RLC-520A V2 firmware?

[Fred]

Today I sent out an email to the Reolink Support Team - they were VERY quick to give me the updated firmware (I waited like 30 minutes and they replied with the `.pak` file). I uploaded the file to my `IPC_523128M5MP_V2` version of all my cameras. They are all working very well now. Thanks to the Reolink Support Team.

[maurizio bertero_632552311800380]

Hi @fred, I sent the same email as yours on 7 March 2023 and they quikly replied with this .pak file "IPC_523128M5MP_V2.1228_22082201.RLC-520A.OV05A10.5MP.REOLINK.pak".

I may be wrong but it looks newer than yours!

I don't understand what Reolink is doing with this product but...it looks like a mess!

[Rupert_60043699266]

Hello all,

I requested the latest firmware yesterday and got a prompt reply with V2.1228_22082201. No pet detection available. I queried it and the response indicates there are no plans to add pet detection to any 5MP cameras that do not already have this feature.

This is somewhat disappointing because I'll have to junk the six RLC-520A that I bought brand new only a few weeks ago and replace them with 8MP units (that I will only anyway run at 4MP as I do not need UHD) so that's a waste - I'll perhaps repurpose them elsewhere.

What I would say to anyone that has a 5MP camera with working pet detection (ie: v1 of the RLC-520A) is be very careful about any future firmware you apply as the pet detection functionality could disappear - It's clear that Reolink doesn't want to support this feature on 5MP cameras.

Playing the devil's advocate now, I understand people's frustration and to be fair to Reolink, they have been very clear to indicate pet detection is a beta feature and as such they are under no obligation to maintain availability until they state it is a production functionality. I'm not defending them here, just stating fact. For the record, I'm not affiliated to Reolink in any way, I have bought a ton of their products (50+ now) and will continue to do so. Yeah, it's a bummer I can't get notification of my dogs escaping on my 520A v2s, but I'll suck it up and move on. Still beats 5x the price for Hikvision equivalent where any performance advantages are pretty useless in a domestic environment...

[Peter_619314757218404]

I was also in contact with Reolink Support Team recently. They responded quickly (as usual) and gave me "latest" firmware (v3.1.0.1387_22100622) for my IPC_523128M5MP_V2 camera. Here is the link: IPC_523128M5MP_V2.1387_22100622.RLC-520A.OV05A10.5MP.REOLINK.pak

[Charly_737246187970762]

@peter_619314757218404 Hi,
Thanks for the file.
I installed it, but ever since I have not access to the camera through the web browser. Did experience the same issue?

[Peter_619314757218404]

Hi @charly_737246187970762, I have no issues.

[F_GOD]

Just received the new firmware through Support and that should bring Pet detection to the RLC-520A V2 as I had this firmware before the downgrade and it did had Pet detection.

You can download it here: https://support-d.reolink.com/attachments/token/b32M4tyle4rDpYdNSATF25tZP/?name=IPC_523128M5MP_V2.2368_23062701.RLC-520A.OV05A10.5MP.REOLINK.pak

What I find weird is that it is so hard to actually find this firmware and that it isn't even downloadable through the product page as that one only holds V1 firmwares while my camera is bought last week and it even came with this firmware to begin with and I only downgraded as a request by Support which made me loose Pet detection to begin with...

So for whoever is looking for this newer firmware, here it is...

[Peter_619314757218404]

@f_god Thanks for the file.

Can you share the info what kind of issues did you have when you bought camera with this firmware preinstalled?

[F_GOD]

@peter_619314757218404

I had issues with FTP not seeming to work as the created folder was empty, but the problem wasn't FTP service on the camera, but more the path it used. I made the save location the absolute path where it needed to save the files, while what the camera did was paste that absolute path behind the homedir of the user login.

Support didn't notice this when I contacted them and asked me to downgrade which made me loose the pet detection and didn't help. I was only when I searched through the logs of the FTP server that I noticed the path mentioned was different then the one I setup to save in. Eventually I "fixed" this by putting `../../` in front of the path to have it save to the path I wanted.

So afterwards, this wasn't so much related to the firmware but more to how the camera acted with absolute paths.

[joseph_1979]

@f_god The forward / is part of the path :). otherwise it will consider the whole name as one directory.

[F_GOD]

@joseph_1979

Yeah I know, that was why it was weird that when I put the / at the front, it still pasted it after the home dir of the user being used for ftp instead of doing the path as set. For example, /mnt/camera/ would result in /home/user/mnt/camera instead of what I filled in. Would have been logical to do this when I didn't put the / in front of it, but as I did, it was kinda weird behaviour... Instead I had to do ../../mnt/camera to get around it

[jsrone_193492483571881]

@f_god I've downloaded the most recent firmware from the link you provided, however when I try to update it says - Failed to recognize the file format. Any ideas?

(Currently on the firmware mentioned in a few posts above yours V2_1228_22082201)

[joseph_1979]

@jsrone_193492483571881 I suggest you to submit your request on https://support.reolink.com/requests/

[F_GOD]

@jsrone_193492483571881 I would indeed create a ticket as Joseph suggests as I had this same issue and it was related to version of the camera vs the firmware I was using as V1 firmware is not compatible with V2 and vice versa, so maybe you have a different version of the 520A camera

[tucker3738_367076416745686]

@f_god thanks for this, installed last week. No issues. Even able to link up with my reolink floodlight. Wish I could get the 1210a and 820a firmware to do this

[user_761164009099417_761164009099417]

@f_god Been sitting here for an hour trying to fix this FTP issue, changing everything I could think of. Why in the world would it default to the home directory... Regardless, thank you very much!

[user_789117732073651_789117732073651]

Replying to this topic just to confirm that this is dumb - the main download page for firmware for reolink cameras doesn't give you the latest firmware, the in-built "check for latest version" in the desktop browser doesn't have the latest firmware, but for some reason the links are provided by *community members* passed on from support. I mean, at least they aren't mega.nz links to random RAR files, but c'mon lol.

[tcjeep71_251969612312763]

It's funny that when I tried to reply to this topic it asked me if I was sure because the topic is "quite old", well yes it is and yet it's still an issue. I have 3 RLC-520A IPC_523128M5MP v2 (plus 2 more in a box that I should have just sent back). These cameras have been sold for more than 2 years and if you buy a 520A on Amazon today you will get the v2, yet it's still not listed on the download page as even existing and everyone is trying to find firmware that is passed around on the forums to firm firmware that works as it should and as advertised. Do you have new firmware somewhere, anywhere for these? I have 16 Reolink cameras and these are the ones that are always giving be problems.

[dispatch_375557105995910]

Made us do a 4 hour round trip site visit because they wont send us working firmware. Glad the Amcrest 5mp domes cost the same and look better.
Email response from ReoLink (which went on to provide steps that don't apply, repeatedly).
1. Firmware Availability:
Unfortunately, we don't typically provide older firmware versions directly to customers due to potential compatibility and security concerns. The firmware available on our download center is usually the most up-to-date and stable version.