Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I last shopped for outdoor cameras, and I’m looking for some high-quality wireless options (yeah, I know wireless isn’t ideal, but I can’t run PoE cables right now). I need cameras for my front porch, carport, and backyard. It’s not a huge area, about 20 feet or so for coverage. I’ve been checking out HikVision and Dahua, but it seems like most of their models don’t support WiFi anymore? Any suggestions would be awesome!
How far is each camera from your access point? And are you using 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or both? Also, do you have ambient lighting or is it pretty dark? That info will help narrow things down.
QwertySecurity said:
How far is each camera from your access point? And are you using 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or both? Also, do you have ambient lighting or is it pretty dark? That info will help narrow things down.
The cameras will be about 10-15 feet from the access points (I have three separate APs). I’ve got both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and there’s decent ambient lighting in the front yard and carport, but the backyard light causes issues for my current setup. I’m in a major city in Canada, so there’s always some light around.
You might want to check out the TP-LINK Tapo C325WB. It’s wireless (2.4GHz), has a 1/1.79’’ large sensor, AI detection, and color night vision. It doesn’t have IR, so it relies on ambient light or its built-in white LEDs. It’s also RTSP and ONVIF compliant, but no PoE—runs on a wall plug. Could be worth trying out for your setup.
@scott
Thanks! I’ll give that a try. Is it much of an upgrade compared to what I have now (DH-SD1A203T-GN-W)? Or do you know if there’s anything more ‘professional’ that works better with WiFi?
@scott
Honestly, it’s not a huge upgrade from what you have. If you want something better and WiFi isn’t working for you, you might need to look at a wireless point-to-point (PtP) bridge. It’s more setup, but way more reliable than just WiFi. It’s like a virtual Ethernet cable for data, but you’ll still need to power the radios with PoE injectors. It’s more involved, but could solve your WiFi issue.
Just to add—WiFi and cameras usually don’t mix well for surveillance. You could face issues with bandwidth during motion detection, missed footage, or just plain signal loss. Even with high-end routers, constantly streaming video from multiple cameras can overload your network. Maybe look into powerline adapters or nano stations to get around this if you can’t run cables.
@Faith
Good point, I’ll look into those options. I definitely want to avoid network issues with multiple cameras.