I’m new to Eufy and have been using a variety of cameras plus the HomeBase 3 over the last few days. However, I have struggled to get the cameras working with my existing mesh WiFi and the HB3 at the same time. My conclusion at this time is that 6 out of 7 of the cameras I purchased won’t work the way I want until Eufy adds Multi-Bridge support to more of its cameras.
Eufy team, is there a timeline to bring the Multi-Bridge feature to other Eufy cameras? I think that in the meantime, the description of Eufy cameras that support both HB3 and standalone WiFi need to be very, very clear that these two features are mutually exclusive and do not work at the same time.
Background:
- I’m replacing a solar-powered wire-free Arlo system on a relatively long property with existing mesh WiFi system that provides good coverage
- I want person, vehicle, and pet detection across all cameras and rich notifications (i.e. with thumbnail preview) while leveraging my existing network (mesh WiFi)
- Less importantly, I want minimal cloud dependence except for short-term rolling backup (even just 3 days across all cameras would be more than enough)
Product selection:
- eufyCam S330’s seem to meet almost all my requirements but claim to only work with HB3 WiFi, not mesh WiFi
- HB3 claims to add person, vehicle, and animal detection to compatible cameras; SoloCam and others claim to be HB3-compatible while also being able to connect to existing WiFi
- Cloud storage options not a great fit in terms of price/performance but HB3 enables other options down the road
- I made a plan to purchase cameras that, based on their product description, could connect to my existing mesh WiFi, and could then have their detection capabilities upgraded to include person, vehicle, and pet detection by adding a hard-wired (ethernet) HB3
Setup:
- Purchased 2x SoloCam S40, 2x SoloCam S340, 1x Floodlight E340, 1x Doorbell E340, 1x HB3, based on full compatibility listed per Eufy’s HB3 support article. Also purchased Wall Light Cam S120 despite lack of HB3 support at present.
- Successfully installed 5/7 cameras across my property and connected cameras to my mesh WiFi
- Set up HB3 and tried to activate additional detection features for one of the S40’s, but app indicated that the camera would be removed from my mesh WiFi and connected to the HB3’s WiFi
- App gave same indication for all cameras, even Floodlight E340; implication was that I would need to disassemble my entire security infrastructure (disconnect from my working mesh WiFi and physically bring all the cameras close to the HB3) in order to enable the additional detection features in the HB3
- HB3 was eventually able to connect to all cameras without moving them closer, though it took multiple retries for every camera presumably due to the HB3’s weak WiFi at each camera, and the Floodlight E340 in particular had to be reset and completely reconfigured after failing to connect to the HB3 the first time
- Floodlight E340 was eventually able to be moved back to my mesh WiFi and still work with HB3 via Multi-Bridge despite not being listed in the Multi-Bridge article
I strongly suspect that the final two cameras I need to install will be out of range of the HB3. This, combined with the misleading info on the operation of the HB3 with these cameras and the unlikelihood of multi-bridge support being added any time soon, has me leaning toward returning the entire 7-camera system and HB3.
For those looking to use your existing WiFi with Eufy cameras and the HB3, the present state of things appears to be:
- Almost all Eufy cameras that are compatible with the HB3 cannot connect to your own WiFi and the HB3 at the same time, even if the HB3 is wired into your existing network
- Eufy knows this and has a workaround called “Multi-Bridge”, but this seems to only be available on hard-wired cameras; these cameras include the Floodlight E340 and eufyCam E330 (only “official” Multi-Bridge support is for the latter)
- Side note, IMO hard-wired + WiFi doesn’t make a lot of sense in 99% of scenarios; if you are willing to hard-wire (power) your camera, you’re probably going to do PoE and then there are “better” options available e.g. Reolink TrackMix
- The only reason the Floodlight E340 makes any sense is that installs into an existing hard-wired location, i.e. it replaces an existing floodlight
- Be prepared to set up your HB3 first, then add your cameras to it; doing it the other way around will be frustrating
- Don’t bother configuring anything about your cameras until you get everything connected the way you want; you’re fairly likely to have to re-sync the cameras along the way which will wipe all of their settings
- If you are willing to put up with these limitations, the HB3 appears to have a decent reach
- My HB3 is installed about 8 ft up in a central location on my property, about 40 ft (and at least 2 extra-thick plaster walls) away from all the cameras
- All of my HB3-connected cameras seem to work fine and report 3-4 bars
I was able to set up Multi-Bridge for the Floodlight E340 via:
- Connect E340 to HB3 first (this may not be necessary but it is functionally the process that I went through to make things work)
- Go to E340’s settings → general → connection → configure Wi-Fi (under Multi-Bridge Wi-Fi Settings) and enter your existing WiFi info
- It took two tries to make this work, but at least none of the E340’s settings were lost between attempts