Foliage, walls. roofs and elevation differences make wifi connectivity to Wyze cameras in my metal outbuildings unreliable. Wet foliage? Fuggedabowdit! Current Android app & firmware for V3 & Pan V3 work*** for RTSP but they only work as well as the wifi allows. I spent weeks of trial & error learning how to restart captures that failed from network problems. Here’s a BASH script for ffmpeg, 1 of three, that I run to farm footage from three cameras. It finally allows relatively continuous video collection. A single ffmpeg command can capture 3 streams and write 3 outputs at once but segregation seemed necessary since the streams fail in their own sweet, individual, erm…really aggravating times.
#!/bin/bash
while true; do
ffmpeg -timeout 10000000 -fflags +igndts -i rtsps://YOURSOURCE -c:v copy -f segment -segment_time 00:05:00 -reset_timestamps 1 -strftime 1 “FILESTOSAVE.mp4” >>YOURCHOSENPLACEFORERRORS.log 2>&1
date
echo “Stream dropped. Restarting WHATEVERSCRIPT.sh in 15 seconds…”
sleep 15
done
***Setting RTSPS in the app gives me failures every time. Try capturing the stream anyhow.
YMMV
Live long & prosper
Sounds like you need to work on better WiFi to your outbuilding. I have a 14 x 21 foot storage building in my back yard. My older son hangs out there a lot so I put a WiFi access point in the shed with an Ethernet connection back to the data cabinet in the garage. I set the A.P. to minimum power since it only needs to cover the inside of the shed.
I’d love that & I’m glad that works for you but infrastructure upgrades are too costly or too sweaty for my situation. I may reevaluate if I get desperate for surveillance.
Two options that aren’t terribly expensive and don’t take a whole lot to set up
TP link CPE210 running in AP mode. Sends a focused wifi signal in a specific direction. This won’t penetrate metal walls, but can get you very good range to a camera even through foliage and wood. Pointing it out a house window toward the outbuilding may be enough but only if that outbuilding has some non metal parts (doors, windows, etc) to potentially let the signal in. But for a metal building, I’d go with the below option.
Since you mention metal outbuildings, then using two of them in P2P mode (one on each end), and running an ethernet wire through the wall, then putting any cheap AP inside the building will do it for you. Or if the building has a window, facing where the other node will be, then you can just put it inside the window and probably not have to run a wire out.
Ubiquiti also has some very nice P2P options but they are more expensive and more involved to manage, the TP works very well for the price.
They also have 5ghz versions and ones that run Wifi 5 and up, but that isn’t needed for these cams, unless you also want high speed network (more than 50 to 75 megs) out in that building for other devices.
Thanks, Dave27. A hybrid solution occurred to me. Ethernet to the nearest building where an AP can have a clear window to window RF path to the other building.
Yeah there are lots of options, I mention the CPE210 because it is cheap and supports both P2P and AP modes (many of them are proprietary P2P only). I’ve set up a couple of them and they worked well, and the high gain directional antenna can even penetrate moderate foliage.
I’d love that & I’m glad that works for you but infrastructure upgrades are too costly or too sweaty for my situation. I may reevaluate if I get desperate for surveillance.
