wifi security cameras

[muddstopper]

Nor really a section for this topic here, so I will just ask here.
I recently bought the Blink 5 camera system off amazon. I boght this based on seeing how easy it is to install and have several friends that have the same system. Easy to get connected to my wifi and easy to link up all the cameras. Tons of features. Now my problem is not in how the system works or the quality of the pictures it takes. My problem is distance the cameras will transmit and connect to the Blink router. My brother has this same system and has a comera at his barn which is probably 100yards from his house. He isnt having any problems. With the router inside my house, my cameras lose connection the minute I walk into my shop. My tablet will connect and talk to my current router inside the shop with the doors closed. My cameras work fine at the front door, back door and my parking area, but 6ft from my shop door they lose connection. Less than 100ft from the house. I tried moving the blink router inside my shop as it would connect to house router, but the cameras outside wont connect to the blink router. The shop is metal sided which I am sure is part of the problem, but my tablet will pick up the house wifi inside the shop. I also tried moving the blink router to my other two sheds, but then the cameras wont pick up outside the sheds. I moved the blink router to my front porch and the blink router would connect way over on my other lot. Problem with a front porch router location is no power source and the router is not designed to be out side. One good rain storm and that would probably be the end of it. With the blink router on the front porch, I still couldnt get the cameras to work inside my shop, which is where I really need the camera. I also wanted to place one camera on my other lot to keep an eye on my storage shed on that lot. I am considering buying some wifi extenders to place around inside my shop and sheds. The blink router seems to be picking up pretty good, but the cameras dont seem to be picking up the blink router at any distance. So if anybody has any suggestions, I need to hear them.

 

[uniballer]

You won't like this, but wired cameras (e.g. POE) work better, and are way harder to disrupt.

 

[farmer steve]

Mudd, I used one of the the help boost signals to the fartherest location from my router in the house. Almost 200 feet. Not sure if you have power in you shop.

 

[muddstopper]

You won't like this, but wired cameras (e.g. POE) work better, and are way harder to disrupt.

Your right, I dont like it. The logistics of running the wire wouldnt be easy. My parking area between house and garage is paved so trenching in wire just isnt feasible.

Mudd, I used one of the the help boost signals to the fartherest location from my router in the house. Almost 200 feet. Not sure if you have power in you shop.
View attachment 949839

Kinda what I had in mind to try next. I can get good signal in and around the house, its just when I try to put cameras in my shop that I start losing the signal. I really think it has more to do with the signal that the cameras are putting out. I can watch movies in the shop on my tablet, but my cameras wont send pictures back to my wifi. I actually had a extender for my camper, but I cant seem to find it. I must of left it in the camper when I sold it.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Are you connected to 5g or 2.4g? 2.4 is slower, but reaches out farther and is more stable.

 

[Cricket]

Interested too - I have the same set-up - house/parking area/barn. Somebody just drove back in here and walked off with my timberjack, in the last week or so. I am annoyed.

 

[muddstopper]

Are you connected to 5g or 2.4g? 2.4 is slower, but reaches out farther and is more stable.

Im supposed to know that???, My router has 2.4 and 5g, not sure which one I set the blink up on. Its not installed at this moment since I have been trying different locations. I plan on going ahead with the install tomorrow with the three cameras I can get working. Front door, back door and parking area/drive way. The parking area does capture the entrance to my shop. My router is a older nexgear night hawk. Model 6020. Only good for 750mb. Needless to say, dont know what questions I need to ask.

 

[muddstopper]

Interested too - I have the same set-up - house/parking area/barn. Somebody just drove back in here and walked off with my timberjack, in the last week or so. I am annoyed.

Thing have gotten pretty bad with the sneaky sneaks and five finger discount around here lately. My neice and her husband live just down the road and he had his tractor stole, I posted about it a while back. He got the tractor back and then about a year ago he got his equipment trailer stole. He just got it back this past week. He saw it being pulled down the road and followed it while calling the police. They told him not to follow them. He did anyway and followed them into a housing project and held them at gun point until the law showed up. Things werent pretty, but bottom line, he got his trailer back, the cops didnt arrest the people that had it. Justice aint what it should be. I have a storage shed on my lot that joins my house property. Its mostly full of junk, but its my junk. Last week I walked down to the shed and saw the door was open, nothing missing, nothing worth stealing, but someone had been in it. That shed is only about 30-40 feet from my shop. My shop is full of valuable stuff. I need the cameras to prove who goes into the shop. My shop, like my house, is harder to go into with out my knowledge, I am here pretty much 24/7. I have ankle biters that bark at anything.

 

[farmer steve]

Not sure if good or bad but I put up several of these signs up when I put up my cameras. Hopefully will make any scumbags think twice about breaking in. About $5 at Lowes.

 

[muddstopper]

Not sure if good or bad but I put up several of these signs up when I put up my cameras. Hopefully will make any scumbags think twice about breaking in. About $5 at Lowes.
View attachment 949979

I want one that says To late to smile, I already have your picture and its already on the internet.
One thing I have noticed of security camera pictures is you cant ever see the face of the thief. I think the problem is everybody puts their cameras up high and hoodies or ball caps hide the person face. I plan on mounting my cameras where they are pointing upwards, that way if the crook comes up with head down, cap pulled down, I should still get a picture of their face. Yea, cameras mounted low are easy to vandilize, but by the time they smash the cameras their picture has already been taken and uploaded. My game cameras work good along the drive way and seem to have better motion sensing range, for getting tag numbers, plus the game cameras will hold 1000's of pics without filling my phone up with notifications. Easier to hide in the edge of the woods too than on the side of a house. I actually had one game camera hidden inside my shop and had forgotten about it. A year later, I had about 1000 pictures of myself as I moved around the shop. Had pictures of my brother that came when I wasnt home to borrow a tool. Which he did call me to say he was getting the tool. Hes probably got pics of me on his cameras in his barn. I usually wave at his cameras when I walk by them.

 

[unclemoustache]

I think the problem is everybody puts their cameras up high and hoodies or ball caps hide the person face. I plan on mounting my cameras where they are pointing upwards, that way if the crook comes up with head down, cap pulled down, I should still get a picture of their face. .

Yup. Gotta see the faces.

I want cams for my shop and for my airbnb.
never had any issues, so far, though.

 

[Superduty71]

@muddstopper
First off I completely agree with uniballer:

You won't like this, but wired cameras (e.g. POE) work better, and are way harder to disrupt.

There is no wireless system that will compare to a hardwire system... that said there are some really good wireless systems out there.

And you do not have to completely direct wire a system to make it full-proof...

Your right, I dont like it. The logistics of running the wire wouldnt be easy. My parking area between house and garage is paved so trenching in wire just isnt feasible.

There are way around this... that are reliable, secure & easily deployed...

Are you connected to 5g or 2.4g? 2.4 is slower, but reaches out farther and is more stable.

Unless something has changed in the past couple of months the Blink Cameras only use the 2.4 GHz bandwidth... which is probably not your issue...

OK full disclosure, I'm in the industry of security, automation & network design... & although I will not bash Blink for what it is... I will say this: Our company will not promote any non-security / network / automation company that is owned by a company that is solely a marketing company. Companies like Apple, Amazon (Blink / Ring), Google (Home / Nest), etc. have zero interest in your security... just marketing & selling you product. (ok... sorry... off my soapbox)

The issues you're having is not uncommon with any system like the Blink system. This system requires two different established connections for it to work properly, the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connection to your network & their Low Frequency Radio (LFR) which connects to the Blink Sync Module (I believe what you are calling the Blink Router). If you are not seeing at least 3 bars of signal for both the Wi-Fi & the LFR you are going to have issues.

Directly from the Blink site:
"The Sync Module receives information from the Blink servers through your local Wi-Fi, and sends commands to system devices with a Low Frequency Radio (LFR). Cameras receive information from the Sync Module, then send images and notifications through your local Wi-Fi. For optimal performance, your camera must show three bars of signal strength from your Sync Module in addition to the three bars of signal strength to Wi-Fi."

IMOH....There are no two installs that are alike... an example is two identical home in the exact same location, except one of them has hydronic radiant heat throughout... the one with the radiant will most likely need double the access points (Wi-Fi antennas) as the one without... So what I am saying is what works in one location might not work in the next even if they are right next door to each other...

I know you already own it.... but Blink would not be my recommendation or my design for your needs / solution. (& I'm not hating on the product.. just not how I would have designed it)

sorry for the long post....

 

[farmer steve]

@Superduty71. Long (lol) but good post. When my buddy ( major computer geek) heard I got robbed he said he would help me with camera install. He bought me a wansview system. He did all the technical stuff and I mounted them where I needed them. I'm not paying for cloud storage at this time but am buying SD cards for them. Thanks for your insight on cameras. FS.

 

[muddstopper]

One problem I see with the blink is it comes with zero instructions. A little blue paper that tells you where to download the software and thats it. I installed the cameras today, I still have the module on a battery pack because I am moving it around to different locations to try and improve reception. It works fine for my entrance doors and driveways, but I havent activated the 2 other cameras. One thing I did notice, and its probably because I am doing something wrong, is that I wanted to check out taking snapshots with my phone and It wasnt working. I can record and take pictures on the system with my phone while at home, but I couldnt get it to work when I went to the store. The cameras are giving me real clear pictures with a wide angle view and I am getting notifications on my phone as long as I am at home, but that isnt what I need. I need notification and pictures when I am not at home. Like I said, its probably my fault as I havent figured out all the settings yet. One solution I think to enable me to place more cameras inside my metal shop is to buy another module to put in the shop. I didnt know about the RF frequency thing so thanks for that infomation. I already know that if I place my current module inside the shop, the cameras work, and I know the module inside the shop will connect to my house wifi. My brother just bought another blink system with module to add cameras to his system, I am going to try and borrow his extra module to see how well that works. I think extra modules are around $35. He boght the complete kit with module because it was cheaper than just buying the extra number of cameras he wanted.

 

[Woodchuckr]

Just FYI, I use cellular game cam's. Motion activated and sends my phone a picture almost immediately when someone pulls in the driveway. Paid $169 cdn and 5$ a month for 250 pics.
I have tried wifi and have a decent trio of camera's from Defender, but my next ones will be wired for sure. The Defender's just need power and use your wifi/router, I run one 200' away from the router in a separate building, if you park the backhoe between them you sometimes lose signal.

 

[muddstopper]

I Have been using game cameras, but not the celluar kind. Got tired of having to pull cards to read them. I do plan on keeping the game cameras up, but I wont have to check the cards near as often. From what I have read, I am pretty sure I can place another module inside my shop that will extend my camera range inside the building. I just have to pair my cameras with it. I will know more when I get the other module from my brother. The way its supposed to work is I pair some cameras to one module and the other cameras with the second module, but both modules will seen alerts thru my wifi. If this works, I will probably just go ahead and purchase another multicamera kit and hide more cameras around the place. Right now I am adjusitng sensitivity of the current cameras because the alerts are wearing my phone/me out. I already know I need to move one camera because it isnt covering the area it needs to.

 

[oldfortyfive]

I went with the Simplisafe system after seeing how well it worked for my son. So far I've been pretty pay with it.

 

[stumpy75]

The shop is metal sided which I am sure is part of the problem, but my tablet will pick up the house wifi inside the shop.

That's a big part of the problem... Your laptop probably has a better transmitter and receiver than the Blink.

I have steel siding on my house, and I have a terrible time getting any wifi signal out to my garage, 200 feet away. I have a Linksys router inside the house. I also have steel mesh backing up some of the plaster walls in my house, and wifi inside is also tough because of that. The joys of a 100 year old house...

 

[Tool_Maker]

I Have been using game cameras…..

My cabin has been getting vandalized lately. Need to set up security but we do not have cell, pots, Wi-Fi, broadband or cable available in the area. Because of the tight steep canyons, I’m not even sure if we can send or receive a satellite signal. So I think I’m stuck with game cams.

Do you have any recommendation on Game cams? It sounds like the ones you have used work well.

 

[Woodchuckr]

My cabin has been getting vandalized lately. Need to set up security but we do not have cell, pots, Wi-Fi, broadband or cable available in the area. Because of the tight steep canyons, I’m not even sure if we can send or receive a satellite signal. So I think I’m stuck with game cams.

Do you have any recommendation on Game cams? It sounds like the ones you have used work well.

Is there power there?