Cameras detect half the time

[tmpufsker]

Hi. I have 5 cameras. 3 for about 3 years, 2 just purchased this year. Along with the 2 new cameras I also purchased a WiFi extender, hoping that would make my cameras work better. That has not happened. 4 cameras are outside, 3 of those are within 20-30 feet of base station and router and extender, 1 about 250 feet away. We have motion sensor-solar powered lights next to them and they work all the time, the cameras do not pick us up walking by, about half of the time. It was suggested by Netgear that an extender might improve the cameras working but that has not been the case. Also they randomly can’t connect because the base station goes offline I have been trying for years now and I am close to accepting this system is not reliable. Any ideas? Thanks

[StephenB]

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@tmpufsker wrote:
I also purchased a WiFi extender, hoping that would make my cameras work better.

How is that set up?  Is the base station connected to a LAN port of the WiFi extender?  Or is it connected directly to the router.

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@tmpufsker wrote:
the cameras do not pick us up walking by, about half of the time. 

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The normal range for motion detection is about 20 feet (though that does depend on conditions and how large the moving object is).  The cameras are optimized for side-to-side motion.  There is a motion detection tool you can use to tune the motion detection settings.  Camera positioning also is a factor, there are some tips here: https://kb.arlo.com/37/How-do-I-position-my-Arlo-wire-free-camera

[tmpufsker]

The base station is directly connected to the extender by an Ethernet cable. They are together and about 25 feet from my router.

I will check out the link you sent. Thank you.

[tmpufsker]

I read the info on the camera positioning link, I do have my cameras set up correctly for the most effective detection. Another camera has been offline all day. This is very frustrating. This morning camera number 3 did not pick up any motion when I walked by twice but this afternoon it did, when I walked by the same spot. It only picked it up once though.

[StephenB]

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@tmpufsker wrote:
The base station is directly connected to the extender by an Ethernet cable. 

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Ok.  One possibility is that the extender is sometimes losing it's connection to the router.

The base station will respond to ping, so this is something you use could test connectivity to the base if you are willing to leave a PC on for a couple of days.  gping is a reasonable (and free) tool you could use.  Just make sure the PC is connected via your router, and not the extender.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gping/

[tmpufsker]

Ok I will try gping since I am having the same problem with the cameras not detecting motion with the extender or without. Will this gping show the direct connectivity status every minute or so between the base station and my router (leaving the extender out of the equation)?

[StephenB]

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@tmpufsker wrote:
Ok I will try gping since I am having the same problem with the cameras not detecting motion with the extender or without. Will this gping show the direct connectivity status every minute or so between the base station and my router (leaving the extender out of the equation)?

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It pings the base station from the PC and graphs the results.  It also gives a total of successful/unsucessful pings.  Whether the ping goes through your router or not depends on the network topology.  If your PC is also connected to the extender, the ping won't go through the router.  But if the PC is connected to the router, it will.

You can set the ping rate - I believe the default is every 5 seconds.

Note you can also ping an internet address (say www.google.com), and get some idea of your internet connection quality.

Just install it, you should be able to easily sort out what it is doing.