Foscam FI8904W outdoor internet camera

closeHey, just so you know ... this post is now about 13 years and 7 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

I’ve been pleased so far with my in-house internet cameras and decided I’d like to be able to keep tabs on the outside of the house as well. TRENDnet sells weatherproof enclosures for their cameras but they won’t work with the night-vision models because the IR just reflects off of the glass. I started looking at other models of outdoor cameras and chose the Foscam FI8904W.

Ideally I wanted the (supposedly) cheaper FI8903W (which is the same camera as the FI8904W except it has fewer IR emitters for a shorter night-vision range) but was unable to find it anywhere domestically. Apparently purchasing Foscam cameras is fraught with peril due to the high occurrence of unauthorized clones. The firmwares aren’t compatible, the interfaces are different, and Foscam won’t support any hardware not purchased from them. So I ended up getting a 2-pack of the FI8904W cameras from one of their authorized resellers (Foscam.us).

The camera is very well-constructed and seems pretty sturdy thanks to its metal body and glass enclosed lens and IR emitters. The rear of the unit has the brass connector for the rubberized WiFi antenna and a single cable (also rubberized) that splits into three ends: a wired network jack, a connector for the power supply, and a reset button. A metal mounting bracket and arm are also included. Here’s a good post about the FI8904W that has some photos of the internals (and tips on replacing the lens with a wide-angle version if you prefer).

Setup is straightforward: connect the camera to your wired network, power it up, then use the included utility to “find” the camera’s DHCP address so you can connect to it via your browser. The web interface, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Like my TRENDnet cameras, some of the features require you to use Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls, but other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, or even Safari (including the iPhone) will work via a separate login link (called, inexplicably, Server Push Mode). The basic options are all present: e-mail alerts, FTP storage of images, multiple user security setups, etc.

Configuring the schedule for motion detection is tedious! Rather than typing in to/from times, you have to click 672 individual boxes that represent 15 minute intervals. You can’t shift-click to enable a whole range at once, you have to click each one individually! I accidentally stumbled on the fact that if you double-click, a whole hour is selected. Still, to enable motion detection 24/7, I had to double-click 168 times!! This is a terrible user-interface design and not described with any detail in the user manual (which, incidentally, is sparse and filled with bad English due to poor translation). Missing from motion detection is the ability to only watch certain areas of the image for motion (so you can exclude, for example, an outdoor ceiling fan) and also the function to record video to a network share when an alert is triggered (you can’t record the video at all, actually, since the camera uses only MJPEG compression). Yes, I could use the FTP function but a) that would require me to set up FTP on my Linux server and b) would only get me still images, which I can get via the e-mail alerts anyway.

Other missing features: the camera has no microphone, so you can’t listen to any audio in the vicinity and there’s also no date/time stamp added to the video stream (unless you’re viewing it through IE with the ActiveX control). Thus, the overlay doesn’t appear when viewing the camera through eyeCam on my iPhone or on the custom web page I wrote that shows me just the video window. Other settings you think would be on the administration pages, like video resolution, color balance, framerate, etc. are all on the “live video” page where an “operator” can change them (there are three user access levels: Administrator, Operator, and Visitor).

watch out for mutant moths!Ok, so the interface and setup options are lacking, but how does the camera itself perform? The video is decent (30fps at QVGA or 15fps at VGA), although like my TRENDnet cameras, the lack of an infrared filter means some colors are off, especially in bright daylight. The night-vision is pretty good, though, due to all of those IR emitters. The IR LEDs do glow red at night, though, so the camera looks a little like the eye of Sauron. The wireless link seems pretty stable even though it has to go through several concrete block walls (since it’s outside) to connect to my wireless router.

Physical installation is a bit more involved. The camera is obviously meant to be used outdoors which means you need a nearby power outlet. Ideally you don’t want the outlet to be easily accessible otherwise someone could just unplug it. Also, since the factory reset button is on the split cable end, you’ll want to make sure that is hidden away as well. The camera is supposedly waterproof, but my selected placement areas are under cover so the unit won’t be exposed to full-on Florida rainstorms. For my front porch installation, I drilled a hole in the ceiling above where I mounted the camera up into the roof/attic area and then used fish tape to run a heavy-duty extension cord from the outlet in my garage ceiling (for the garage door opener) to the camera. Not exactly the most professional installation, but the best I could come up with for now (and all of the connections are up in the ceiling where nobody can mess with them). I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to wire up the second camera out on the lanai in the backyard.

Bottom line: the camera seems to be well-constructed and up to the task of withstanding the elements (although only time will tell that for sure). The video (both daytime and nighttime) is decent enough for basic surveillance, but the lack of audio/video recording is an unfortunate oversight. The firmware and web-based interface can be frustrating and annoying to use but do get the basic job done. If you’re looking for an outdoor webcam, the Foscam FI8904W is worth considering.

57 Comments

  1. Update: ok, you actually can record the video (no audio), but again, only through an IE/ActiveX browser session. You specify the location to save the video files (I was able to set this to a shared folder on my NAS) via the User Settings page, but it’s not actually camera-specific! Since you’re using the browser you can initiate a recording for any of the cameras you’ve set up on the Multi-Device Settings page to that common area but the browser session needs to have access to that local folder you specified in order to save the recordings (so I don’t think this would work if I was accessing the camera through a browser when I wasn’t on the local wireless network). There’s also an option to set a recording area for motion alerts, but I can’t get this to actually work. This is a really poor and confusing implementation for a network camera, especially since my TrendNets all can do this. Again, the documentation is no help here.

  2. As expected, when I tried to record video from a browser connection outside of my home network, the ActiveX control couldn’t find the NAS location and displayed an error. Then it reset the record location to C:UsersPublicDocuments on my laptop so it could record locally. So it’s not possible to have the camera itself record video without user interaction, from what I can tell.

    • hi was wondering how your camera is working since you have it out and exposed to the weather.did you have to do anything .to protect the ethernet cord or the reset button.and the power connection .

      • The camera has been outside on the tree since August and I haven’t had any problems with it. However, the mounting hardware is starting to rust pretty bad, which means I’ll probably have to replace it at some point:

        As for the ethernet cord and reset button, I just installed your basic run-of-the-mill wet-location outlet cover on the back of the tree and stuffed those parts of the cable into it. Not the most professional (or secure) installation, but it works.

  3. Hi,

    I Received yesterday the Foscam FI 8904W. Not problem for day use.
    For cons, at night the camera does not seem consistent with the characteristics: IR range up to 20 m.

    I Did 2 experiments. At night.
    First, with no modification, the IR range is about 3 m. (far from 20m !!!)
    Second, I unscrewed the front ring (which removed the glass): ir range about 15 m. In this case, I lose the water-proof, and the Ir led and the lens are not protected.

    Conclusion, the glass is not transparent to IR.
    To have an IR range of 20m (or 15m) as described in the caracteristics, I Have to remove the glass. It Is not available.

    Do you have the same problem?

    Best regards.

    Fred

    • Yes, I’ve noticed the night-vision range is not as far as they claim. This isn’t a problem for my camera on the front porch since it’s only about 15 feet from the door. In the backyard, however, the night-vision is pretty useless since everything is so far away (unless someone or something goes right in front of the camera).

  4. I just received the same camera and was able to set it up via ethernet connection. The problem I am encountering (besides the aweful instructions and grammer) is that once I unhook the camera from the ethernet connection, I am unable to invoke the camera wirelessly.

    I am running a linksys router (WEP, 64 encryption, SSID, etc). According to the instructions, once I rebooted (plug the camera back in) it should light up the front LED saying it is trying to connect. It doesn’t. I have looked around multiple forums and the reseller is useless.

    Any help would be truly appreciated.

    • As far as I know, there are actually no external LEDs on the camera. I remember reading about the “front LED” as well and I think that is referring to some of Foscam’s other webcams, not this outdoor model. As for your wireless problem, are you sure you’ve got all the settings on the Wireless LAN Settings page correct for your setup? If you use the Scan button, does the camera find your network?

      • i had a problem with my wireless .make sure your firewall is got the same settings as the cam. i turned my firewall off .it started working and then i restarted it and the wireless is working great

    • For the initial setup, all you should have to do is connect it to your router (with a network cable) and then run the included utility on the CD to “find” it. Then you can use the web interface to do all of the other configuration like connecting it to your wireless network, configuring the camera/video settings, etc.

  5. You say you wrote a custom webpage for viewing just the video. Does it work with IE? If so, can you send me your code? I would like to put video in a webpage also, and have it be code that all browsers can interpret. It is relativey easy to make code for Chrome, Safari etc. But to get this Foscam video into IE, well, not working so well … not at all really.

    • My custom page is just a table with individual “cells” for each camera video. It works great in Firefox, even portable Safari on my iPhone, but I had the same strange issues with IE so I gave up (I mostly use Firefox anyway).

      I use an image tag with the following source for the Foscam video:

      img src="http://{web address of camera}/videostream.cgi?user={user name}&pwd={password}"
      

      Replace “{web address of camera}” with the URL of your camera on the network, and “{username}” and “{password}” with the credentials you can use to login to the web interface. I have a guest login set up that I use that is view-only specifically for my custom page.

      If you come up with a way to do something similar in IE, let me know! I think it’s those crazy ActiveX controls causing the problem …

  6. Hi,

    I’m thinking of purchasing this IP camera. I’m wondering though if this will be suffice. My issue is, I don’t want to have my computer running 24/7. I understand that the motion detector will snap 6 images and alert via email. Do you know what the time between snapshot intervals are and is this adjustable.

    Basically, do you think I will be able to get a good image of a suspect should I need it, without having my computer running 24/7? Or do I have any other options.

    Many thanks,
    Chad

    • The interval between each of the 6 shots is 1 second, so you have images covering a total of 6 seconds. This is not adjustable in the current firmware.

      If you’re just going to use e-mail alerts, you don’t need a PC running 24/7. You just configure the e-mail server settings for your ISP in the camera’s web interface and the camera will send the e-mails directly. You would need a PC running if you wanted to store the images via FTP (although you could always send those images to some other machine on the internet if you had, say, a hosted FTP site).

  7. Thank you for the info. I didn’t realize it was that quick (6 shots, 1 sec), but that makes perfect logic. It should capture any possible suspects as they come into range. And I do appreciate your feedback, 110%. I think the ftp site could possibly do the trick. From my old days in ftp'”ing”, I’m pretty sure I could find a few free sites that would host the required space that would allow this to work. (I think…) I’d just have to figure out how much space I’d need and how long that would last.

    If I could ask you one last question; I came across a wireless camera that has an SD memory slot and I’m curious if you were in my situation, what option would you take. The following link is the camera I’m looking at. I really like the ip camera but I don’t like the 24/7 computer running option. The six pictures, within six seconds sounds like it would do the trick. The ftp option requires some small research, but also sounds like it would work, possibly better. If you were in my situation, I’d really appreciate your opinion, on what option would you take.

    The other camera I’m looking at, the prices are comparable. This one records directly to the SD memory card located on the camera. It’s activated by a motion sensor and records for 3-4 minutes. The downfall, you have to take the memory card from the camera. My worries are the possibility a suspect could just take the camera and/or card…

    http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290531122757&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

    Again, I thank you and really value your insight as a user of the Foscam FI8904W camera. If you were in my situation, would you still purchase the foscam camera, as it looks like it’s one of the better higher quality cameras on the market for the price.

    I’d like to install two cameras, one in the front of the house and one in the back of the house.

    Sincerely,
    Chad

    • That’s an interesting camera: it says “solar-powered DVR” but it’s the LEDs that are solar powered, the camera itself still requires a electrical outlet. And while having the LEDs come on probably give you better video quality at night, I personally don’t want a light coming on every time the camera is recording motion. That being said, I can see why people would want this feature for security purposes. My two Foscam cameras are mounted in inconspicuous places on my front porch and backyard. At night, no one would even know they’re there (except for the slight red glow of the IR emitters). So your mounting options with that Solar Sight would be limited as you’d have to make sure the solar panel gets sunlight to charge the LEDs. Otherwise your night video will just be black.

      Also, it looks like it would be a pain to get to the SD card. From what I can tell in the photos, the card slot is on the back of the camera, so you’d have to take it down from where it was mounted to retrieve the card and then load the images/video onto your PC. The camera looks like it’s just plastic, so I’m not sure how it will stand up to the elements (especially rain). The Foscams are metal, very sturdy, and definitely weatherproof.

      Finally, since this camera isn’t on your network, you can’t check it remotely. I love being able to pull up the Foscam real-time images on my iPhone when I’m away from the house.

      Despite all the firmware annoyances, I am still pretty happy with my Foscams.

  8. After one of the neighbors’ house got broken into recently, I started looking into security cameras. I want to install enough cameras to cover the surrounding of our house, so I know I’m going to need at least 4 cameras. I don’t want to buy all 4 at the same time without testing the cameras’ features and capabilities first to see if they fit my needs. Since I have a limited budget I like to shop around for ones I can afford.

    I started out with an IP Eye Camera M6840 for mounting under the eave on the front of the house. Honestly, this camera isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. The firmware is buggy, ESMTP doesn’t work, no tech support, etc. One thing I like about this camera is it has a feature where you can specify areas of the view for motion detection, but that’s about it. I would definitely suggest stay away from this camera. However, I’m planning to install it inside the garage so I know if the left the garage open after leaving to work. 😉

    Then I found the Foscam FI8905W. After watching a youtube video on it, I decided to order one for from Amazon for $100 shipped. Wow, this camera is amazing for its low price. It looks and feels like it’s built for NASA. I installed it on one of my side yards where it’s very dark at night. With the IR LEDs automatically turned on I can see the end of the yard clearly. The end of the yard is about 50 feet away from the camera. However, since the view angle on this camera is narrow I can’t see part of my yard that is close to the camera.

    Realizing I need a wider angle view camera and I want to stick with Foscam after having satisfaction with the FI8905W model I went ahead and ordered a FI8904W. This camera is perfect for my front yard. Since it doesn’t have that many IR LEDs I can only see objects up to about 30 feet at night, but that’s all I really care for the front yard. The video is not as good as the FI8905W camera especially at night.

    I set up both cameras to email me at my gmail and T-Mobile SMS (phonenumber@tmomail.net) using ESMTP of the my DSL service via smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com. In addition, I can view live video of both cameras using my iPhone with a paid app (Live Cams) and the free Android app called IP Cam Viewers Lite.

    With the browser pointing to one of my cameras, there’s an option called “Multi-Device Settings”, which is only available if you’re using the Microsoft IE. I selected the other camera’s IP address and login credentials. Now, I can view both cameras by pointing IE to the first camera’s IP. Looks like you can have up to 9 cameras with the Multi-View feature.

    So far, I really like these cameras. I’m going to order a few more.

    • You’ll need to set up port forwarding on your router if you want to access your camera from the public internet. Create a rule that forwards some custom port (like 8088) to the address of your camera on your private network. You’ll need to know your router’s public IP address or use a dynamic DNS service so you can get to everything remotely.

  9. It’s straightforward to set up your camera so you can view it from the internet. In my case, I’m using AT&T DSL with dynamic IP. That means I almost always get a different IP address every time I reconnect or reboot my router. So, I need to sign up for a free account at dyndsn.org or similar service. Let’s say I choose my site as “quangcams.techlinux.net” from dyndns.org. Then I do the following steps:
    1. From Foscam’s web page, I go to the DDNS Service Settings and enter account/password I got from dyndns.org. Note that most routers have this option as well so you can use it on your router instead.
    2. From the Basic Networking Settings page, I change port 80 to 9000.
    3. From my router’s web page, I add a port forwarding for port 9000 to my Foscam’s IP address. By the way, I have a TP-LINK TL-WR841ND wireless router.
    4. Reboot the Foscam camera and/or the router.

    That’s it. Now, from the internet, I can view it by pointing the web browser to http://quangcams.techlinux.net:9000. Note that it’s just a fictitious host name.

  10. I just got 2 foscam cameras set up this weekend with a Belkin Router. I set them up through dyndns.org so I can view my rental property from my house. They are working in a pitch dark room at 10pm and you would think all the lights are on in the room, truly amazing!!!!

  11. Hello all.
    I have a foscam 8904w too.
    I mounted it outdoor , wireless (ping at less 30ms) for survey my car , because i have some neiberghood who broke my car windows.
    In night vision i can not view a motion think , like man or car , because the image is very fragmented.
    Please if you can help me with some advice.

    • Unfortunately, when it comes to night vision mode, I think we’re stuck with the blurring and poor image quality. Just like taking photos at night, if you use a slow shutter speed, fast-moving objects are going to blur. So even with the max FPS setting on this camera, that’s what you’re going to see.

  12. With Fps at a maximum setting, the picture is very bad even if you do not register, just in view mode, if the object is moving fast enough, it becomes the view, blur, so very unclear.
    I disconnected the sensor plate and night lights, but even worse evde.
    What can we do?
    Find the solution?
    You realize what the situation is with a camera installed, which should catch the culprit, I left with broken windows.
    is the laughingstock.

    Thank you very very much.

    • Like I said, with this particular model of camera, I don’t think there’s anything else you can do make the night image any better. I guess you’ll need to look into a higher-end/higher-quality night vision camera instead of this Foscam.

      • I have been using ZoneMinder with my two Foscam 8904 cameras (plus four more TrendNet cameras) for the past seven months and haven’t had any big problems I can think of. Very rarely the video capture will fail for some reason (just a black screen with a default timestamp) but setting the monitor to “None” and then flipping it back to “Monitor” usually fixes that. The URL to use in ZoneMinder when adding the 8904 as a monitor is /videostream.cgi?user=[username]&pwd=[password]. Also, make sure to match the capture resolution in ZM to the camera’s settings (I’m using just 320×240).

  13. Hi, nice info.
    I’m using a FI8918W & FI8904W and you don’t need to fill the scheduler to get the motion detection working.
    In fact I have the entire scheduler not checked.
    Right now I’m using it with the free sensr.net site. That worked great till now but they are getting out of Beta (free mode) . Would be nice one day if you could specify 2 ftp servers for the same foscam camera.
    I do prefer to use a external ftp server for safety & reduced energy costs and the easy speed you can scroll through the entire day and month but I’ll try ZoneMinder too.

  14. My FI8904W in the backyard stopped working this week. It dropped off the network but was still powered on (I could see the red LEDs were illuminated). I brought it back into the house and tried the network jack, but that didn’t work either (no lights) so I guess it’s dead. After almost two years exposed to the Florida elements, the camera body itself is fine. The bracket, though, not so much:

    Also, the rubber coating on the cables/wires have been chewed by nature’s critters. It’s possible one of those bites is what killed the camera, I don’t know. I went ahead and ordered a replacement. I went with Amazon this time instead of going directly with Foscam. I considered the newer FI8602W, but it’s twice the price.

  15. Did you ever have issues with the Foscam FI8904W camera logging out from time to time and stopping? This seems to happen to me all of the time. It will not start again until I log back in to the software. So far it has happened when I am sleeping, so, I lose any video that may be taken at night when really needed! Even logging back in to the software is problematic as the software seems ti have issues even finding the IP address again! Any thoughts or suggestions?

    • What software are you using that’s “logging out?” The camera doesn’t really log into anything, unless you’re using the FTP service in the firmware to transfer images to an FTP server for storage, or sending e-mails of events. I use ZoneMinder, not any of the Foscam-delivered software, to manage my cameras so I’m not sure exactly what the problem could be. Wireless signal strength could be a possible cause, if your camera is losing the wireless signal.

  16. Thanks for the reply! I am using the supplied FOSCAM s/w. I go to bed, camera is working and recording. I wake up to find it stopped working about an hour after I go to bed! Perhaps, saying, “logoff” is not the correct terminology, but, the system seems to STOP. Then when I get up it is darn hard to get the camera back in the IP Tool (Foscam S/w). I have had to go outside and unplug the camera! This morning, I even reinstalled the s/w! I have loaded the Foscam s/w on my computer(wired direct to router) and laptop(wireless)…..and I have the same issues with each. I am geting frustrated….may have to request RMA and try a diffenet camera!

    • So how are you “recording” then? Are you connecting to the camera via your web browser and initiating the record through that IE ActiveX control? I don’t have any experience with that but it’s possible it’s just timing out. Are you assigning static IP addresses to your camera, or using DHCP? Maybe the IP address lease is expiring and it’s changing addresses, which causes the software to not be able to “find” the camera? Not really sure what’s going on there, sorry!

      • Thanks again. You are correct, I am using the web browser to record through the IE ActiveX Control.
        I have not assigned a static IP address. I did not realize I needed to…my IP does use dynamic addresses, so, perhaps if U read the manual I can set up a static IP address and that will solve things….. (I did notice that the IP address has changed once in the past days…but I get the same error message every day…even when the IP address has not changed). I think you are also corect – that the web browser is timing out , tat would make sense too.

        • Personally I use static IP addresses on my cameras, I only use dynamic addresses for mobile phones, laptops, etc. Also, as you’re finding out, leaving a browser open to have an ActiveX control record your camera’s activity isn’t the idea solution. One workaround would be to just set up motion detection on the camera and have it send you e-mail alerts when there’s activity. Otherwise, if you actually want to be recording the video feed all the time you’re probably better off looking into a different software solution like ZoneMinder (which I know you’ve looked into already).

  17. Unfortunately, I need video…my car was badly vandalized and now that it will be fixed and returned home to me shortly…I would rather have video. I use a DLINK NAS 320 to record my video…I hopefully will find a wayto get direct video to the NAS….but I am on Windows not Linux, so for now, I think that I am stuck. Or I could always switch do a wireless cam / DVR combo like the Securityman Home DVR Kit(HOMEDVR-KT1) http://www.directdial.com/HOMEDVR-KT1.html…I cant seem to find any ratings on this equipment though….sigh.

    • I took a quick look at the 320’s manual and it does seem to have an FTP server in it. You should be able to use that, along with the “FTP Service Settings” in the Foscam firmware, to upload images to your NAS at a set interval (like every second). It wouldn’t be full motion video, but you’d sure have a lot of images to scan through! Click here for an article I found on how to set something like this up. You’ll need to configure the FTP server on your NAS, but theoretically this should work for you.

  18. Lo and behold…..I got it to work! The Foscam web browser s/w kept changing the FTP User Name from Frank (me) to admin….needed to be Frank as admin is not considered a user….I guess! It was also hard to get the right shared folder (turned out, so far I can only get the images saved to the hard drive….I need to contact Dlink to see how to set up a folder as a shared folder…another issue for another day!) I have now configured email access(which I have now disabled) and FTP upload. I have set it at 2 sec intervals…you are right…a ton of pics, but, this will help me if my car is ever vandalized again! It would be great if Foscam would upgrade and build video upload into their FTP process. Thanks again Peter…..awesome dealing with you and Don.

  19. Stumbled across your site while trying to find a back yard camera solution. I just bought an ADT contract and the sales rep sold me a back yard camera and a motion sensor to set it off. Naturally, the install techs have a totally different story. The just can’t seem to find a motion activated camera that will work. (Even though Google can find me a dozen in half a second.) They’ve been out twice now to try and pitch me other devices for more money. Very frustrated.

    Anyway, their last pitch included an “encoder” that would allow their DVR-based, hard-wired, exterior camera to plug into Pulse. AHAA! I have them now. The encoder can take signal from just about any wired camera, so now I can get my own for half their price.

    My question is, have you had any success connecting your cameras to your ADT Pulse?

    • No, and I gave up trying. ADT won’t give you the WPA2 password to the iHub so you can join your own devices to the wireless network and they stick to their list of “supported” cameras which is disappointingly small (4 cameras!). My existing home-grown ZoneMinder setup is better (and cheaper) than anything they could provide so I’ve stuck with that. The only drawback obviously is that they don’t integrate with Pulse.

  20. Hi, I purchased 3 Foscam F18904W cameras and also the Blue iris software which allows you to monitor and record and have not installed them yet but have tested them by setting them up on my network. I had a question for you since you have already installed one of the cameras on your porch with wires leading into the roof. What happens if you need to change your wireless router and then need to setup the cameras again? Wont it be difficult to connect an Ethernet cable to the camera if its in the roof in order to access the setup software?

    • Yes, that could be an issue. I suppose I could leave a long CAT-5 cable connected to the camera across the attic where it’d be easily reachable from the attic access for a laptop, but I haven’t had the need yet. I did have to replace a bad power supply which required another crawl through the attic, but other than that the camera setup has been relatively maintenance free.

      Personally, though, if/when I replace my wireless router I would configure the new one the same as my existing setup (SSID, passphrase, etc.) so no configuration changes to the cameras (or any other devices) would be necessary.

  21. Hy,

    i would ask that, are you had with the camere such Problem that after 19-20:00 Cet until 6:00 the Camera is not working?
    i use ddns on the router and on the camera, the cameras have fix ip configured and they are not reachable via ping. but after 06:00am they are working, i have 4 foscam FI8904W and 1 Apexis pan tilt outdoor camera. and from the foscam is 2 affacted with this issue.
    i hope you can understand me and you can help.
    Thanks a Lot.
    Zoltan

    • That’s very strange and I have not encountered such a problem. Are the cameras possibly losing power during that time? Is something interfering with their wireless connection? Something related to your DDNS service? I don’t see anything in the Foscam firmware that is time-related except for the motion alarm settings, which wouldn’t account for the cameras completely dropping off of your network.

    • Zoltan,
      If this is a newer Foscam camera and it is pointed outside your problem could be due to a bad firmware in the camera.
      The problem is when the camera is pointing at a brightly lit area with lots of detail (tree leaves. grass, etc) it overloads the processor and puts the camera in an endless loop of reboots until the detail goes away. Try placing low detail (wite paper, cardboard, etc) infront of the camera for a few minutes and see if the camera comes back. If it does go to the following thread and either get the cameras fixed by the manufacturer (depending how you purchased them) or run the update yourself.
      http://foscam.us/forum/8910w-hanging-rebooting-based-on-image-data-t5769-290.html

  22. I bought 2 F18905W cameras. One lasted about 12 months, the other lasted about 16 months. Same problem with both; power supplies work, cameras totally dead (no wi-fi, no Ethernet, no LEDs).

    Waste of money.
    Made in China.

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