Posts made by Crimp On_62210811129

I think it has been this way ever since the forum software package was changed. I actually prefer the new forum package. There is probably no reason for staff who monitor forum posts to look at links.

Am I the only person who clicks on the "support" link at the top of the forum page and gets this:

I believe you are entirely correct. The power and reset cables are not waterproof. What I did when mounting RLC cameras outdoors was drill a hole in the wall either behind the camera mount or close to it and stuff all of the cables through the hole so that they are inside the wall, and caulk the hole. (I also do not mount cameras where they are directly exposed to rain.)

I would not be comfortable mounting Reolink cameras where the power and reset cables are exposed to the elements

I believe under Profile... Settings (gear symbol) there are options for what notifications to receive.

I got myself confused when setting up email notifications from my Reolink cameras. (I do not have a NVR. All cameras record to SD cards and I use the Windows Client to view them.)

On the camera email setup, I use one email account to send messages to a different email account. (I know it is technically possible to send email FROM myself TO myself, but wanted the convenience of knowing that ANY email FROM this particular email account was going to a camera notification.)

Every email service uses a different 'port' for the smtp connection. GMail uses 465. Yahoo appears to use a variety of ports. (Search for 'Yahoo smtp port').

Maybe the NVR is somehow "different"?

Reolink makes quality products, but software updates are few (and far between). Chances of something this fundamental being changed are slim to none.

I, personally, have no doorbell cam. Really frustrated trying to find the right "fit" for my setup. I have Reolink cameras, Wyze cameras (love them), and not interested in Ring. There are SO MANY doorbell cameras to choose from, but I do not want to add a third camera "app". I am "odd" because I have no NVR. (only cameras with SD cards which FTP motion recording to an FTP server).

Wish I could recommend a doorbell camera, but I am still "on the fence".

Amazon shows the RLC-810A (one, or pack of two) with "Prime One Day Delivery". That would seem to indicate that they are not on "back order".
(It also has no relevance about the process or returning one product for a different product.)

Back order - unlikely. When your shipment will arrive? That previous post seems to point to the key information.

What happens when you use the "Scan" option to find cameras? or the IP address method?

Since version 8.5.1 is now available for download on the support web page, perhaps it is time to remove this notice about 8.4.2 and replace it with similar information about 8.5.1 (release notes).

My RLC cameras use FTP to send motion captures to an FTP server. Although I do not currently have a NAS, my understanding that FTP is one of the core technologies of most NAS.

I have no Ring doorbell, but I have an idea what may be going on. The standard method for sending messages is the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), which was created in 1981. The sending device must connect to an email system and provide a user name and password to verify that it is allowed access. It then provides the email address that it wants to send a message to. All the people sending us fascinating messages about Viagra and Nigerian princes either (a) follow this process, or (b) operate their own SMTP server which gives them special capabilities.

I created another GMail account, something like (Reolink will not let me include a link here, even if it doesn't have an @ sign) and put that into the Reolink setup as the email sender, along with the password to that account. This has the added benefit of making it easy to recognize and sort messages from Reolink cameras because they are the only messages that come from this email sender. So, Reolink never gets the password to MY PERSONAL account. The camera has the email address to this account that never receives messages and only sends messages to me.

I agree that it would have been convenient if Reolink had created their own SMTP service that could process several million messages per day from their cameras, which is what I assume Ring has done. The two 'downsides' to that approach are (a) if the vendor's special message service is interrupted, then email alerts to every customer are interrupted, and (b) this message service now knows every time any camera sends an alert. In the 'Ring-verse', where they want to share alerts with the police (and so on....) this is cool.

All of my Reolink cameras record to an SD card (maximum 256MB) that is housed inside the camera.The RLC-820A supports SD Card storage:
https://reolink.com/product/rlc-820a/#specifications

I also have my cameras FTP motion recordings to an FTP server (actually on the same PC as the Reolink Client). I have a Windows batch script that runs once a day and 'cleans up' the FTP server by (a) deleting jpeg files after a few days and deleting mpeg files after two weeks. Here's what my batch file looks like:

ECHO Job begins %date% %time%
ECHO Remove JPG files older than 3 days
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\FrontDoorCam /s /m *.jpg /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\HondaCam    /s /m *.jpg /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\PickupCam   /s /m *.jpg /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\ShedCam     /s /m *.jpg /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\SideCam     /s /m *.jpg /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
ECHO Remove MPG files older than 15 days
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\FrontDoorCam /s /d -15 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\HondaCam    /s /d -15 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\PickupCam   /s /d -15 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\ShedCam     /s /d -8 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
Forfiles /p D:\Reolink\SideCam     /s /d -15 /c "cmd /c del @file /f /q"
ECHO Remove Empty Directories
Robocopy D:\Reolink D:\Reolink /S /MOVE

You could probably do a similar batch file for the Reolink Download folder.
I have no idea what happens when cameras are set to "continuous record".

Which method is being used to view recorded videos:

• Reolink Client software?
• Reolink smartphone 'app'?
• Web access directly to camera?

This may depend on which specific camera it is.

The RLC cameras, for example, are set up by connecting an ethernet cable to them and using the ethernet connection to input the WiFi name & password.
The battery cameras (like most battery cameras) work by creating a QR code on the smartphone app and having the camera take a picture of the QR code.

Good idea to experiment before installing.

Makes no sense to me. My PoE cameras show up as "Attached Devices" on my Netgear WiFi router.

One thing I noticed some time ago was that my router would lose track of devices that did not send or receive data for a while. My Nest thermostat, for example, would not show up until I opened the Nest app and connected to the thermostat.

Do they not show up when the Reolink Client is open and streaming video from them?

I believe that all important settings are kept on the cameras themselves. When the Client program starts on the new computer, it will scan the LAN looking for cameras and import the settings from them.

Are the cameras configured to get their IP address using DHCP? Devices do not provide "status information" to routers. They request IP addresses and they send/receive data packets.

Just do a Reset and configure it again?

Depending on which cameras they are, create a user ID & password for the contractor and enable it on each of the cameras you want him to be able to view.
He can install the Reolink app on iPhone or Android, or the Reolink Client on Windows or Mac and use the UID to open the cameras.
(The original Argus camera allows only a single user ID.)

Actually, since UID codes are almost impossible to guess, just tell him the User ID (which is usually "admin"), the password, and the UID's of the cameras you want him to view.