Greatest Effective Camera Distance

[crescentmotor]

I currently have five cameras installed.  Three are on the house perimeter with distances from the base station of 15', 25', and 50'.  I get three signal bars with the base station located central to the those three units right inside the back exterior/perimeter wall of the house. That is after installing a Netgear Powerline 1200 range extender.

The other two units are on two storage sheds located about 125' from the base stations.  Those two units only have one signal bar.  This is a pretty weak signal compared to the three bars Arlo indicates is desirable and considering the two cameras are well within the 300' range mentioned as being supported.  However, the two cameras appear to be fully functional.  The weak signal may be compromising my overall battery life of all five cameras but the two solar panels are keeping both of those batteries fully charged.

Question:  Does anyone think my base station is defective or should be replaced or I am I probably within the practical effective distance of the base station with respect to the two distant outside units?

[TomMac]

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@crescentmotor wrote:

The other two units are on two storage sheds located about 125' from the base stations.  Those two units only have one signal bar.  This is a pretty weak signal compared to the three bars Arlo indicates is desirable and considering the two cameras are well within the 300' range mentioned as being supported.

Question:  Does anyone think my base station is defective or should be replaced or I am I probably within the practical effective distance of the base station with respect to the two distant outside units?

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Low signal can use a higher battery usage....  just keep that in mind

As to the question, No I don't think the base is defective... the max 300 ft range is normal for wifi on 2.4 ghz ( which is what the base does... it sets up it's own network to talk to the ameras only ).

In the real world , any thing that can block/interfer with the signal will mean less distance.  In some of my old tests the cameras were good to 150+ft. but with clean line of sight.

The ONLY true way to expand your coverage is to run multi bases... ( you can run as many as needed and they don't have to even be in the same state, it's the number of cameras on your service level that matter ).

I currently run two bases , one at each end of the home.. this allows max signal to all cameras.

The downside to multi bases is they have to be armed separately.... you can use this to your advantage at times by splitting up like front/back cameras and now use diff schedules/arming for each base... your usage will determine this.

[crescentmotor]

Thanks.  I cannot get a second base closer to the two distant cameras without the second base being outside the house and there is no electrical feed at the sheds so that won't work.  I guess what I am really questioning is why Arlo rates the cameras as having a 300' range from the base station.  That's what I relied upon when I bought the two shed cameras.  The 300' seems just to be an aggressive marketing gimmick by Arlo having no relevance to real world application.

[TomMac]

Well, can see what your stating... but almost all wifi ( 802.11n , 2.4ghz ) is rated at max 300ft line of sight ( in an open fielsd )... As you stated , one bar and the cameras are working , but the signal should be at least two for better connection , IMO.

But it still may work for you if you think outside the box a bit.

Ethernet is good for 330ft and the base unit runs on really 12vdc... if you have to do this it would be possible to bury low voltage lines for power out to the shed along with an ethernet cable. ( or a car battery and solar uit on shed for power )

Guess it all depends on how far you want to go.  Good luck