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[Robster76]

Hey all,

I am using my DCS-930L to monitor my turtle tank when I am not at home. I've bought it second hand, but it always worked fine until about a couple of weeks ago. I was using the cam on a Sitecom router, set it up wired and all with no issues at all. A couple of weeks ago we had some issues with the internet connection and decided with the ISP that our router wasn't really working well and replaced it with a brand new TP Link.

Starting from that moment the DCS-930L has been nothing but trouble. It kept loosing connection at random intervals. The only way I could get it to reconnect was through the WPS option. It had to do this several times until the camera froze. Both the front red led and back blue WPS led were continuously on, not responding to hard reset. I've been able to bypass this by connecting it wired and immediately upgrade the firmware (that was last week). Now the cam still looses connection at random and all lights are on, but a short power reset resolves the issue and after the reboot the cam continues as normal. The cam does feel quite warm to the touch most of the time. I hooked up a timer to reset it at certain intervals whether or not the cam is frozen at that moment, but because of the randomness of the cam freezing, I miss the feed of the cam just a little too many times.

Does anyone have any idea? I don't want to buy a new (better) cam yet as I am actually quite pleased with the performance and size.

Thanks!

[FurryNutz]

If the DCS was working before changing to the new router, possible issue with this new router?

[Robster76]

That's the first thing I looked at, but I do not have any other wireless devices showing the same issues. Except 1, but that looses connection with any wireless network.

What I find strange that at random intervals de camera looses connection and immediately all lights come and stay on. This remains until after I reset the power. Then it just blinks a few times and all goes off again, performing perfectly as it is supposed to. (yes, I turned the green led off).

[JavaLawyer]

How are you accessing the camera?  locally via LAN or through mydlink?

[Robster76]

When it is up and running on DHCP I can access it both ways. I have a phone app to view remotely, but since I can't check remotely all the time, locally the Dview records all it is viewing during the office hours.

[JavaLawyer]

Are you experiencing issues through mydlink? local LAN? or both?

[Robster76]

Both. When the cam goes into it's stubborn "all lights on"-mode, the cam is inaccessible. It will not allow me to access it through the mydlink portal, nor can I access it through the direct address. When I use apps to check which devices, it does not show up on the list. When I reset the cam it is visible again. I also tried appointing a fixed IP, but then I can't access it remotely and the issue remains. A reset can only be done by cutting the power btw. I tried setting up a timer that resets the cam, but since it's quite random it sometimes goes on for over a day, where other moments it stop within the hour after the reset.

[Robster76]

I think it's simply done with. Today I reset the cam after I left it off for a day during the weekend. Everything went well, lights came on, blinked and went off again. Checking the feed I found nothing wrong, as it showed the feed perfectly well over Mydlink on the web and on my mobile devices. Suddenly the feed was gone, but now no lights are on at all. Can't access it, it's not being scanned by my network tools... nothing.

I could try to reset one more time. Unless you have any other ideas left, I think I should go out and find myself a new cam. Any suggestion about which type/model would be nice. The cam will need to work in a low light environment as well as in a very bright environment.

[Notworried]

To say that these dlink cameras are temperamental is an understatement. They do weird things with no explanation. I have 3 of them of which one randomly disappears. It seems to just go off with no lights on.  I cycle it and it comes back for some random time. I have the DNR-202 too. That is a whole 'nother story.

[Robster76]

Got myself a new one, will be arriving tomorrow. See if and how long that one will last. Right now the old one is dead I believe. The same issue happened as before... looses connection after a certain time but now no less come on at all. A power reset would do, but now not even that is working anymore.

Once I have the new 930 set up, I will have a look at the other one and turn it inside out. Maybe I can find out what is wrong. Overheated capacitor or something, could be... who knows.

[Robster76]

Ok, back and may have found a possible issue with the router it was being used on. The TP-Link WDR4300 has an issue with the 2,4ghz channel. It has a 5ghz aswel but that remains untouched. First only the cam(s) lost connection and yes the new one did the same immediately. I think the cama are a little more sensitive.

Bought a new router today from Linksys and we'll see how that one fares. I'll keep you posted.

[Robster76]

Ok, first day of testing and it gets stranger by the minute. Apparently it still looses connection (the new cam btw, as the old one doesn't even come on anymore), but now it happens multiple times during the day. When I review the recordings, it looks like a morse code. Then for at least an hour it doesn't record anything at all until it reconnects and start recording like a morse code again.

So this means the connection is rather unstable. Anyone any ideas? Current router Linksys WRT1900AC.

[FurryNutz]

What wireless modes are you using on the router.

What is the distance between the DCS and the router?

Any hear by WiFi neighbors? How Many? Use InSSIDer app to find out.

[JavaLawyer]

What firmware version is installed on your DCS-930L?

[Robster76]

Firmware on both cams are updated to the latest, but the issue occured before and after. Distance between the router is very small, only a few meters, not more than 4 or 5 I recon. Only thing between the cam and router is an old brick wall and wooden floorboards. The signal is strong, in have used several apps to test it on my iPad as well.

The new router has a dual band wifi again, seems quite standard these days. I do notice that older devices, like the cams, only connect to the 2,4GHz and when I would accidentally connect my iPad to it, the comunications are slow. This might be a reason for it and also why the old router had no issues working on only 1 band.