IP camera dropping off randomly

[aidan]

Ip camera going offline randomly, sometimes work for weeks then drops 3 times for 10-15min intervals in an hour. Hikvision sends a notification when it happens, and then another when back online.

It's transmitting via 2 ubiquiti wifi transmitter spanning 100m to the router from yard to house. No trees in the way and v good signal. Then router puts it on internet.

I suspect either bad cable or bad connection.

Is there a way I can log the IP address of router, house ubiquiti transmitter, yard ubiquiti transmitter and camera and see where the breakdown is occurring.

When problem arises the whole system goes down can't even see it over the ethernet, laptop just says camera offline so I think it's a connection problem rather than a software setup problem.

If I could log the IP addresses against time I could see which is going down and causing the problem maybe ?

Anyway I could check if I have conflicting IP problems

IP addresses as follows
Router 192.168.1.20
House Transmitter 192.168.1.100
Yard Transmitter 192.168.1.101
Camera 192.168.1. 150

Not sure if laptop has Static IP address, must check, I dont think it does

 

[Max Headroom]

Can you ping the yard transmitter when the camera is "off line"?

 

[aidan]

Can you ping the yard transmitter when the camera is "off line"?

dont know, i cant catch it in the act, like i say it goes for 10-15mins and then back again

 

[steveR]

dont know, i cant catch it in the act, like i say it goes for 10-15mins and then back again

Is there anything worse than an intermittent wifi problem... Best of luck.

 

[Max Headroom]

Well I would say that if you can't reliably ping the receiver (yard transmitter) then your issue is with the yard transmitter or something closer to the router, not a device further away from it.

 

[aidan]

Well I would say that if you can't reliably ping the receiver (yard transmitter) then your issue is with the yard transmitter or something closer to the router, not a device further away from it.

no issues pinging it when everything is online, cant catch it in the act offline to try pinging it

 

[Max Headroom]

no issues pinging it when everything is online, cant catch it in the act offline to try pinging it

Ping what?

Can you ping the yard transmitter when the camera is "off line"?

Can you ping the House Transmitter when the camera is "off line"

 

[Sagecaster]

How are you viewing your camera? Through a web browser or an App such as the Hikvision Hik-Connect or an NVR?
Unlikely to be the transmitters. Can you ping from a laptop to your camera when your router is disconnected from your ISP/broadband? Hikvision camera tech can be glitchy when access to the WWW is unreliable.

 

[GarMan]

How are you powering the setup? Is there a chance it could be a power failure? Is there any relevace to weather conditions such as rain or wind? Also worth checking the firmware to see if its the latest in case of bugs within the system which has since been patched. Also worth checking for Wifi signal strength and if there's any overlap on the signal spectrum which might also causing issues. I am assuming its the 2.4GHz and not the 5GHz range you are using.

If these are fine, you can try setting up a regular ping (once every min or so to all these devices) with the logs saved to get a time stamp to see which of the devices the issue could be. Over a period of time, see if there's any pattern that occurs ie if it goes down at a particular time or at regular intervals. You can reset the entire setup and reconfigure to see if the problem persists.

If these fails you will have to independly assess each of the devices to see if the failure is at one of the devices, a combination or more. There are software available to do further analysis but you are crossing over from DIY to more of the commercial grade. Let us know how you get on.

Make and model of each of the devices in the system could help to look for common issues/ errors. Don't think laptop static or dynamic IP makes a difference in this case.

 

[aidan]

How are you powering the setup? Is there a chance it could be a power failure? Is there any relevace to weather conditions such as rain or wind? Also worth checking the firmware to see if its the latest in case of bugs within the system which has since been patched. Also worth checking for Wifi signal strength and if there's any overlap on the signal spectrum which might also causing issues. I am assuming its the 2.4GHz and not the 5GHz range you are using.

If these are fine, you can try setting up a regular ping (once every min or so to all these devices) with the logs saved to get a time stamp to see which of the devices the issue could be. Over a period of time, see if there's any pattern that occurs ie if it goes down at a particular time or at regular intervals. You can reset the entire setup and reconfigure to see if the problem persists.

If these fails you will have to independly assess each of the devices to see if the failure is at one of the devices, a combination or more. There are software available to do further analysis but you are crossing over from DIY to more of the commercial grade. Let us know how you get on.

Make and model of each of the devices in the system could help to look for common issues/ errors. Don't think laptop static or dynamic IP makes a difference in this case.

no its not power failure, and not tied into weather. Dont have the data to hand to tell you WIFI strength.

its 5ghz I am using. I have a feeling its a loose cable somewhere.

How would I setup that regular ping you mention along with saving.

Hasn't gone down for 10mins in nearly 2 weeks.

 

[steveR]

no its not power failure, and not tied into weather. Dont have the data to hand to tell you WIFI strength.

its 5ghz I am using. I have a feeling its a loose cable somewhere.

How would I setup that regular ping you mention along with saving.

Hasn't gone down for 10mins in nearly 2 weeks.

Got to say, probably not your issue, but I have found 5ghz to be less reliable than 2.5ghz in anything other than with direct line of sight.

 

[aidan]

Got to say, probably not your issue, but I have found 5ghz to be less reliable than 2.5ghz in anything other than with direct line of sight.

im v good on the direct line of sight 12ft over the ground at one end, mounted to downpipe of shed with cable ties. mounted to gable of house at the other end 20ft over the ground.

130m I think google maps says between. Nice and level no trees in the way.

 

[Steevo]

I have exactly the same issue so watching with interest.

2 pairs of Hikvision cameras, each pair running off a pair of TP-Link CPE510 bridge (so 4 cameras, across two separate bridges)

 

[GarMan]

no its not power failure, and not tied into weather. Dont have the data to hand to tell you WIFI strength.

its 5ghz I am using. I have a feeling its a loose cable somewhere.

How would I setup that regular ping you mention along with saving.

Hasn't gone down for 10mins in nearly 2 weeks.

Good to hear that its not the power or weather.

2.4GHz usually works better over long range as it provides most coverage compared to 5GHz, but its you call to stay on this freqency or to try swapping to the alternate.

For ping, on your laptop, you can set up a script to ping every 5 mins to each of the devices with timestamp captured and saved to a file on the local drive based on the IP addresses you have. (https://blog.invgate.com/ping-command) The below code might be useful, save it into a notepad file and give it a .bat extension so that it becomes a batch file that you can run on double clicking it. Give it a try and tweak as necessary.

@Echo off

rem Define log file path (modify "ping_log.txt" if desired)
set log_file=C:\ping_log.txt

:loop

echo. >> %log_file%
echo ------ PING Results - $(date) ------ >> %log_file%

rem Ping Router
ping -n 1 192.168.1.20 >> %log_file%

rem Ping House Transmitter
ping -n 1 192.168.1.100 >> %log_file%

rem Ping Yard Transmitter
ping -n 1 192.168.1.101 >> %log_file%

rem Ping Camera
ping -n 1 192.168.1.150 >> %log_file%

timeout /t 300 /nobreak >> %log_file% (This waits 5 minutes)

goto loop

I have attached the batch file in case it makes it easier. Right click and open in Notepad and check it before executing it. Please do not run any file without checking when you get it off the internet.

 

[aidan]

I have exactly the same issue so watching with interest.

2 pairs of Hikvision cameras, each pair running off a pair of TP-Link CPE510 bridge (so 4 cameras, across two separate bridges)

did you manage to fix your issue

 

[Steevo]

did you manage to fix your issue

Not yet.

My first plan was to swap the TP-Link bridges out for Ubiquiti Nanobeams but I haven't got round to that yet.

Failing that, I might have to fall back on getting the experts in.

 

[rollestonpark]

are they powered by poe? could be a bad power injector?
or bad ethernet cable / bad termination / bad connection on the RJ45 ? etc

 

[Rich_ard]

are they powered by poe? could be a bad power injector?
or bad ethernet cable / bad termination / bad connection on the RJ45 ? etc

Is there a easy way to check the poe injector. My hik vision won't connect, it usually dose it if it not used for a while but if I delete the device then re add it it works again but won't this year. Its a calving camera so not in full time use. I tried a multimeter on it but not sussed it out.

 

[David.]

Our two lambing cameras have gone sketchy just as we are finished lambing, fortunately. Take ages to rotate, jumpy picture, etc.
Suspect it may be poor 4g signal on Giffgaff/0² data sim service? Their online check says everything fine, of course.
Any ideas please?

 

[upnortheast]

Not yet.

My first plan was to swap the TP-Link bridges out for Ubiquiti Nanobeams but I haven't got round to that yet.

Failing that, I might have to fall back on getting the experts in.

Just a thought. The unit on the shed, is the shed cladding steel.? Have heard reports steel cladding can upset ( tech term ) signal