Wi-Fi Connection Failed when Setting up Battery-Powered Cameras and E Series

Applies to: Reolink Battery-Powered Cameras and E series (E1,E1 Pro, E1 Zoom).

When configuring battery-powered cameras for the first time, if you hear the massage “Wi-Fi connection failed! Please check the Wi-Fi settings and try again” or no sound after successfully scanned the QR code on the phone screen, please follow this guide to troubleshoot the issue.

There are several possible causes for the problem:

Cause 1. The WiFi-SSID or password is incorrect 

Solution: Please double-check and ensure the WiFi-SSID and password you entered in the Reolink app is correct.

Cause 2. The WiFi-SSID or password you entered contains special characters

Solution: Please enter the SSID and password using characters from the English keyboard only. And check your SSID is within 31 characters.

Cause 3. The wireless frequency of your Wi-Fi is not 2.4GHz (applicable ONLY for battery-powered cameras and E1).

Solution: Please ensure that the router's frequency is 2.4Ghz. If you are using dual-band Wi-Fi, please disable the 5Ghz WiFi on the router to have a try.

Notes:
1. Battery-powered WiFi series cameras and E1 only supports 2.4GHz. It will not be able to connect to any Wi-Fi with 5GHz wireless frequency. Please make sure that your phone is connected to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network when setting it up.

2. Sometimes your phone may switch back to 5GHz automatically even though you force it to select 2.4GHz. If so, please go to the Wi-Fi settings of your phone and delete/forget the 5GHz network. You may also set different names for 2.4GHz and 5GHz or disable 5GHz Wi-Fi on your router to avoid the problem. 

Cause 4. The encryption method of your Wi-Fi is not compatible with the camera.

Solution: Change the encryption method of your Wi-Fi to WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK on your router interface. While use WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK the password is at least 8 digits (max 63 digits).

Note: The setting interface may vary depending on the router that you use. If you have problem setting the encryption method, please contact the router supplier for help.

Cause 5. The MAC filtering of your router is enabled when setting up the camera.

Solution: When the MAC filtering is enabled, the router will prevent any device that is not in the allowed list from connecting to the internet. Please disable MAC filtering on the router before setting up the camera. After the the camera is successfully connected to the internet, you may find the MAC address of the Argus on the Reolink App, add it to the allowed list and enable MAC filtering again.

Cause 6. The Wi-Fi Channel is out of supported range

Solution: For Battery-powered WiFi series cameras and E1 that only support 2.4Ghz band WiFi, please change the Wi-Fi Channel to 1/6/11, and then to connect to the router to try again. 

For model E1 Zoom or E1 Pro that supports dual band, while connecting to 5Ghz WiFi please set the WiFi Channel between supported range of Reolink cameras as below:

channel 36

channel 40

channel 44

channel 48

channel 52

channel 56

channel 60

channel 64

channel 149

channel 153

channel 157

channel 161

channel 165

Cause 7. The Wi-Fi frequency is out of supported range

Solution: Please set the router's Wi-Fi frequency to 20MHz, 40MHz or 20MHz/40MHz mixed. Please note 80MHz isn't supported by Reolink cameras.

Cause 8. The camera is too far away from the router.

Solution: Put your camera close to your router to ensure a strong Wi-Fi signal and set it up.  

If the problem still exists after going through the steps above, you may set up the camera on a different network (another router or the hotspot of another mobile phone).

If the camera fails to connect to any Wi-Fi or hotspot, please provide the model of router and a screenshot of the QR code generated on the Reolink app, and then contact Support for more help: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/requests/new