Posts made by Chopstix

@kimchigun it’s 8° today however last week it was above freezing, 34 to 38° daily on average with sun and I wasn’t getting charging. Could simply be some quality consistency issues with whoever supplies the batteries. I know of a lot of batteries won’t charge below 40F. Maybe that’s what I am experiencing.

@joseph_1979 that's how it SHOULD work, but it does not. With this camera (at least with mine), post-recording time starts as soon as motion is detected NOT after the motion stops. I can jump in front of the camera momentarily and it will recorded the full 30 seconds. My son can do a 3-minute Fortnite dance in middle of the FOV and it will fragment after 30-seconds with multiple video fragments to follow. I have tried this repeated times and the initial fragment is 8, 15, 30 seconds respectively. I am convinced that there is a firmware bug.

@kimchigun Happy wife, happy life something something hahaha. I did have to disable "Other" as well as "Vehicle" since turning up the PIR sensitivity.

@radioastronomy_410111540293820 I have some generic IR lights from Amazon. They use a simple photo sensor for when to turn on. I find that they come on well before it's took dark for the cameras to be effective. Your mileage will vary of course.

Not that I encourage this as it will certainly void warranties, but it is conceivable (with the proper skill set) to take the Reolink PoE floodlight and replace the white LEDs with IR arrays.

@peter_748442346729617 a visible camera caused social problems. A hidden camera, if discovered, would also cause problems. So you are looking for something that can be hidden but if discovered doesn't look like it has been hidden... because... you think that won't cause problems? Is there a legal issue at play here? None of my business but it sounds like you either need to 1) not monitor that area -or- 2) work out the social problems.

In any event, 1" - 2" sized minimalist cameras do exist. Not from Reolink, but there are dozens of options out there.

Quick update. After some discussion with @joseph_1979 and @KimchiGUN I tweaked some settings and the results are as follows:

1) Increasing the post-detection recording from 8-seconds to 15-seconds and 30-seconds does not prevent fragmenting of the event the video. It only affects the first fragment of the event. The first fragment is 8, 15, or 30 seconds (based on setting) and the remaining event video is fragment at random lengths. I suspect this is a firmware oversight as the post-detection timer should trigger ONLY after motion is no longer detected. The way it is now, you get either 8, 15 or 30 seconds of static video before another function takes over.

2) The default PIR sensitivity is 80. Increasing to 90 reduced some fragmenting. Increasing to 100 further reduced fragmenting however I could not get fewer than 3 fragments even with 2 minutes of continuous motion. First fragment was 30 seconds, second fragment was 48 seconds and third fragment was 46 seconds. Having the sensitivity up that high introduces other issues but I will attempt to overcome those via settings before I comment.

Without a better understanding of how the camera determines when to split video, I can only assume that there is a firmware oversight or a bug.

@joseph_1979 laziness averted. First test run video upload and link added to original post.

@kimchigun My battery has never shown the lightning bolt except during charge from USB wall charger. With panel connected, I get the sunburst icon but never the lighting bolt icon. I am wondering if I have a bad panel.

I am starting to play PIR sensitivity an other settings to see if I get less fragments.

@joseph_1979 I have increased it to 15 seconds. The options are 8, 15, 30. I'll post back when I get some data. If I stop being lazy today, I'll see about getting the initial test clips uploaded to YouTube.

@kimchigun I am in SE Michigan. Weather has been similar, cold, overcast and rain with a few days of sun. Fully charged before install and today sitting at 52%. The 3W solar panel has never shown to be charging even on the few fully sunny days we have had. Average 1% drop on days with little to no detections, 2-3% on days that I play/test the camera.

Also, I am having an occurrence of recorded events being fragmented in to multiple videos, even with constant motion occurring. Even had one occurrence where the video fragments during a tracking event.

@joseph_1979 it fragments the video with constant motion still in the FOV. It will also fragment the video in the middle of tracking as well.

@joseph_1979 From my limited use of this unit so far, agreed... Battery cams that support 24/7 recording (always on) are better candidates for motion tracking. I have found that if the object is coming towards the camera, there is enough time to power-up and track. However if the object is moving across the FOV, it has a high probability of missing. I'd like to give the Atlas a try at some point.

As for 360 PIR, they could simply add multiple sensors around the base. If one or more sensors detects motion, the camera rotates to that direction. It might not be that simple, but it works like that in my head.

I am going to have to test the solar panel. Granted it is winter here and the sun is at it's lowest azimuth to me (although I do have the panel angled to match), but even if there are zero detection events in a given day, the battery percentage does not go up. It has been a steady decrease at an average of 1-percent per day. The days that I test the camera, it drop 2-3 percent. I am wondering if perhaps the panel is defective.

I like the specs on the TrackMix but for this area I don't need wide-angle as I have a Duo2 overhead on the 2nd floor roofline. Honestly, I don't even really need motion tracking for this application (I just need to monitor the deck door) but I like the option of manually panning over to the pond and capturing events.

I am having zero Wi-Fi issues. My Home Hub Pro is at the front of the house on the second floor so assuming the antenna has a donut signal shape, this orientation is ideal. But to our points, having RSSI or a percentage would help users fine-tune placement although I think percentage would be more user-friendly. Or why not both? Case-in-point, the HHP is in the room directly above my Wi-Fi doorbell and that shows 2 bars signal strength. No signal issues but I am very curious on he actual signal strength.

My recording schedule is set for always. The post-detection recording is set for 8-seconds and oddly, the first video segment of any event is always 8-seconds. It's almost if the camera is not recognizing that the event is longer than 8-seconds so it stops recording and then immediately starts again. But that does not explain the continuous video fragmentation (at random lengths) for a single event. I am going to increase the post-detection recording time to see if the first video segment time matches.

@philhal2_823788642009256 this is an older FAQ. I am currently running version 4.51.1.2. When setting up a new camera, add it to the app as a standalone so you can connect it to a different Wi-Fi network. You can then add it to your Home Hub. If you setup up a new camera directly into a Home Hub, it will be setup on the Home Hub's Wi-Fi by default.

I have had the opportunity to test this model. Just some brief thoughts here and I am happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability.

1. Motion tracking with a camera that has to wake from standby mode sometimes does not trigger. In many cases, the object that triggers the PIR is already gone.
2. Still no 360-degree PIR.
3. When active, motion tracking seems to work best when followed object is no closer than 3-4 feet. If too close to the camera, it looses tracking and returns to Monitor Point.
4. Motion tracking is not smooth. I jumps/stops/jumps as the object moves.
5. 3W solar panel is inadequate. Perhaps my unit is faulty. I get no increase in charge percentage from the solar panel even though the connected icon is present.
6. Zero signal issues with the camera on the outside eve of my deck and the Home Hub Pro on the other side of the house. Full 5GHz bars. App and/or camera desperately need a Wi-Fi signal PERCENTAGE meter.
7. Video output is not a contiguous video. For any given motion event, the camera breaks up the video into random length segments. For one of the tests, the motion event was 1:58 and the event was broken into 7 video segments ranging from 8 seconds to 27 seconds each (video is below). I have not been able to determine what criteria it uses for breaking up video.

@reolink-oskar I have some WP DTNVG's for running around in the dark but that tech is far too cost prohibitive for residential and commercial cameras. I think low LUX cameras are the way to go. My RLC-843A's far out perform my 1240A's in low lighting. In the suburbs with skyline glow, my 843's do not need IR while my 1240's do. I don't like color NV as it requires white light. As a result, depth of field is only as good as the throw of the light. On one of my 843's I have disabled the spot light for this reason. If low LUX cameras are not an option, external IR flood lights. I have a Duo2 mounted on my second story roofline for overwatch of my back yard. At that distance, the built-in IR is useless so I splash the property with two IR floods.

For tactical use, companies are mixing thermal over one eye and NV over the other. The tubes are matched and calibrated and the end result is amazing recognition ability in the dark for the operator. Not sure if that could be incorporated cost effectively into a security camera, but it would be sweet.

@radioastronomy_410111540293820 I have two external IR flood lights in my back yard for this reason. I have the cameras IR turned off and my two external out of view from the cameras while still splashing the the grounds. Reolink already makes an external camera controlled flood light so I don't see why they could not do the same with an IR light.

270-360 degree PIR for PT cameras.

@joseph_1979 hahaha. They put me in the cool kids club.

@icancyou_596163611529276 I do not have that camera model however I do have seven of their cameras which some have audio recording enabled and others do not. Never had an issue with the settings reverting themselves back to on. You might try to submit a trouble ticket via the website.

@user_715874138988770_715874138988770 I have had my own issues with support but never them not being responsive. Did you submit your ticket via their website?

Regardless, bullet camera or dome? Dome cameras have a seal that is easily damaged of not reassembled with care. Also, the cover retention cable can easily get caught in the seal during reassembly. I had one that kept fogging and upon examination saw that I pinched the cable in the seal. I cleared the pinch and have not had issues since. Do you know the IP rating of your cameras?