Camera issues and SVR timestamp questions

Support
1

Good morning, folks!

I currently only have two cameras set up inside my house. Both downstairs, and both in the same room. (My whole downstairs is just one room.)

  • ADC-522IR - Just above the SVR and gateway, maybe 2.5 feet from the latter; &

  • ADC-V523 - On top of my kitchen cabinets overlooking the whole room. About 10-15 feet from the SVR and gateway.

  • These devices aren’t separated by any walls, unless you count the bookshelf.

  • Both are connected through WiFi; and

  • according to my AT&T smart home manager app (might not be reliable), both are getting a full signal.

The main issue: The V523 has been dropping out a lot the past few days. I will try to look at the SVR, and there are whole blocks of time where it says that particular camera wasn’t recording. I’m assuming that means it was disconnected during that time, and some of these blocks are hours.

Both cameras are currently working. The SVR has a green light and the live feed on the web app has both cameras active. However, I did have to power cycle the V523 twice this morning before it would reconnect.

The light on the camera itself was green, and always is, but there was no live feed and it wasn’t recording to the SVR (which did show a red light).

The troubleshooting page on the website wouldn’t load.

I recently moved the location of the camera, but didn’t even need to unplug it to do so. I just moved it to another cabinet. And the location now is actually much closer to the gateway than it has been the past few months.

The questions:

  1. How do I fix this for good? Should I try a factory reset?
  2. Notwithstanding the signal strength on the AT&T-SHM app, can you see a weak signal or something else that may be causing the issue on your end?
  3. Lastly, I’ve never received a notification that the camera wasn’t responding, despite that being in my settings. Can you hazard a guess as to why I wouldn’t be getting those notifications? It would be quite helpful to know how often this has been happening rather than just by chance when I sign on and notice myself.

2nd, less crucial issue: The time stamps when looking at the SVR are wonky. None of them match up. The two cameras seem to be anywhere from ten seconds to two minutes apart. And they are both different from the timestamp on the SVR controller in the website. Again, anywhere from ten seconds to two minutes difference, depending on which camera I’m comparing the web controller timestamp to. The V523 is always ahead of the rest. This is a consistent issue lately as well.

The questions:

  1. Is the SVR supposed to show playback video from all cameras in sync with one another, time wise?
  2. If so, how do I realign the timing on my SVR between the cameras?

The second issue is mildly annoying, but not something I consider detrimental to the functionality of the system. If something were to happen, I could still piece together what went down without the times being perfectly aligned. But if it can be fixed I would like to do so.

Thank you so much for all your help.

2

Happy to assist.

What are your upload/download speeds at the install site?

Have you tried power cycling the network, if not, please do that.

The main issue: The V523 has been dropping out a lot the past few days

Of the 2 cameras, only the 523 in the Kitchen falls off the network intermittently, correct?

How long has it been connected and has the issue only been happening the last few days?

Signal strength and SNR look good on both cameras. However, have you tried moving the 523 to a different part of the home to test? Does it still fall off the network intermittently?

  1. How do I fix this for good? Should I try a factory reset?

This would be the next step, yes. Delete the camera from Alarm.com first, then factory reset the camera and reconnect to Alarm.com. You will need to recreate any recording rules and re-pair it with the SVR afterwards.

Factory Reset V523

  1. Press and hold the Reset button located on the bottom of the camera until the LED is flashing Green and Red (about 15 seconds), then release the button.

  2. The camera will reboot with factory default settings.|

Lastly, I’ve never received a notification that the camera wasn’t responding, despite that being in my settings

The notification is set up correctly, although you will want to check to ensure it is being sent to the intended recipient.

Video camera connectivity is verified via ping every 8 hours by Alarm.com. Should the camera fail to respond to two consecutive pings (16 hours) the notification will be sent. If there is one remote access test passed notification between failures, the count restarts. This is likely why you have not seen a notification. Unfortunately, the time period cannot be altered.

The time stamps when looking at the SVR are wonky. None of them match up.

To clarify, do you mean that the time stamp on a Saved Video Recording and on the SVR Timeline do not match?

Have you power cycled the SVR?

3

Screenshot 2020-10-16 at 11.41.59 AM
Screenshot 2020-10-16 at 11.41.59 AM907×161 23.2 KB

The above screenshot was taken with my chromebook being held next to the camera on top of the cabinets.

I will as soon as I finish writing this response.

Correct.

It’s been connected for a couple of months. It kept dropping off the SVR and live feed for the first few days, but has been problem free since then. I power cycled it those times, and it was only about three or four times in total. It started back to dropping in the past couple of days and has been four times in two days that I’ve counted so far.

I haven’t. And it would take a while to perform this test, I think, since it isn’t too incredibly consistent with the dropping off. For example, it hasn’t dropped back off since making this post. But if it falls off again after power cycling the network, I am happy to run that test before a factory reset if I need to.

That is indeed unfortunate about the time period not being able to be altered for the unresponsive camera notification. A whole lot can happen in a 16 hour period. But I do understand nothing can be done.

I mean when you click on a certain point on the timeline, the time of the cameras are a few seconds to two minutes apart from one another, and neither match the exact time on the SVR timeline, also off by a few seconds to a couple minutes. Essentially you have 3 separate times running simultaneously.

I do want to add to this part: Since my original post I tried to look at the SVR playback a different way. I clicked on the playback icon in action in my activity feed, when a sensor is activated. When I do that, both cameras came to the exact right time, were perfectly in sync with the SVR timeline, and one another, and the video played in alignment with one another time-wise.

It is when I click on a time in the timeline itself that things fall out of whack with one another. I really hope that extra information is useful.

I have not.

I meant to mention one more thing in the original post: The same camera, the V523, also seems to have some buffering issues when watching the playback on the SVR. I don’t notice it with the 522 at all. But there are buffering and time skips of around 7 seconds on the V523 sporadically. Is it possible that the troubleshooting we are about to go through will solve this issue as well? Are they connected, hopefully?

4

To clarify my attempt at clarification on the SVR timeline issue above: The Saved Video Recording on both cameras don’t match one another, nor do they match the SVR timeline when I click on a certain point of the timeline.

So if I’m looking at the video feeds, one is a few seconds to two minutes ahead of the other. The V523 is always the one that’s ahead. By how much it’s ahead changes. And BOTH video feeds are ahead of the SVR timeline by a few seconds or more.

This only seems to happen when I try to click the timeline itself. If I click video link the the overall activity feed, they match up perfectly.

I hope that was more clear.

5

What type of router do you use, do you use a mesh network by chance?

Is it possible that the troubleshooting we are about to go through will solve this issue as well? Are they connected, hopefully?

This is likely as the 523 is having intermittent connectivity issues.

The Saved Video Recording on both cameras don’t match one another, nor do they match the SVR timeline when I click on a certain point of the timeline.

If looking at Saved Video Clips where two cameras are being triggered off of the same event, the triggered start times may differ from one another by a few seconds based on various factors like camera type, connection strength etc.

However, to get a better understanding of the time difference, would it be possible to send some screen shots with the time stamps (we cant see images due to privacy concerns) You can send pics to us via Private Message or email.

6

Currently, it’s the standard AT&T gateway (bgw210-700) that comes with their fiber service. I do not use a mesh system. I was considering it, until I was discouraged from the idea after asking for opinions from Jason, which I’m grateful for.

I say “currently” because I am looking to upgrade from the AT&T router soon. I’m in the process of finding the right fit, and think I am going go with the Ubiquiti Amplifi Alien. If you think that would be a poor (or good) choice, please do not hesitate to say so. The appeal, in my mind, for that device were the reviews I’ve read that it will increase range (things get slower upstairs, and my house is not big at all) and, hopefully, give me consistent/increased speeds throughout the house/upstairs. I do intend to add cameras up there at some point so will want a good connection. Also the outdoor camera that has yet to be installed will probably need a router with better range.

Jason explained some potential consequences of a mesh network system, so I decided against jumping into that. I figured I would start with that router first, and since it is capable of meshing to more devices, I can still explore that option if things don’t improve down the line.

Another appeal to that router was this bit from their website:

Alien also offers a separate 5 GHz radio with Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) speeds which you can dedicate to performance-critical devices and avoid competing for bandwidth with other devices on your home network.

I figured I could use that third wifi channel to dedicate to the cameras and improve things even more.

I am happy to message you a screen shot in a bit. It might be sometime this weekend though, and we can look whenever you get the chance in future days.

7

The only thing I could definitively say would be to mirror what Jason said with regards to the mesh setups. They do not play well with Alarm.com video, and ADC recommends against using them.

8

So what do your customers do, or what do you typically recommend to your customers who want to increase their range and signal for their systems when cameras and such are not connecting consistently or have weak signals?

9

There are a few things to try in most cases:

  • Check Bandwidth
  • Changing from 5 to 2.4 for increased range.
  • Relocation of devices to avoid obstacles (Walls, Floors, Ceilings, Large Appliances, etc. can all block bandwidth)
    • Either Router, Camera, or both.
  • Introducing a wireless network extender

However, in this case, the camera is reporting good signal strength and since its only 15 feet away from the router, increasing the range may have no noticeable effect. I would factory reset and re-pair (from above) before trying anything else.

10

Thank you for the recommendations. That particular question was not necessarily connected to the issue of the V523 dropping off. I was more asking because I want to increase my range and speed on my network overall, but not to the detriment of my security system. So I appreciate those ideas.

I will stay away from a mesh network, but I’m still going to buy a new router, and probably the Alien I linked above. Hopefully that will give me the boost to the network I’m wanting.

I also like the idea of changing the cameras to the 2.4 (they are currently on 5 by default) because I’ve seen that suggestion in threads by others on here, especially for devices like the control panel. I didn’t know it also applied to cameras. The only problem now is, I have no idea how to do that.

What’s the difference between a wireless network extender and a mesh system, in terms of not creating a disturbance in the security system for one and not the other?

11

I also like the idea of changing the cameras to the 2.4 (they are currently on 5 by default) because I’ve seen that suggestion in threads by others on here, especially for devices like the control panel. I didn’t know it also applied to cameras. The only problem now is, I have no idea how to do that.

It’s not a setting in the camera but rather what network you pair the camera to during the initial pairing process. So if you have a dual band router that offers separate 2.4 and 5 you can use either (provided the camera allows for it). You would need the SSID to be separate names.

What’s the difference between a wireless network extender and a mesh system, in terms of not creating a disturbance in the security system for one and not the other?

The extender is great for getting a device that’s far away from the router, the mesh network is good for improving coverage all around the home.

The issue with mesh networks and cameras tends to be when one camera is near 2 nodes and the camera swaps between the two of them. This can cause the camera to fall off and reconnect to the network. If you go with a mesh network, it may require more troubleshooting to get the cameras connected. Its advised to set up the nodes so the camera is closer to one node and not another if at all possible.