Wifi Extenders for EufyCam?

#1

Hi there…I’ve just purchased 4 x EufyCam’s to replace the Arlo Pro’s I’ve had. The Arlo’s aren’t a bad camera (and the geofencing they have is something I hope Eufy implements).

I live in a rental property - the landlord has no issues with us installing the cameras (drilling into walls, etc) but the 3rd one for our driveway is quite a distance from the Homebase.

Two questions - is the WifI embedded in the Homebase that connects the cameras ? Or is it reliant on the router/modem that it’s connected to via Ethernet ?

Next question - is there any benefit/ability to plug in a Wifi extender near the camera that’s got low Wifi response and have it be boosted for the Homebase ?

#2

Yes

No, eufy uses their own WiFi that doesn’t work with regular boosters.

FYI, eufy was working on bringing range extenders to increase the signal strength between Home Base and the cameras. I cannot say whether it is still in works and coming in near future or project dead, I haven’t seen any comments from eufy lately on this subject.
@AnkerTechnical
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EufyCam Cam - WiFi or Base Station?
#3

Indeed, this is a problem I have encountered with the ‘eufyCam E 2-Camera + HomeBase Kit’ system - I quickly found out that the range between the HomeBase (hub) and the eufyCam E (cameras) was quite limited, not really supporting the Eufy’s claim that an eufyCam E can streams video smoothly at a distance of 90 meters (300 ft) if it has a direct line-of-sight with HomeBase.

I have been in contact with the supporting team at Eufy/Anker about the situation - I have been told that an specific extender was being worked on but, unfortunately, will not be available for another 4-5 months.

#4

WiFi is actually a specific set of standards that operates at the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency ranges - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

The eufy cameras use, I believe, a lower frequency which helps save on power consumption but gives you the shorter distance of range (similar to Bluetooth) which is why a WiFi range extender wouldn’t work.

#5

There are more than these 2 frequencies.

The 802.11 standard provides several distinct radio frequencies ranges for use in Wi-FI communications: 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 5.9 GHz, and 60 GHz bands.

But eufy uses a specific frequency that consumes less power and transmits the required data. So, they have to make their own extenders and in the mean time you can find this work around, credits to @professor

Also, visit this thread for more discussions on the range extenders.

#6

What if you placed a small black hole between transmitter and receiver? The gravitational lensing effect would magnify the signal. Need to not get to close to it obviously.

EnchantingFrightenedHuia-small.gif500×700 589 KB

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#7

So here we are in November. Any fix or update yet? I purchased 6 Eufy cam e’s and you guessed it, I’m having range issues. I really don’t want to have to return them.

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#8

It seems that the team at Eufy/Anker has completely forgotten about the range/WiFi extender - if such a range/WiFi extender had been in the design phase or even in the beta testing, we should have heard/read about it.

It appears, unfortunately, that Eufy/Anker team is more interested in designing, marketing and releasing new devices/gadgets/products than looking for solutions for problems their already released products are encountering… :roll_eyes:

As an example, when was the last time one of use has ever seen/read a message/reply from a member of the Eufy/Anker team… :thinking:

#9

You may need to try this…

#10

Sorry for the delay in replying - as I have lost all hope of getting a range extender from the Eufy/Anker team, I do not visit this site very often.

The information you have provided (linked to) is useless at best - there is no way to create an ideal location for either the HomeBase hub nor the eufyCam E.

In order to get the HomeBase hub operational, I had to install a WiFi range extender - the hub is connected directly (via network cable) to that range extender. In order to provide a half decent signal to the two eufyCam, the hub is located in the frame of the window, line-of-sight to the two eufyCam. One of the eufyCam is located about 2 meters from the hub and display an almost full signal strength whereas the second eufyCam is located about 4 meters from the hub and display a weaker signal strength.

I was planning to install a third eufyCam at the back of the house, but without a range extender, the signal strength is almost null.

I will keep using the eufyCam system until I find another system that offers better coverage - so far, neither the Arlo nor the Blink offer better range coverage.

#11

image

This came from Eufy.

#12

Note that the Wifi range extended is to just to get the Homebase a signal. That can solve some problems but not all.

If all your cameras are at one side of the house, far from the your Wifi router, then extending wifi on that side will work.

If you have your cameras both far from the router and far from each other, say on opposite sides of a large property, the Homebase cannot see all the cameras no matter what Wifi extenders you have. You’d have to go for multiple Homebases, each serving each side of the property’s cameras and each homebase then using whatever Wifi extension for them to see your router.

This is because Eufy is not using Wifi between homebase and cameras, it can only use Wifi between your router and the homebases.

The internal structures in your property will be doing most of the Wifi range reducing, so what you can do is place the homebase high up, well above all the most solid walls in your property so they get close to a line of sight to all cameras.

So for example in my property I have a thick brick wall down the middle so any radio signal struggles to traverse front-back, but I have wood in the roof, so if I place the homebase in roof then there is only wood, no brick, between front and rear cameras.

#13

iv’e solved the majority of the problems i had with the eufy system and range. i went with a mesh system with satellites that have ethernet connections. with the homebase wired via ethernet to one of the satellites i get full signal at 175+ feet from the base. wifi extenders wont work well for this application because without the advantage of the mesh backhaul a network extender with many devices connected gets slower and slower and the performance degrades with each connected device.

#14

That solves the homebase to network problem so you can move your homebase to nearer to your cameras. Mesh could be Powerline instead. Moving homebase nearer to one camera can mean homebase is further from a different camera. It does not solve the camera to homebase problem beyond allowing the homebase to get nearer to the camera, and can never solve the camera to distant homebase to distant camera problem.

A picture would paint a thousand words, I will have to find some crayons.

#15

no, that is not how a mesh works. a mesh network has a dedicated separate 5ghz network that only the satellites use. my homebase is 175ft from the gararge camera. the gararge camera is 35ft away from the closest satellite, and works just as well as the cameras 15ft away from the homebase connected to another satellite.

#16

False.

The homebase to camera network does not use a mesh. Only the homebase to mesh. A mesh can only improve the homebase to get a network connection, so you can place it nearer to the center of the cameras. It cannot make the homebase see cameras better other than the mesh allowing the homebase to be nearer to the cameras.

#17

to everyone who reads the “professors” last post. i hope it made you chuckle also. im out

#18

That’s a very rude way to address someone who is trying to help you out (especially when they are correct)

#19

If someone on a full laptop can do the drawing, the issue is subtle and I am sure some folks are going to waste $$$ on the problem. Anker is not using Wifi base-camera, so Wifi extenders don’t work in a disperse camera problem. They can only solve the problem of stretching into one direction, not all directions.

I’d rather Eufy adopted Wifi fully.

Someone reading the “mesh works” can incorrectly interpret it working in a stretched one-direction problem falsely into a stretched multi-direction problem. I designed the street’s security system, I could not get below 2 homebases for the distance using Eufy. It’s a $850 list price design which would drop at least $50 if Eufy used Wifi to camera rather than to homebase.

#20

Is there an answer to this problem now please? I’ve just bought Homebase 3 with 2 cameras and can’t get one within range of Homebase.

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