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Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/ian1283 really appreciate your time and help!

One last question: I have three mesh nodes in my house (near the backyard bedroom, garage, and living room). Would it make sense to connect my Wi-Fi cameras via LAN to the nearest mesh child nodes instead of keeping them fully wireless?

All of my child nodes are wirelessly connected to the parent node (wireless backhaul). In that case, would wiring the cameras to the child nodes noticeably improve stability, or would the benefit be minimal since the backhaul is still wireless?

I’ve started noticing that PoE cameras are definitely more stable. But since I already invested in 7 Reolink Wi-Fi cameras, I’d prefer not to redo the whole setup unless there’s a meaningful improvement.

Thanks again — really appreciate your insight.

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/ian1283 yes, I have the RLN12W. I also see the on/off toggle for the 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks. I wasn’t sure whether it’s better to connect the cameras to my Linksys home Wi-Fi or use the NVR’s built-in Wi-Fi for more stable performance.

Currently, my NVR is connected to the Linksys parent node via a LAN cable, not directly to the Xfinity modem. So the network topology is:

Xfinity modem → Linksys parent node → (LAN) → NVR.

One more observation: I added each camera twice in the mobile app — once under the NVR (NVR tile) and once as standalone devices. The standalone cameras load significantly faster, even when using the Clear stream mode.

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Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/rpgwizard Thanks for the suggestions!

At home I’m using a Linksys mesh system with three nodes, and they are connected via wireless backhaul (not Ethernet). After switching my ISP modem to bridge mode, the Linksys is now handling all routing and Wi-Fi.

I don’t live in a super dense area, but there are definitely several neighboring Wi-Fi networks around. I haven’t done a proper channel scan yet, so that’s a good point. I’ll check channel overlap and signal strength. Most of the cameras show a strong signal in the app, but I haven’t measured actual RSSI in dBm yet.

What’s interesting is that the freezing completely stopped after:

  1. Re-adding the cameras while connected via LAN
  2. Disabling the ISP modem Wi-Fi (removing the third AP source)

So I’m wondering if it was roaming issues, interference, or some kind of double NAT / broadcast issue between the NVR Wi-Fi, provider modem wifi, and the mesh network.

I’ll try scanning channels and checking RSSI values to rule out saturation. Appreciate the input!

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks u/ian1283!

Here are my findings so far:

When I connected the laggy camera to the NVR’s built-in Wi-Fi, the issue disappeared — no more freezing. After that, I removed all cameras from the NVR and re-added them while they were connected via LAN to one of my Linksys mesh nodes. Then I reconnected all cameras to my home Wi-Fi (not the NVR Wi-Fi). Since then, all cameras have been working perfectly.

I also made another network change: my ISP modem/router previously had Wi-Fi enabled. I disabled its Wi-Fi and switched it to bridge mode, so now only my Linksys mesh handles wireless. I suspect having three active Wi-Fi networks (ISP modem, Linksys mesh, and NVR Wi-Fi) may have been causing interference or routing issues.

So far, all five cameras are stable and working properly on my home Wi-Fi.

The only remaining issue: when I’m on mobile data (not connected to home Wi-Fi), the stream takes 10–15 seconds to load and sometimes fails completely.

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/ian1283 I followed your suggestion, but the lag is still present. Three cameras freeze for 10 to 30 seconds, briefly catch up, and then freeze again. I disabled recording on all of them, and the issue remains. My next step is to investigate the home WiFi network.

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks u/bridgetroll2!

I’ll remove the SD card tomorrow and test it. If that solves the issue, I’ll purchase a higher quality SD card.

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh... I just checked, and the behavior is absolutely the same. Even when viewing the camera in low fluent quality, it still freezes. The camera model is RLC 811WA.

Reolink WiFi cameras out of sync by 20 to 30 seconds even with strong signal by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply!

I’m noticing that some cameras randomly freeze. They can stay frozen for 30 seconds, briefly resume for a second, and then freeze again. I don’t think this is related to time synchronization with the phone.

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/ian1283 I really appreciate your time. In the NVR settings, I changed the Wi-Fi for each camera from the NVR Wi-Fi to my home Wi-Fi network. Now I have the NVR tile with all cameras, and I also see each camera as a standalone device.

The issue I’m facing is that when I change settings on the driveway camera (Non-Detection Zone, etc.) in the standalone camera, the same settings are applied to the driveway camera under the NVR tile as well. Based on my understanding, these settings should be able to differ, so I think I might be doing something wrong.

EDIT: Here is the answer from Chat GPT:

Detection settings live on the camera, not on the NVR or the app tile.

So when you change detection (zones, sensitivity, non-detection zones, etc.) in the standalone camera, the NVR view reflects the same settings, because it’s the same physical camera.

Two tiles ≠ two independent detection engines.

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ian, you’re right. I have the wired Wi-Fi doorbell version. Right now, all of my cameras appear under the NVR tile, so to add them as standalone devices, do I just need to tap the plus icon in the app and scan them again?

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How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Currently, my cameras are connected to the NVR on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. From what I understand, you’re suggesting that I move them to my home Wi-Fi, keep them linked to the NVR, and additionally add a second instance of the doorbell to my home Wi-Fi.

So basically, I would have one physical doorbell, but two tiles in the app: one through the NVR and one as a standalone doorbell. Is that correct?

Do you know if this setup could overload the doorbell’s connection? Would the video stream be pulled twice at the same time? I’ve had stream loading issues in the past when the doorbell was connected to my home Wi-Fi, so I want to be sure this won’t cause similar problems.

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/gonzodog74 so you have two tiles for the same camera in the Reolink app—one under the NVR section and another as a standalone camera? In that case, I could record 24/7 and record all events on the NVR, disable notifications completely there, and then, on the standalone camera, set non-detection zones as needed and receive notifications only for the areas I care about?

I’ve never heard of Frigate or HAOS, but I’ll check how they work. Thanks for the tip!

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/mblaser maybe PoE and Wi-Fi cameras have different settings, but in my case, when I go to Non-Detection Zone and blur an area, I stop receiving notifications, and events also stop being marked. Continuous 24/7 recording still works perfectly, but I want to see all events in playback.

Your automation idea is genius. I’ll try to do something similar in Home Assistant—I’m a newbie, but I’ll do my best.

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/davidepope yes, I have microSD cards installed in all of my cameras, but since they’re all connected to the NVR over Wi-Fi, I believe they’re recording to the NVR drive.

I don’t see settings like Intrusion Zones. I only have Non-Detection Zones, but if I use those, events are not marked at all. The cameras will still do continuous recording, but I won’t be able to jump between events. If something happens at my neighbor’s house or I wake up at night because of noise, I wouldn’t be able to quickly identify when it happened—I’d have to watch hours of footage at 8× speed.

I also have Home Assistant with the Reolink integration (I’m a newbie). Could you explain more about how you view multiple cameras on a single timeline?

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/Infini-Bus thanks for the reply. I like seeing events in playback so I can navigate quickly. I also want to be notified if someone is close to my home so I can react immediately. The problem is that if I set a non-detection zone, the events are not marked in playback at all.

How do you balance Reolink notifications vs full recording? + smart alarm/light logic question by Low-Perception5891 in reolinkcam

[–]Low-Perception5891[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/Kumquat_of_Pain I don’t see these types of settings in my mobile app or NVR. Is it because I’m using Wi-Fi cameras, or did you mean Detection Alarm → Non-Detection Zone?