*** Official Ubiquiti Discussion Thread ***

Soldato
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I installed a couple of Nest Outdoor Cameras today. The one at the back of the house has a decent wireless connection and currently has a wireless signal strength of around 72% (according to my Unifi controller). The camera out the front however seems to be struggling a bit more with a signal strength of around 47% (I've seen it down in the 30s!). I have 2 UAC-AP-Lite access points. One on the ground floor, the other on the first floor (blue discs in the pictures, the Nest camera is on the wall to the left of the garage)

I'm guessing it's struggling more than the camera at the back of the house is because the access points are more toward the rear of the house.

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I've tried cranking the signal up on the 2G network but that's not made a massive difference. I know the obvious answer is to try and run a cable and stick an access point at the front of the house but I'm not sure if that's do-able without making too much mess. Would upgrading the Lite APs help any? Would even buying another Lite and sticking it in the garage in repeater mode help?
 
Caporegime
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Having a mare setting up my LR AP. I've turned it on and it's connected via ethernet but only managed to get my phone's app to see the AP (via QR) and it seems to be connected to another WiFi network now (I presume the AP). However I can't set uk a controller, the app on OSX simply fails every time and unsure how to proceed.

Desptie been able to add the AP via QR, it doesn't actually appear on the devices list. It just constantly searches.

Edit - managed to get the AP to show in the device list after scanning its QR code. No idea why it never worked any of the other times, went through the setup guide and as soon as it was finished - back to it continuously searching to no avail.....

Edit - I think it's this app. Seems very unreliable. I managed to get a 2.4 and 5.0 network up and running but as soon as I connected to the 2.4, the 5.0 disappeared from available networks. Whoever said Macs were easier is lying, nothing but issues trying it through that. I need to get a Windows laptop/computer to have another try I think....
 
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Soldato
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The app is actually very good. I’m not sure why you scanned the QR code because the app will just see the access point and you can adopt it. It’s really easy to over-complicate Unifi. It’s actually dead simple.
 
Caporegime
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Eh? mine was originally set up using an iMac and I had no issues.

Admittedly it's my first Mac and I was frustrated. The Wifi doesn't connect automatically when I load OSX for some reason, instead having to do it manually. And when I downloaded the app from the Unifi website, it appeared as two separate apps. Around 50% of the time neither app responded when I clicked open and the controller set up failed every time.

The app is actually very good. I’m not sure why you scanned the QR code because the app will just see the access point and you can adopt it. It’s really easy to over-complicate Unifi. It’s actually dead simple.

That's what I was expecting. Waiting for the app to find the AP would result me growing old, it only seemed to respond to scanning the QR. And even I connected it, it would drop/disappear altogether.
 
Soldato
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Just realised I've been an idiot and was reading the Wireless Experience column as the signal strength column. I guess my problem still exists though :(

What's the actual problem? Don't read too much into the wireless experience figure, mine is currently telling me that my Nest thermostat and iPad have a score of zero but they've both got full connectivity and are working perfectly.

Using another AP as a repeater is a option but I found that didn't work too well. My Sky HD box especially would not work when it connected to the the AP that's connected wirelessly.

If, despite the wireless experience number the camera is working OK then I'd suggest you do nothing for now.
 
Soldato
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What's the actual problem? Don't read too much into the wireless experience figure, mine is currently telling me that my Nest thermostat and iPad have a score of zero but they've both got full connectivity and are working perfectly.

Using another AP as a repeater is a option but I found that didn't work too well. My Sky HD box especially would not work when it connected to the the AP that's connected wirelessly.

If, despite the wireless experience number the camera is working OK then I'd suggest you do nothing for now.

The Nest camera out the front has a signal strength of, well I can't actually tell you right now as it's dropped offline again! The back garden camera seems to work okay and even though it's literally 12 feet away from the nearest AP, it's not even that great with a signal of 37% (-76 dBm), but it never drops offline. My plan now is to replace the downstairs AP with an LR. I'll then move the Lite from there to bedroom 2 upstairs and power that via PoE from a switch in bedroom 4 (via the attic). So I'll have 2 APs in total. Two Lites upstairs and an LR downstairs.
 
Soldato
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Okay, so I've ran a cable from Bedroom 4 to Bedroom 2 via the loft. I've moved the downstairs UAP-AC-Lite to Bedroom 2 powered over PoE by the switch in Bedroom 4. This seems to work and the camera out the front now works okay. In the kitchen downstairs, where I removed the UAP-AC-Lite, I fitted a UAP-AC-LR. This works okay-ish, but only if I have the 2G transmit power set to medium. If I set it to low (the same as the other APs for 2.4 GHz band), then the camera drops offline. I'm confused by this as I figured that for a camera, surely it's the strength of the signal from the camera to the AP that matters for recording video, not the transmit power.

Anyway, for now, I've had to set the Transmit Power for the 2.4GHz band on the kitchen AP to medium.
 
Soldato
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Norfolk, South Scotland
Okay, so I've ran a cable from Bedroom 4 to Bedroom 2 via the loft. I've moved the downstairs UAP-AC-Lite to Bedroom 2 powered over PoE by the switch in Bedroom 4. This seems to work and the camera out the front now works okay. In the kitchen downstairs, where I removed the UAP-AC-Lite, I fitted a UAP-AC-LR. This works okay-ish, but only if I have the 2G transmit power set to medium. If I set it to low (the same as the other APs for 2.4 GHz band), then the camera drops offline. I'm confused by this as I figured that for a camera, surely it's the strength of the signal from the camera to the AP that matters for recording video, not the transmit power.

Anyway, for now, I've had to set the Transmit Power for the 2.4GHz band on the kitchen AP to medium.

The camera still needs to be able to hear the access point. It’s quite possible it’s putting out a lot of transmit power but has weak antennae and the total transmit signal is power plus antenna gain. It’s called antenna reciprocity!
 
Soldato
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The camera still needs to be able to hear the access point. It’s quite possible it’s putting out a lot of transmit power but has weak antennae and the total transmit signal is power plus antenna gain. It’s called antenna reciprocity!
Thanks, makes sense. I'm still not happy with the signal strength the rear garden camera is showing. Even though the AP is about 10 feet away, it has to travel through an external wall which I think is causing all of the issues. Are new builds filled with wifi destroying stuff for insulation?

I'm now thinking I stick a UAP-AC-Pro in the eaves at the rear of the house from the switch in Bedroom 4. APs everywhere!
 
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Soldato
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Cambridge, UK
Show us your maps ;)

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Soldato
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How do you get the maps?

Starting to build my UniFi system piece by piece, ordered a router today to go with a couple of access points..
 
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