‎NEED CAMERA AUTOMATIC RECONNECTION AFTER WIFI POWER INTERUPPTED | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
mooremd's profile

Monday, May 2nd, 2022 6:46 PM

NEED CAMERA AUTOMATIC RECONNECTION AFTER WIFI POWER INTERUPPTED

When I have a Power interruption and my Wifi extender must reset after power returns the Indoor and Doorbell cams do not reconnect automatically.   I called in to support and they say there is nothing I can do if I am out of town to get the cameras reconnected.  Is that true?  If so then that is a definite flaw to be fixed.

Unplugging the wifi and then replugging it in does get the cameras online.  Why cannot the Code guys set the program so that remote connection can be done?  I cannot reset the cameras on the app because at this time it requires to be at the camera with a QR code to reset the wifi.  We just need the cameras to automatically find the preprogrammed wifi 2.5 Ghz address and get back to work.   Thanks for a great system.  Just a quirk needs fixing.

Accepted solution

4 Messages

2 years ago

General power outage -- the cameras will NOT automatically reconnect when power is restored. Very poor design.

Captain

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6.1K Messages

@hanks424​ We have periodic outages, very short admittedly, but the cameras do usually reconnect. The big exception was during the period I had with Google WIFI.

4 Messages

The watchword is 'short' outages -- my cameras usually reconnect with short outages (like a few seconds). The problem occurs with longer (over 5 minute) power loss. The ONLY way to get back is to power cycle the cameras. Out of town=out of luck.

Design solution: small backup battery (or a large enough capacitor or eprom) to maintain data until handshake reconnect occurs. Cameras in the $100 price range should have better reliability.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@hanks424 all of our cameras should be attempting to reconnect regularly, is the thing. When the power comes back on, and if your WiFi access point isn't ready yet, your SimpliSafe cameras should be trying again later.

I've already brought this issue to our engineering team, just in case.

Captain

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6.1K Messages

2 years ago

@mooremd I believe (key word there) your cameras should reconnect after the wifi comes back up. That said, I did multiple searches in the help Center and came up with zip, de nada, nothing.

Simplisafe, this is my second request today for what appears to be a missing article subject in the help center. For this instance, articles on what is to be routinely expected with all types of cameras when wifi goes out, when power goes out and, of course, the system itself. A nice, simple chart would be great to serve this purpose.

Thanks in advance!

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

2 years ago

@captain11 I believe OP is specifically talking about his WiFi Extender. It sounds like the cameras have no trouble linking back up with the extender, but the extender itself is having trouble with linking to the router (or accepting the connection from the cameras again).

To be clear, all WiFi devices are designed to reconnect automatically by default, and our cameras are no different. So there might be something in either the extender or the main router's setup that might be preventing the reconnect from going through.

But regretfully, since WiFi Extenders specifically are not developed by SimpliSafe, they're a little bit out of our control. @mooremd have you already consulted the manufacturer of your WiFi Extender? 

3 Messages

@davey_d​   No I have no intention to blame the wifi extender.  Wifi is Wifi.  All other devices  connected to the extender are doing their job and no delay after a power outage.  Again,  We just need the cameras to automatically find the preprogrammed wifi 2.5 Ghz address and get back to work.  The software of the cameras should repeatedly seek the signal again that is programmed already to only connect with.  This WiFi Extender is the EXACT model recommended by Simplisafe of all WiFi Extenders.  Davey, Will you push this request for us to the engineers to discuss amongst themselves?  That is what is needed.  We expect hiccups in programming when new situations come along.  I am sure I am not the only one experiencing this flaw.  Engineers love problem solving and that is what they are paid to do.   Please push this request to them.  Simplisafe systems protect our lives and our property and we expect it to be as fail-safe as possible.   Thank you.

3 Messages

BTW, the WiFi Extender has zero problem linking back to the router in just a few seconds after power failure restoration.

(edited)

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@mooremd thank you for clarifying. 

Yes, all of our cameras already work just as how you describe, because as you said, WiFi is WiFi. That is, if there's ever an interruption in the connection, the cameras do already keep attempting to reconnect (I can even confirm this from personal experience - my own home is prone to power outages during storm season!).

What I suspect is that something is going wrong during the handshake to reconnect. I agree that your case is a good one for our engineers to look into, and I've already forwarded to them.

2 Messages

2 years ago

Has there been any resolution to this concern around the cameras reconnecting post power outage without having to manually cycle power at the camera?  We have seen this problem consistently since installation and are looking to perform a significant upgrade to our current system and add multiple cameras but are hesitant to do so if they are going to behave in the same manner.

Simply cycle the power and it automatically connects.  It is like the camera only tries to reconnect for a period of time that is less than the router ‘reboot’ time.  The basestation does not have the same concern and reconnects automatically.

in the meantime trying to thing about a work around by delaying camera power on slightly.

Community Admin

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242 Messages

@Fedwik​ Once power and WiFi have been restored, the cameras should automatically reconnect to the network and boot back up to an online state. You shouldn't have to power cycle the cameras to make this happen, as it should happen automatically and rather quickly. 

Is this an indoor camera (SimpliCam) or an Outdoor Camera that is having the problem? Do you notice it on a single camera, or across multiple cameras? 

Also, when you try to connect within the SimpliSafe app, do you receive any error when trying to view the live stream from the camera?

2 Messages

Apologies for not seeing this.  It is a single indoor camera.  I want to purchase more outdoor cameras, but until this concern is rectified I will not be.

I will likely wire up a delay timer to keep it from receiving power before the rest of the system comes back on.

138 Messages

2 years ago

That's strange.

It's very rare for me to have to power off and back on a camera to get it to reconnect. just coming off multiple day rolling blackouts and they reconnected fine and my Router and Satellites are not exactly quick boot.

Sorry i cant help more (or any really) but IME the problem isn't in the cameras design...

8 Messages

2 years ago

I have the same problem and the cameras lose connectivity when the cable modem is updated by my ISP and get stuck at yellow light.  I can't reboot because my job provides a high level wireless router for WFM - and I need to allow the monthly security log capture and reboot process, especially after I lost info last month rebooting for these very cameras. Why do these devices require the ROUTER to reboot before they connect?  Looks like the cameras will be down until next Tuesday, as I am NOT going to jeopardize my WFM agreement. 

This is unacceptable, and I may have to go along and pay the cost of IP based cameras and a digital recorder.

8 Messages

2 years ago

There was a firmware update last night 2/5/2023, and afterward I rebooted my cable modem to see if maybe a fix had been distributed that would allow the cameras to reconnect without rebooting the router.

I was pleased to say my cameras come right back online!  My ISP has been hit by hackers so we get several of these cable modem reboots per month - causing me to lose my cameras as I cannot reboot my router easily (see above).

Hopefully this fix, whatever it was, will ease the difficulty others were having with camera connection/reconnections.

Thunks Simplisafe!

2 Messages

@weblee​ 

I’m having the same issue and nothing has been changed.  It’s funny because it didn’t happen until six months ago…  I had it set up through my extended router for a couple of years and it worked find, power losses and all…  I know the IP address is changed by xfinity every week for security purposes,(It has been like that though the whole time…. I would actually lose internet for periods of time between 2 and 4am multiple times a week, they’ve fixed that now…).  I also have accounted for how xfinity combines 5 and 2.4 and I’ve split them through xfinity and connected only the 2.4 to the 2.4 to my extended router which the camera uses.  The camera still works for a few days and then all of a sudden, it says it’s disconnected and then it flashes saying ready to connect again (If this is what they updated, then the first thing I try should fix this…).  

  I’ve been working on this for awhile and I have called into Simplisafe, they sent a new camera because I couldn’t get the old one to connect.  I had that one working for about a week and then it went right back to the flashing ready to connect thing again.  I’m wondering if maybe when Simplisafe updates, if when the camera receives the update if it needs to be reinstalled, because my door alarm and my motion sensor that are in the same area as the camera still stay connected.  I know Simplisafe did updates before and never had this issue…. Anyhow, hopefully, this will work if they’ve updated it because if it doesn’t, I’m going to try and switch the main and the extended and see if it disconnects from that one too next….

8 Messages

1 year ago

Well, working with a vendor to fix another issue, I found the problem - at least with my router.  The 2.4 GHz network supports wireless a,b,g and n devices.  The problem is, most of these devices try to connect using the b or g if that is "seen" as available by the device.  So I saw b and g devices on my network, thinking they were hard set, and I would lose them if I turned off a/b/g support on my router.  Wrong!  A lighting vendor's devices were listed as g, but I was told to disable abg support and when I did all the 2.4 GHz devices connected as N. I have not had any problems with my simplicams after disabling abg support on the router and believe me my ISP is still rebooting the cable modem about every 5 days as they roll out their 1gb network.  And I had a power hit early this morning that didn't cause any issues. I deleted/reset one of the cams and didn't have any setup issues either. 

I do see SimpliSafe is referencing a new network troubleshooting tool for connectivity issues:  https://support.simplisafe.com/articles/outdoor-camera/my-camera-wont-connect-to-wifi/6344930f77e4972f8fca9f38

I will probably play around with it and see if anything else stands out as an issue.

1 Message

9 months ago

The cameras will not reconnect without you being there to go through the process of pushing the button on top of the camera. I’ve been through this with them with my system in Alaska and no luck. I can’t be there to reconnect the cameras every time the power or WiFi goes out so I’m going to change systems.

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