2 Newbie Questions: email setup and how to read the schedule portion of the app.

Hi All !

Extremely dumb newbie here !

I have received the Argus Cameras.
1.) No matter what I try I can not get the email portion of the app to work. I fail all email tests. I am in the USA, Florida. I'm on Xfinity/Comcast. The cameras installed fine. I can access them all. They all appear to work normally OR at least as is being described. However, I can not get email setup. I'm familiar with the basics of an email account. I fail every test. This is before any scheduling being done. I input what each blank asks..... at least as I understand the question of what info it wants.

2.) How in the world do I interpret the scheduling boxes. There are 6 columns of blue squares with 4 blue squares in each column. I would think the first column handles the time frame that is just to the left. But what are the other columns for? Each day of the week has the same setup so I can't figure out what the columns do or how to read them?

Sorry for wasting valuable time here, but I'm about to pull out what few hairs I have left. LOL !

Thanks !
John M

Crimp On

PIR scheduling is obvious, (

once you understand it

).

For row one:
0-5 on the left means the first box is hour "0", i.e. midnight to 12:59am
second box is 1:00am to 1:59am
third box is 2:00am to 2:59am
forth box is 3:00an to 3:59am
fifth box is 4:00am to 4:59am

For row two:
6-10 on the next row, the first box is 6:00am to 6:59am
box two is 7:00am to 7:59am

etc. etc.

Crimp On

I have verified that email from Argus does work. One thing that threw me in the beginning was that the Argus needs to have an email "account" it can access to send the message using SMTP. I set up a GMail account named "myhousename@google.com". The camera logs into Google's SMTP server using this account name and password, and sends messages to the email addresses that I specify. (My regular GMail account, for example.)

Another wrinkle is that you have to know which "port" the SMTP server listens to. "Normal" SMTP listens to port 25. Google, however, listens to port 465.

There are other ways that Reolink could have set this up. For example, they could have a BIG email server that the camera would access using credentials known only to Reolink, and that server could send messages to wherever you specified. They could also have made each camera an SMTP server, which runs into issues with a log of ISP's. But, that's not what they did.

The way it works is probably the best solution. I'm on Time-Warner (now Spectrum), and all my cameras send email as they are supposed to.

Hope that helps.

Hi Dick !

Thank you ever so much for your quick and detailed answers !!

As to 1.) I've set up my Comcast/Xfinity email account on numerous things over the year with little to no problems. That's why I don't understand why it wouldn't work after several attempts. I think I will do as you suggest and setup a Google account and use it. Thanks for the suggestions and tips !!!

As to 2.) OMG ! I would never have lived long enough to figure that out....LOL !!!!

A big THANK YOU for the explanation !!!

Be safe !
John

Hi Dick !

Another question about the scheduling feature of the Argus.
I've set up a schedule I would like the cameras to be active PIR/Siren/Notification, etc.

When I look at the camera view where it shows whether the PIR is on or not, live view, and anything else I look at, I can't tell whether scheduling is working or not. In other words, what do I SEE when it is NOT scheduled to be on ? It all looks the same whether it is scheduled to be on or not !

Once Again, Thanks in advance for your help !

John