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CamJam1 · 10-27-2021, 05:58 PM

We have a couple of Wyze cameras at home that work well enough for monitoring our home, but they don't lend themselves very well to RV travel as it's a bit of pain when you need to change wi-fi networks, as you do nearly everyday when you move to a new park. With the Wyze cameras, you basically have to reprogram them from scratch every time rather than just easily changing the network name and security key.

It's not really a problem if I use my phone as a hotspot, as the wifi network name etc stays the same wherever we go, but the hotspot is not reliable in rural areas, so we need to use the park wifi in those cases.

Anyone know of a relatively inexpensive system that is easy to reprogram when you change locations?

l1v3fr33ord1 · 10-27-2021, 06:17 PM

CamJam1-

A common way to create an "internal" network (whose identity does not change) is to install a router in the coach- one that can use both park WiFi and cellular connections to reach the Internet. There are many options, and many threads on iRV2 that detail them.

Winegard (with the WiFi Ranger) and PepWave sell consumer-grade routers. I happen to have the PepWave SOHO Mark 3 router. There are other products, some less expensive and some more.

OldWEB · 10-27-2021, 06:21 PM

I will suggest a cheap 2.4GHz wireless router to connect the Wyze, then their addresses would not need changing, but how to connect the router to the local wi-fi....?

Of course you beat me...

CamJam1 · 10-27-2021, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l1v3fr33ord1

CamJam1-

A common way to create an "internal" network (whose identity does not change) is to install a router in the coach- one that can use both park WiFi and cellular connections to reach the Internet. There are many options, and many threads on iRV2 that detail them.

Winegard (with the WiFi Ranger) and PepWave sell consumer-grade routers. I happen to have the PepWave SOHO Mark 3 router. There are other products, some less expensive and some more.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do already have a 2.4 GHz router with a wi-fi client antenna in the moho, but I only use that setup when needed to boost the park's wi-fi signal, pretty much for the same reason... you have to reprogram the client when changing parks. Still, that's not nearly as difficult as reprogramming the Wyze camera and I may go that route if I don't find an easier solution. I'm betting there's a cheap camera with a better interface than the Wyze, I just need to find it. It's quite possible though that I may find the wi-fi transmitters in these cameras are fairly low power and/or antennas simply aren't good enough to pull in park wi-fi signals. If that's the case I'll likely have no choice but to use my existing router.

CamJam1 · 10-27-2021, 09:11 PM

Well, I think I may have found the perfect solution. It's a free app called "Alfred" that turns any two web-enabled smartphones into a monitoring camera system. I setup my Lenovo tablet to be the camera, and my Samsung phone to be the viewer. All I need to do to view the camera on my Lenovo is open the Alfred app on my Samsung phone. This is perfect, because the first thing I do at every park we visit is connect my Lenovo to the park wi-fi.

Whenever we leave the coach I can set my Lenovo on a shelf and see what our pets are up to. I have a large indoor thermometer on the wall too so that I can make sure the pets are comfortable.

It couldn't be easier to use. I think they have a premium (pay) version that gets rid of the ads, but I haven't found them to be objectionable so far.

Here's the article I read that clued me into the app.

https://www.cnet.com/home/security/t...ndroid-iphone/

For security reasons, my own thought on using an old phone for this is to wipe out whatever data you might have on it that you wouldn't want compromised. I've been thinking of upgrading my tablet so will probably do that and keep the old Lenovo solely for this purpose.

CamJam1 · 10-31-2021, 08:37 AM

The Alfred Camera app is very impressive. The more I play around with it the more I realize how well suited it is for RVing. I'll start a separate thread about it in coming days.

TomC_AZ · 12-19-2021, 10:31 PM

I have thought about some issues and have determined that a travel router is the best option, at least for our needs.

We have one of these and better yet run it off 12v USB port.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBXMBQF...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Basically set up your local LAN wired or wireless and have all devices connected to it. Phones, cameras or TVs etc.

They will always stay connected to it and be firewalled off from all other networks including ones that the router bridges.

I have it pre programmed to auto connect to my house when the trailer is there. It also auto connects to my hotspot options. When in a campground with WiFi I tell it to connect to that for its source. That change is REALLY easy to make and never requires any other device to be reconfigured.