I started off looking at RING for security cameras… much research later, many youtube videos later and a permanent headache, I wanted a wireless system without a subscription, and the homebase, as a means to saving the footage seemed the way to go! So I decided to get the Eufy 2 pro cameras…
I have a 3 camera pack, and have encountered my first major issue that is just not well explained.
The cameras ONLY connect to the homebase?!?!?
I have a BIG house, the distances between cameras and the homebase are big.
I bought a wireless camera system to use the wifi. I have a mesh wifi at home and was going to place the cameras near the mesh nodes and thought that everything would go through that.
Is there a way to do this or do I need to sell these cameras at a loss now?
The PRo series and all battery cams by Eufy connect to the Homebase only. They use a proprietary protocol to connect over the 2.4 Ghz Wifi band, but will not work with standard wifi. The purpose of this is to save battery life.
I currently have 14 cameras, 6 sensors, a doorbell and 2 keypads working from one Homebase without issues. Alot will depend on the type of construction of your house.
After I did the initial setup with ethernet to the Homebase, I switched it to Wifi and then moved it around until I got good signal at all my devices. Then, I ran a cat6 cable from the router to the Homebase and switched back to ethernet.
Now I get good signal at all my devices and good throughput to the internet so I can view them remotely.
I would set the devices up at maximum distance from the Homebase and see if they work. You can always retuen them later.
I’m about to setup several EufyCam 2 cameras to the outside of my home. I already have my Homebase connected to my Eufy wireless doorbell, but I moved it after setting it up so it could be used wirelessly in the center of my home (for the doorbell chime purpose).
My question to you is… will connecting the Homebase back to my router via ethernet cable have better/faster service for my doorbell and cameras?
Will that help with preventing any live view delays? What about helping with faster notifications to my phone?
It seems too obvious that this wired method would help a lot, but I would rather hear it from someone that had already seen the differences. Please let me know. Thank you!
Ethernet connection from router to Homebase is the best way to go. Wireless works in most places, but its using 2.4 ghz band, which is limited. If you had good solid wireless signal and a good ethernet connection, you probably wouldn’t see much difference in viewing video. The thing is, wireless is subject to interference from neighbors devices and electrical devices in your home. Better to go with ethernet, which will be solid all the time.
Note: most notification delays are caused by your phone settings so wifi vs ethernet doesn’t really matter in that case.
If you have decent WiFi, your HomeBase will be fine. Ethernet is the best but WiFi will suffice where Ethernet is not an option.
You can always setup WiFi and move your HomeBase around various locations to see the results. I had mine connected to WiFi on a bookshelf for a year before wiring up Ethernet to it.
Also the solo cameras work with no subscription and connect to WiFi rather than HomeBase so that’s something you can consider as well. Note that some of them require hardwiring.
I get what you’re saying about possible interference from other devices that may have an effect on the wireless connection between the router and the Homebase. I assume that goes for the connection between the Homebase and the wireless doorbell camera as well (but I can’t do anything about that part).
I am getting a great wireless connection according to my wireless doorbell settings in the Eufy app, so I guess I might not really notice a huge difference by connecting the router to the Homebase via ethernet cable.
You mentioned that the notifications are primarily affected by my phone settings. However, I would think the wifi connection from the doorbell to the Homebase would have a big impact on this since once the doorbell motion is detected, then the signal has to be sent to the Homebase first (to my understanding), then the signal is sent to my app in my phone. If I open the app to check live view of the doorbell at random, doesn’t my phone need to signal the Homebase first, then the signal is sent to the doorbell?
I am just figuring that because there is a middle device that is needed for all parts of the process to communicate, then that would have the most effect on potential delays rather than my phone causing the issue. I have a Samsung S20 Ultra 5G so I’m not sure what I could change on my phone to improve the signal speed. However, there are ways to improve my home’s wifi connection and speed of necessary, if that’s what’s causing the problem.
Yeah, the Solo cameras are out of the question at this point. I already own the other EufyCam 2 cameras for the very purpose of having wireless cameras. I just haven’t installed them yet lol.
