ADT is among the pioneers in home security monitoring, explaining why it’s your preferred choice. It is safe to say that it doesn’t come cheap either. Thus, you expect better service and customer experience from their system. Your ADT camera falling offline affects your security system, as you can’t monitor or bring up live-view footage.
As frustrating as it gets, sometimes you can’t rely on ADT support to fix the issue; you must get involved.
This article highlights the common causes of offline issues and the necessary troubleshooting steps to get your ADT Wi-Fi camera back online.
Why Does My ADT Camera Go Offline?
ADT cameras primarily fall offline when they can’t connect to your network and fall out of sync with the cloud servers. The camera is displayed offline on the panel, app, or web portal. Try power cycling the camera, ADT gateway, and your network router to refresh and reinitialize the connection.
Numerous factors can contribute to the offline problem encountered by ADT cameras. The following are some common causes:
- Insufficient signal strength on the installation point
- Prolonged power outages or problems with the power supply.
- Network settings affecting devices connection, including AP isolation, Band Steering, etc.
- The camera loses connection to the Gateway
- Modifications to network settings include changes in SSID, passwords, or automatic switching between 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands.
- Challenges with Wi-Fi network coverage or interferences at the installation location.
Before jumping into the troubleshooting guide, confirm that your camera receives power by observing the LED indicator. Here’s what each LED light indicates on an ADT camera;
- No lights – The camera has no power access
- Blinking red – The camera is booting up
- Solid Red – Not connected
- Blinking Green – Has internet access but not connected to ADT interactive
- Solid Green – The camera has a local network connection and is connected to ADT Interactive
How Do I Get My ADT Camera Back Online?
To get your camera back online, confirm it is connected to a working outlet and receives power by observing the indicator LED lights. Reboot your Gateway, router, and camera to refresh the connection and clear IP conflict errors that could render the camera offline.
If you made changes to your network, you must remove > reset > and reconnect the camera to the new network.
Unfortunately, once the camera falls offline, you must be on-site to implement the solutions. You can’t remotely access the camera from your device.
Try these solutions to get your camera back online;
Power Cycling Your Devices
This refreshing act effectively eradicates temporary network errors or IP conflicts resulting in your camera’s offline status.
Typically, executing a power cycle involves disengaging a device’s power supply for several minutes and reconnecting it. The crux lies in completely detaching the device from its power source and dissipating any residual charge.
This assumes you have a sufficient network – greater than 5 MBS, to support the ADT activities.
Reboot your network router by unplugging it from the outlet for 30 seconds and reconnecting it.
Once your router boots up, follow the same process with your Gateway – which can take up to 5 minutes to boot up and reconnect to your network.
Finally, power cycle your ADT camera and observe the LED for connection status. If it turns solid GREEN, the camera has a network connection and should be accessible from the app or portal.
Power cycling is handy when dealing with connection drops due to prolonged outages or disconnections.
Check Your Network Settings
Apart from a solid network requirement, some network settings – especially in mesh networks, can affect the connected device’s functionality.
Some router settings affect how your network interacts with the connected devices—band steering in mesh network auto switches and transfers devices to the most robust mesh node.
An offline issue can occur when the camera or Gateway is transferred to the furthest node. Therefore, turn off band steering or any form of smart switching on your network.
Again, AP Isolation (if available in your network) could also cause the offline issue.
When AP isolation is enabled, devices connected to the same wireless network are prevented from directly communicating with each other. Instead, they can only communicate with the central access point (AP) or router.
If the camera keeps going offline, it’s probably receiving a weak signal or interference, or your network is auto-switching.
Move The Camera Closer
Moving the camera closer to your Gateway or network router enhances the signal strength and could clear the offline issues due to a poor signal.
Confirm the absence of potential sources of network interference at the chosen installation point. This includes devices like baby monitors, electronic remotes, signal jammers, or other cameras.
Place the camera in a new location within your router’s network range for optimal signal strength.
Remove The Camera and Reconnect
Removing the camera from ADT interactive deletes all your customization and settings. The camera must be reconnected to reuse.
You can move further and reset the camera to restore the default configurations – deleting corrupt or incomplete firmware files causing the offline issue.
Here is how to pop the camera from the app;
- Launch the ADT Pulse App.
- On the Menu, tap the Manage Devices section. Your complete list of ADT Pulse devices will now be visible. Proceed by selecting your ADT Pulse Camera.
- The system will present details regarding your ADT Pulse Camera. Scroll and hit the “Remove” button. Confirm the action by tapping on Remove.
This removes the camera from the app; you can reset it to restore the default settings.
For a wired ADT camera’s reset, press the square button at the rear for 15 seconds. In the case of wireless ADT cameras, grasp the small button adjacent to the power port at the rear and hold it for 10 seconds to initiate a reset.
Once reset, you can reconnect the camera to your network and load them to the ADT interactive platform and check that it’s back online.
Engage ADT Support
If you still can’t get the camera back online, it’s time to escalate the matter. With your ADT contract, you can send a representative to your location to look at things.
It could be a case of a faulty camera that won’t work or connect to your network. For example, you can find its hotspot when connecting via AP mode.
Therefore, contact the ADT support and walk them through your current woes.
