionally with an Ethernet cable. In either case(s), I'll just opt for what's ideal for that particular situation.