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Pro4 Connecting to Strongest WiFi available WiFi Mesh Setup

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Antrey17
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We have recently bought 6 of the Pro4 Cameras because they connect to WiFi directly without a base unit as our house and land is so big it would prohibit the use of a Base unit.

 

We have strong wifi around the property already with Google Nest WiFi mesh system which we have a point in all corners of the home allowing us to place these cameras around outside and still have great wifi coverage.

 

We have problem though that is reoccuring and I can't seem to sort it out. I have tried loads of changes to our WiFi system from recommendations from Google Support and also our ISP.

 

What happens is the following.

 

If our WiFi system gets restarted, the WiFi mesh points (I'll call them Point1, Point2, and so on) will all start at different times and when Point1 starts, Point2 may be a minute before it is ready. During this time a camera that is close to Point2 will connect to Point1 because it sees it first however it will only have one bar of signal and the camera will show that as a RED wifi connectivity on the system. as long as this point manages to stay connected to the camera it will continue to try to retain that connection using a lot more power and reducing the life of the battery on the cameras significantly to even down to a day or two.

 

Unfortunately, when Point2 comes online (sometimes only 10 or 20 seconds later), which is only a few meters from the camera, the camera will not connect to it unless I restart Point1 and force it to find Point2.

 

I wish the cameras would actively search and connect to a stronger signal with the same SSID and connect to it if available.

 

Does anyone else have the same issue and what have you tried to fix it?

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StephenB
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Guru

@Antrey17 wrote:

 

I wish the cameras would actively search and connect to a stronger signal with the same SSID and connect to it if available.

 


That would reduce battery life, because those scans would require more power.

 

Do you routinely restart the wifi?  Or is this a pretty rare event?

 

Normally the mesh Access Points will "suggest" that the client devices shift to a different AP - there are messages built into the WiFi standard for this purpose (and they were used in business settings long before mesh networks became popular).  Clients will then follow that advice (even though the standard doesn't mandate it).  There's no easy way to tell if those messages are being sent, or if they are missed or ignored.

 

One thing you might try is to disarm the cameras before you restart the wifi, and then try to arm them after the mesh is stable.  There is also a restart control in the camera settings that you could use (instead of turning off point 1).

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