Super unstable system :(

#1

Hi all,

Hope that someone has some hints i could use. Some weeks ago i bought a eufy system ( 2x Eufycam 2 with HomeBase 2, 6 entry sensors and 2 additional Eufycam 2c) And its the most unstable thing ever. I started over wifi but support told me to put it on Lan which i did but it still looses the devices With some days inbetween.

I have a 500/500 professional internet connection as i work with IT that cant afford package losses / disconnects. Hence i know the connection is very stable (also all my other equipment never loses connection).

Any ideas how to improve the stability? Is it better if i run the system with HomeKit? Havent tried that yet.

Appreciate all suggestions!

Br
Friis

#2

The key to stability is often placement of the Homebase in relation to the end devices (cameras, sensors etc), or introduction of an additional Homebase to bridge any gaps. Regardless of WIFI or LAN use on the Homebase, the end devices still connect wireless and depend on range.

Currently running x2 Homebases to cover camera at front and rear of property, not ideal I know.

#3

Hi ndalby,

First of all thank you for taking your time to reply, its appreciated.

I just wonder, all cameras say “Great” in signal strength when mounting them, and its all - also the one hanging outside 4 feet away from the HomeBase that loses connection. Hence i dont think its related to range? Its not one or 2 devices, i have to re sync all devices every 3-4 days. Its stressfull when it happens when im travelling, as its only the cameras who say they are not connected anymore, the entry sensors just stops to work still showing in the app though.

Thanks again for the input.

Br,
Friis

#4

I’m almost finished an electromagnetic course, and found out I was wrong about many aspects of interference.

Induction in nearby wires, where the home domestic electric and water system are significant sources of interference.

I visited a home a week ago, mentioned the above and they said their WiFi was poor, so I looked at their electric wiring. I moved their router about 2 feet and their speed increased from 20 Mbit to 100Mbit around 20 feet from router, and moved from no signal to 20Mbit in their garden.

I realised I probably couldn’t teach the method, but it’s worthwhile for Eufy WiFi issues just experiment with even modest movements.

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#5

This is already known. :smiley:
e.g. You must play a around where to put the router,
I made this -> better now.
Even if you change the ankle of the router just a little it could improve a lot.

#6

It wasn’t until I got deep into electric field theory that I realised that the notion of blockage is not so simple. You also must avoid any type of metal near the router. The router radio signal induces an out of phase same frequency in the nearby metal which at a distance from the router is sufficiently strong it make the WiFi signal useless.

People are putting routers next to steal beams or house wiring which is going up and acting as an antennae broadcasting a blocking signal. The ideal place for a router is the roof void where wood is the only structure.

If you have to place near wiring, align it so the wire is pointing between the router and the place you want the least interference as the induced field is tangential.

That’s then the challenge as the router needs electricity and often the wall socket has a vertical wire to it, so you need to have the wire to the wall pointing to where you need the least interference and the router as far from the wall socket possible. Just a couple of feet helps as there’s an inverse square relationship.

Difficult to explain.

Watch this at 47m40s

Better still is watch the whole video as the demonstration before this one shows why directions of wires is very important.

#7

@Friis, seems you have an isolated issue. I am running 2 eufycams and 2 entry sensors for 2 years almost and never had my camera disconnected from the homebase. Contact support again after moving your homebase like @professor explained. You never know what you might discover. :slight_smile:

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#8

There is always the reasonable chance the units are duds (physically not reliable) so it’s a process of elimination of try everything else first.

So let’s eliminate logically.

When you say it’s unstable, the chances all the hardware is unreliable is less than if one unit is dud. So is there a pattern to the unreliability? Is it that all the units (all cameras etc) lose connection? If so then it’s pointing to the Homebase being the fault.

If it’s just say one camera then it’s probably that camera fault. Try swapping the cameras placement and see if the fault stays with the camera or stays with the location. If it follows the camera then you found the dud at that camera. If it stays with the location then the fault is caused by location and then use standard techniques to eliminate interference.

If you do find the fault as per the logical root cause analysis method, and it’s a unit from Eufy, then you have accumulated the proof and much harder for Eufy then duck doing the right thing of replacement.

Based on what you’ve written, you state the camera nearest to homebase is least reliable, so therefore swap the cameras and see if the fault follows the camera or sticks with the location. If location then try modest movements of the camera, even a few inches movement can help avoid whatevers is the cause.

But also as you said eventually all units have to be resynchronize, makes me think it’s the homebase at fault. Try moving the homebase therefore.

Once you done that, and still issues, make a warranty claim and swap the parts.

An example of what could be not a fault with your units but does affect your units is a sustained electromagnetic pulse which knocks them all out of sync. Examples would be someone nearby has a leaky microwave oven (bad door seal) and everyone they use it for a long time everything electronic nearby goes wonky. Or you’re in the path of microwave transmitter, or a bad Radar (near airport), etc.

#9

I have moved the HomeBase in several locations (had to when switching to wired internet) but no difference. Also, all my smart devices are all over the House and they dont lose connections. Im pretty sure it comes Down to the eufy hardware. To put it in another way if it would be due to interference its in a level where it should be corrected in the device software as it seems other devices are able to cope.

Also - if it was interference, it should not hit all devices in all areas of the property all at once. With the HomeBase in several locations. Its always the same, dropping all devices, having to resync them. That has nothing with interference to do.

I do understand the issues with interference, we also have them with our networks at work. Both due to placement but also due to the vast amount of 2,4ghz bands. Routers are struggling.

But again, this does not Seem to relate to that.

#10

Glad to hear that it seems to be isolatod :slight_smile: im in contacts with support And did all the steps they suggested so far, but still dropping all devices every 3-4 days.

Maybe its the HomeBase which has issues but i assume eufy support will help with that if they cant redoble the issues with other tricks.

Thanks again for the suggestions guys

#11

Yes interference can affect all the house at once. A high energy beam towards your house can knock everything out.

The most common causes are illegal radio transmitter nearby, and a microwave oven.

You can also have a faulty electric wiring in the home, which is sending a pulse through the wiring. That’s an example where a replacement homebase would suffer the same issues. A high energy domestic appliance turning on/off sends a voltage surge through house wiring that then knocks out PSU nearby. You usually can spot this fault via an old type incandescent lightbulb flickering.

There’s specialist hardware to help find the culprit but a low tech method is use a WiFi analysis app on your phone and see if something else is lowering the quality of your signals.

The easiest thing also is of its Eufy hardware failure then it’s the homebase as you state everything goes down every few days.

The ideas above are just to help elimination to help with a warranty claim.

It’s not been for some years but I once had a fault similar to yours and I tracked to an illegal radio transmitter nearby. If you go back a century or so this was why FCC was formed to ensure low power and specific frequency. The way to logically eliminate this is ask neighbours if they have similar issue.

#12

Luckily you are in contact with support now, hope your issue gets resolved

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#13

I really get what you are aiming at, but if that was the case and if something was so powerful to wipe all my devices at once, i just wonder why nothing Else is impacted. I have several smart TV’s, Apple TV’s, Network printers, a million phones and tablets and laptops who never suffer anything like this. When i perform SAP upgrades i am working for days straight where i never lose connection, and for people who know SAP they also know that if you miss just one package or have one drop in connecticity, all your SAP sessions die instantly.

I dont want to dismiss your input, but i just dont see it should be the case here. If something like that would be occurring we would see it With other devices Too. Unless, of course, eufy uses a specific band which is being targetted.

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#14

The more you seek to eliminate the faster Eufy will send you a replacement.

Gather your evidence of logical root cause analysis and go over it with Eufy.

Just letting you know there do exist reasons other than just a badly designed products.

The AC DC PSU can be fully or partially rectified, if you have a pulse through your electric wiring then devices with fully rectified PSU suffer less.

The homebase PSU could be the culprit, for example. You just need to gather a robust evidence of logical root cause analysis to focus Eufy into sending replacement.

I once had an old lady who I helped out with gadgets, they had specific desk lamp which would blow the bulb, and no other lamps would blow. We swapped the lamps and the fault stayed with the location. I traced it to the specify electric ring shared with the freezer. The compressor in the freezer when it came on sent a pulse through the ring. Not saying it’s the cause for you but there are oodles of faults other than the one you think initially.

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#15

Easy solution, if all other devices work, the Eufy is faulty.
If really such “X-rays” (joke) would be around other items would get affected as well! :smile:

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#16

Agree Franz, the easiest for the consumer here is get Eufy to accept product fault, and send another unit.

Not X rays, they are absorbed by walls. You need something in the microwave range.

Induced electric field is in the polarity so a wire in the homebase pointed with the same polarity will.be affected when something else wouldn’t.

It could be one of many possible causes, Eufy are just trying to suggest methods.

Induced fields are rare, very rare. More common is the PSU is on a bad ring main shared with a noisy high energy appliance and a partially rectified PSU sends a spike to the homebase. The way to stop that is wrap a ferrous core over the DC cable to make it act as an inductor. Inductors resist change so it smooths out the Voltage change. You see that on high end laptop chargers, a very cheap solution to bad house wiring.

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It would be a good idea for Eufy to include these as standard on all their DC cables, there would be less unreliability issues globally.

#17

I have a second HomeBase 2 - when i bought the Eufycam 2c package as it was on sale on Amazon it was cheaper with the included homebase… i can try to set that one up instead of the one i use at the moment which came with the Eufycam 2’s. If it then works i am unsure how to approach eufy for a replacement… they would have to trust my Word that one does not work.

And i would like it to be replaced if it is broken, as i still hope they will make it possible to included more homebases in the same setup sort of like a mesh network. And also so that if a burglar steals the HomeBase he takes all the evidence. If its replicated between more homebases it would still be there. Also you could give more range in the same system.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys its appreciated.

#18

The cause of the issue may be the homebase unit or its PSU. If you just swap the homebase , and the PSU stays as-is, and the fault remains, then it may be the PSU.

So try initially to swap just the PSU only (power supply unit, what plugs into the wall). An electrical spike through your home wiring may be the fault.

Without professional tools, it’s mostly trying everything.

Electronics tend to either work or don’t work. So the fact it works when reset is a hint, but not a certainty, there is unreliable DC to the homebase. The PSU AC-DC may be the culprit, it’s sending spikes to the homebase. PSU cannot be cheaply made immune to power spikes. Spikes are not pan-home if caused within the home, they can be local the ring, so e.g. kitchen ring is often separate to rest of the home to avoid this.

#19

Just wanted to give some feedback on these issues i had. Some time after this post i was in contact with support and they send me a “personal” test patch to my HomeBase and with the risk of jinx’ing it, the problem has not been there since that the cameras and sensors drop off. I only have occasional “-3” error but HomeBase gets back after few refreshes in the app. HomeBase is not on wifi so the -3 is a mystery to me. But nevertheless for the past 3 weeks no drops of devices. I did not expect eufy to perform troubleshooting on individual devices like mine and then fix issues with hotfixes, so i must say im a bit impressed with these guys.

Thanks all,
Friis