WiFi Camera always late to the action

[Corkey05]

I have this nagging question about wifi security cameras. My current sticks & bricks system is an Arlo setup with several cameras. They work well to a point. But sadly my issue is, by the time the camera connects to the wifi network, the movement that triggered it is long gone. It's a common problem, but enough to render this system as a toy more than a security device.

What I'm looking for is a WiFi camera that immediately begins spooling (recording) to internal memory at the moment it's triggered. The internal memory would forward the recording upon connection to the network. This would eliminate any lag in what the camera sees.

I've looked around for a good place to pose this question and hope for a source, and this board is full of some pretty bright minds, so I tossed it out here first.

Any suggestions to a system I described would be very welcomed - Thanks all.

[Corkey05]

APT wrote:
The problem is with whatever camera brand/model you have, There are lots of options out there across a wide range of $$$.

Do you have a way to run power to where you want cameras? Wyze use Micro USB. For some of my outdoor cameras, I use 25' long cables hidden in siding J channel. Some are power over Ethernet, so not using WiFi either.

Have you looked into Blink Cameras? They have 2yr battery life. I'm sure there are similar competitors with longer battery life.

ARLO camera system. I won't disagree about the problem being with the camera system. ARLO is expensive and actually a good system, with excellent digital controls. The answer to your question about a power source is "No", I didn't have a good way to provide power at the time. My choice of battery powered camera took me to ARLO because of the good reviews, but I guess I missed the part about connection lag. ARLO is also harder on battery life than I expected. I'm actually looking at a way to provide power over Ethernet as we speak.

Thanks for the help.

[APT]

The problem is with whatever camera brand/model you have, There are lots of options out there across a wide range of $$$.

Do you have a way to run power to where you want cameras? Wyze use Micro USB. For some of my outdoor cameras, I use 25' long cables hidden in siding J channel. Some are power over Ethernet, so not using WiFi either.

Have you looked into Blink Cameras? They have 2yr battery life. I'm sure there are similar competitors with longer battery life.

[Corkey05]

APT wrote:
Corkey, my Wyze cameras log under 1kbps unless I an **************. The "motion detection" should be on the camera itself, not on a cloud which would require full camera resolution to the cloud. My Ubiquiti cameras log about 2mpbs of network/WiFi data, but those only stay in my home.

You're right (I should have been a little more clear) the motion detection is in the camera ... the camera must detect motion before it tells the Hub to connects to the WiFi. Hence the delay. These cameras are NOT connected to WiFi full time, only when recording anything motion activated. I don't know of any Wifi camera powered by batteries that stays connected. If so the batteries wouldn't last more than a few hours at best.

The question I posed was, why can't internal memory in the camera capture the immediate recording and spool it to the Hub/WiFi? No delay

[APT]

Corkey, my Wyze cameras log under 1kbps unless I an **************. The "motion detection" should be on the camera itself, not on a cloud which would require full camera resolution to the cloud. My Ubiquiti cameras log about 2mpbs of network/WiFi data, but those only stay in my home.

[Corkey05]

Deltabravo ... what you say sounds good on the surface, but to leave several cameras connected full time hogs valuable wifi device connections. Each wifi router has connection limits. So they only connect after motion is detected and that might take 3-4 seconds, enough lost time for the object in motion to move outside the field of view. Hardwired systems can stay connected full time, just like you say, but WiFi has limits. It's not unusual to have 40 (or more) WiFi devices fighting for connections all the time. I would love to have a full time Hub to record action full time, then spool to the WiFi when connected or convenient.

[deltabravo]

Why is the camera "disconnecting" from the network? Once you set up a WiFI device, it should always stay connected.

[APT]

I have several Wyze V2 and V3 cameras. The motion detection is a little sensitive, but otherwise meets your requests listed so far. Person/vehicle detection costs extra. Cameras cost about $35 ea, power via Miro-USB, and connect to the internet via Wifi.

I am shifting my own home to Ubiquiti Protect product with better control of cameras, detections, and local storage with no service/subscription fees, but the equipment costs are noticeably higher.

[srt20]

We use Blink, an amazon owned deal I think. Works well, micro SD slot for storage. Sends alert to phone, etc. Cheap. 3 cameras and module for well under $200 ( I dont recall exact price, amazon stuff is on sale every other day).

We live in sticks and have slow internet at home (20mbps is max). Im happy with the Blink setup. Of course Amazon would prefer you buy the storage plan from them through their cloud, but I prefer using my own card.

[Corkey05]

Thanks for all the responses

It looks like I'll look into the Wyze system for some relief. I'm not totally dissatisfied with my Arlo system, but my issue is talked about a lot on the Arlo bulletin boards. I have one camera pointed at my front porch, by the time a delivery person enters the range, drops a box and leaves he has managed to do that in maybe 1-3 seconds, the time it takes for the camera to connect to the base station (Hub) and internet. What I get is a nice video of the front porch, but nothing else. But is does record spiders on the lens flawlessly.

BTW, the Arlo hub is plugged directly into the router, so this issue is owned exclusively by Arlo and its hub. The hub is still wifi, but nothing I can do to improve a closed system.

This issue goes far beyond simply improving the internet situation. My front porch camera is less than 20 ft from the router and my MBPS is 385. The connection just couldn't be much better. I have other internet devices over 150 feet way (even outdoor sheds) working without issues, it's a fairly robust system. As a security device the cameras performance should be much better. According to the Arlo community boards I'm certainly not alone.

Thanks again, you folks did help!

[bgum]

Does Wyze only show 12 seconds of recording?

[fj12ryder]

Our neighbor has the Wyze cameras around his house and he loves them. He says there is an available feature that allows you to program what will set off the camera. He set his so the dog doesn't constantly set it off. I'm considering one or two to put around the pool area, for when we're away from home.

[monkey44]

Yeah - I figured it would be available as much security minded all of us are today, especially in the more populated areas.

[Ranger_Smith]

monkey44 wrote:
As you all know, M44 is not very technical minded. But, to me, it would make sense to install in instant capture camera that can record to a flash card then send to a SSD or a phone a delayed WIFI signal - like a time-lag. Then you would have instant record, miss nothing, and still have the WIFI signal send it to a more secure device elsewhere or direct to your phone.

That might take a minute or to before WIFI kicks in, but not enough time for a 'bad guy' to find and destroy a recording before it sent the signal out.

Maybe I'm missing something? Probably 🙂

I do know even ten years ago, we could shoot and record action images on the baseball field - and manually upload and send to our editors via WIFI right in the camera ... it took a few minutes, but that's it - the editor would have the image almost immediately after the shot.

I can imagine that technology is quite a bit advanced nowadays. And motion activated - instant on - record - send, and I'd imagine instant record should be available in a fixed security camera even if it waits a few seconds to actually connect to the WIFI service and send video.

The Wyze camera's do that. They have a built in slot for a micro SD card.

[sch911]

Nest are the gold standard but expensive. Look at "WYZE" as a cheap alternative.