Posts made by Crimp On_62210811129

The microphone should appear as a tiny hole in the bottom of the case. Attached is a picture of my RLC-410-WS camera showing the microphone hole.

Is that a typo, " expired in january 2026". Today is only June 2021.

I use only the Reolink Client or web interface to view my Reolink cameras. I have observed that the RLC cameras respond to ICMP (ping) requests, so as a matter of idle curiosity I set up a Ping Monitoring program to watch some of them. Was surprised to see that they seem to fail to respond enough times to trigger an alert from the monitoring program.

Ping is a common networking tool often used to verify that devices are 'alive' or that the network is functioning correctly. I had problems with a PowerLine link supporting Reolink cameras and replaced that PowerLine with a WiFi link and I am concerned about the stability of that link. It is really annoying to find that my security cameras have been off-line for hours (or days) because of network problems.

There is no rule that devices must respond to ping requests. Many devices respond to pings and others do not. Smart speakers, for example: (Sonos One does. Echo Dot does not. Nest Mini does.) Windows Firewall defaults to 'not'. My first thought upon getting alerts that Reolink cameras had 'gone down' was, "oh, no. another network problem!" But, the pattern is pretty clear. One Reolink camera will be reported missing and exactly one minute later, it's back. Some hours later, a different camera gets reported 'down', and one minute later it's 'up'.

I posted the question to see if other users experience the same behavior with RLC cameras. If NO ONE does, I may have an unexplained network problem.

I've been monitoring some devices on my network with EMCO Ping Monitor 8 (Free for Windows up to 5 devices) and have noticed that my RLC-410-5MP and RLC-420-5MP cameras will fail to respond 3-4 times each day. EMCO tries to connect once each minute, so I will get a message that the state of a device was changed to 'Down' and a minute later the state changes to 'Up'.

Has anyone seen similar behavior?

My experiment with the RLC-510WA was successful. On the FTP Settings menu, I selected "Image Only" at 8am. From that time on, the only files sent to me FTP server. (Personally, I do not find these images particularly useful.)

Have no idea what would would be different about the RLC-510A.

Oh, wow. I will have to test that.

I have RLC-410-5MP and RLC-510WS cameras. Both have FTP settings for File Type that include:
Clear Video and Image
Fluent Video and Image
Standard Video and Image
Image Only

Seems strange that a similar camera would not have this same 'drop down' menu.

I do not understand what static IP addresses has to do with power surge or blackout. If power is interrupted, all cameras will turn off. (along with everything else). When power comes back, the network DHCP server will provide IP addresses to the cameras. I have my DHCP server set to "assign" IP addresses to cameras based on their MAC address. Power has gone off many times, and the cameras always come back on line with the correct IP addresses.

HOWEVER... my guess is that IP address has nothing to do with the issue. The only way the smartphone app can view cameras is by their UID. Each camera opens a link to the Reolink "cloud" announcing "I can be found HERE." If someone has the smartphone app, the UID, user name, and password, they can connect to the camera.

What I have found is that it is easiest to configure the Reolink "app" by connecting the smartphone to the LAN where the cameras are located, click the "Add" button, and then select "Scan LAN" (not QR code or entering data). Within seconds, all the cameras will be found and added to the app. Then, disconnect from WiFi and use the app over the LTE (cell) connection and verify that cameras can be viewed.

In an outdoor relaxation setting, I like something similar to the birdhouse that started this discussion.
For example, a fake birdhouse up against the wall (or whatever the camera is attached to). The camera can be inside with the lens blocking the hole so that birds are not tempted to enter. Or, a hanging plant with the camera peeking out from under it or around the side of it.

I, personally, want security cameras to be a deterrent, so the more visible the better. Is there a reason why some bottles of model airplane paint would not accomplish what you want? (at much lower cost and available today at any craft store or Amazon)

I volunteer to be a Beta tester if this capability can be developed. I understand testing will be a chore because camera firmware has to be changed back and forth. I'd suggest developing for the camera web interface first and add functionality to the Mac/Windows Client after the firmware works on the camera.
I have RLC-410-5MP, RLC-420-5MP, RLC-510WA. Would even buy a 4K camera if the developers want to start at the high end.

On that screen shot of the PHYLINK camera, I am confused by the options:
Minimum length of motion. To me this means "if motion does not persist longer than this, I don't want to know about it."
Minimum ignore time of motion. This sounds like saying the same thing, only backwards.

This is indeed the "crux of the matter". The current program compares one frame to the NEXT frame and calculates how many pixels have changed. If the number of changed pixels is greater than the cutoff value, by definition there is "motion".
The proposal is to make the calculation more complicated. That is, to COUNT the number of frames that are different rather than trigger motion on one change. For example, every time one frame is different than the previous frame, increment the counter by one. If the new frame is not different than the previous frame, reset the counter to zero. When the counter reaches some value, declare "motion". Suppose a user says, "I do not want to see 'motion' that lasts for less than 2 seconds." Then the number of successive frames that change has to reach 2 times the number of frames per second. (At 20 frames per second, that would be 2*20 = 40). If there are 40 frames in a row that are 'different', then something I care about is 'moving'.

I understand this is NOT EASY. An insect may not "move enough" from one frame to another to meet the criterion.

But, that is the whole point of CHALLENGING programmers. They are SMART. They will find a way.

I have mentioned this several times. It makes SO much sense.

I also think there is no reason not to have SETTINGS for several parameters.
"Prerecord", for example, seems to be a fixed number of seconds or none at all.
The user should be able to set up to some maximum value, say 0-20 seconds.
Post record is the same.

I finally solved the "flying insect problem" by purchasing separate Infrared LED lights and placing them 6-8 ft. away from the camera. Bugs are drawn to them and do not appear to be BIG BRIGHT OBJECTS to the camera.

As one of the people who helped "Kickstart" the original Reolink Argus, I viewed that as an experiment and quickly learned the major differences between cameras with inexhaustible power and battery powered units. The PIR sensor rather than image processing to bring it to life. The short recordings. The limit on live viewing. Came to realize that battery cameras are not for me. All my Reolink's are now PoE or connected to a nearby electrical outlet. All my RLC's record to internal SD Card and FTP recordings to a server. No "Cloud".

Like mdunning, I would be interesting to learn if there are ANY battery power cameras (I view solar as still 'battery') that support protocols such as FTP, RTSP, ONVIF, etc.

I started to (try to) calculate what sort of solar/battery unit would be required to use a regular RLC camera "wirelessly". Looks like a camera might need as much as 2,880 watt hours to run 24 hours. (12 watts x 24 hours. Older cameras with less processing used less current.) My enthusiasm did not survive trying to find a solar/battery combination that would run the camera and charge a battery at the same time. With the right solar/battery combination, Blue Iris or FTP would work with any brand of camera supporting the right protocols, and Reolink's cameras are attractively priced.

My guess is that the intention was to do what I did and push the entire wire bundle (RJ45, 12v, and reset button) through the hole I made in the wall and then seal the hole. Or... push the entire wire bundle through a hole into a weatherproof junction box. Leaving those three items exposed to the weather is a recipe for disaster. Maybe a blob of silicon over the ends would hold up (or not). I would not like the appearance of dangling wires.

Version 8.2.6 is here:
https://reolink.com/us/software-and-manual/

Yes, my experiment failed miserably. Setting the 'sensitivity' to the lowest possible setting still resulted in recording tree shadows moving across the yard as 'motion'. There is no guarantee that any animals will wander by overnight to become part of this test, but I will check tomorrow.

It seems a bit sad that after all these years of developing Artificial Intelligence that this is as far as we have come: cameras that cannot distinguish between scenes that are important and scenes that are not.

I am resigned now that I simply cannot have what I want.
The new "Vehicles and Persons" software works pretty well. No more recording tree shadows moving across the yard.
But, also, no recording small animals (cats, possums, squirrels, etc.) I cannot come up with a strategy that makes sense.
If the recording mode includes "Any Motion" then the sensitivity level has to be VERY LOW during daylight hours to avoid recording shadows or waving flags (no animals during the day), and can be high at night to catch the animals, but this means constantly changing the sensitivity by time of day.

I will try that next and just make an arbitrary decision: Look for animals from say 8pm to 5am.

Things to go into the "Suggestion Box"

With the new "Person and Vehicle" capability, would it be feasible to add another category for "animals"? I know other systems can recognize "packages" (which seems a bit redundant. how does a package "show up" without a person or vehicle being involved?)

Rather than set Sensitivity settings by time of day, would it be possible to set sensitivity by Daylight and Dark? The demarcation between color and B&W changes constantly, as does daytime and nighttime.

Rather than have only one Record option which can be "on" or"off" for each of the 168 hours of a week, could each hour have specific options. i.e a combination of "Any", "Person", and "Vehicle" for 2-3am on Wednesday, but a different combination for 3-4am?

Suppose I want to see which neighbor's cat is digging up my flower bed? If I set the sensitivity high (to catch small animals), I will also pick up ALL MOTION - even cloud shadows.

There appears to be a "learning curve" with regard to motion detection on this camera. The camera description says very clearly "vehicle and person" detection. The Windows Client offers sensitivity settings of Low, Medium, and High with pictures of a Car, a Person, and an Animal. (Remember: "animal" was not one of the special features of this camera.) It also offers the same sort of time periods that previous Reolink cameras have always provided, where the sensitivity can be set for different times of the day.

On the Record panel, recording can be "on" or "off" for individual hours of the day and days of the week. But there cannot be different choices for the 168 individual hours of the day. "Record" can be either "Any Motion", "Person", or "Vehicle".
I have now come to understand that "Any Motion" refers to the old Reolink process, which is based on sensitivity. I had set Record to "Any Motion" and was surprised today when the camera spent all afternoon recording tree shadows waving across the yard. (duh) That is "motion" the way Reolink cameras have always been sensitive to it.

What if I want to see animals (cats, possums, skunks, etc.) who pass through my yard but I do not want to see those irritating tree shadows? CAN'T BE DONE.

I can set the daytime sensitivity to the lowest possible and the nighttime sensitivity to very high. No tree shadows during the daylight hours and also NO ANIMALS. Animals at night. Back to the same old, same old problem: update the sensitivity every week as seasons change? yuck.

Will know more in a week as I experiment with settings.

Maybe this was obvious to everyone else, but it sure tripped me up.