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Most Ethernet cable is not shielded. There is no need for shielding because of the "twist" in the pairs of wire.
Ironically, my old Argus battery cameras are NOT recording constantly. The "RLC" and "C1" cameras are build on a single hardware platform (IPC_3816M). They all got a new firmware release. I have been awaiting "progress" in a number of areas and installed the new firmware. Alas, this new development is disappointing.So, different hardware platform. Almost everything is different between the RLC and battery models (motion sensing, LED control, underlying operating system, etc.).I actually set my battery cameras to not email me about motion during the day because the constant pings were annoying. Ironically, I have them set to trigger only at night.
Installed the new firmware for RLC-410WS cameras on Feb 3. Starting the evening of Feb 3, and every night since then, my three cameras record almost constantly from about 11:45 at night until about 4:00am the next morning. Each motion file is about 102MB (two minutes). When I watch the motion files, I cannot see ANYTHING that resembled "motion." I am (sadly) fully aware that very small and very quick motions can trigger a recording. i.e. a tiny insect flying past the camera lens at night appears VERY bright because it is illuminated by the LED's. Even 1/2sec is enough. Rain drops falling past the eaves, etc. I am used to counting off five seconds and seeing that tiny flicker which set off the camera. With these recordings, I see NOTHING MOVE.The only thing that has changed is the firmware. Has anyone else noticed a change in camera behavior? Reolink support obviously was not told to expect questions about the new firmware, so they have no advice except the standard "How to avoid..." I guess now I get to lower the sensitivity setting one notch each day until this behavior quits.Very annoying.
Reolink's Cloud Service was added for customers who want recordings to be protected. Recordings on an SDCard inside the camera would be lost if someone physically removed the camera. If someone is going to burglarize or vandalize a home, they certainly would not be shy about stealing cameras. Customers with battery cameras clamored for Reolink to create a Cloud Service similar to that of Netgear's Arlo.Before the Cloud Service was created (and still), Reolink cameras can be accessed through a mobile phone app. The key is that the camera has to be defined correctly in Reolink's data center by the UID. If you are having trouble accessing camera feeds, I suggest contacting support@reolink.com.
You definitely have a problem that needs support. I just installed the latest Windows Client (my machine runs Windows 7). Same interface as before: icons in same place. descriptive labels under each. When I open an icon, same labels and entry boxes as before. (see screen shot below)Client.jpg
To confirm: The icons in the Settings box are arranged differently than before, and when you click on one of the icons it brings up a box with no labels? Can you post a picture of one of them? (I am thinking about updating, and I still have the previous install file to go back to. But, it looks like waiting for a fix might be prudent.)Have you contacted support@reolink.com about this? My experience is that they respond reliably and (given the time difference between here and Hong Kong) fairly promptly. I do not know if they actually monitor this community forum.
I would email support@reolink.com The techs monitor that. I do not know if Reolink techs monitor this community forum.
I suspect changing firmware to keep an Argus camera "always on" when connected to electric power (not solar panel) is a non-trivial programming task. There is a very good chance that the electronics inside the Argus line are entirely different than the RLC line of cameras and the software also entirely different. This delay between an event starting and recording plagues battery cameras that are three times the cost of Argus. I had thought about doing one of the "hacks" to bring constant power to my Argus cameras and realized there was no point. I bought a couple to see how they work, and find them cute as hell. But not buying any more.
It is no surprise to me that Reolink is using Amazon Web Services as their cloud platform. Most of the Internet of Things devices that I own seem to use Amazon or one other cloud service. It might be worth considering that EVERY Internet service that does anything at all has "open ports" (email and HTTP/HTTPS being the most common but there are lots more). The majority nowadays seem to use encrypted data paths.My initial thought is that companies have chosen this design because the hole through the firewall is "one way". i.e. the devices opens a port to a specific IP address. I do not know any method to query a router from the outside and discover that these pathways exist. Messages can come in only from that specific IP. I guess they could hack AWS, in which case I imagine they would go after web commerce sites first, rather than consumer cameras.Of course, if you get the cameras hooked up to your ZoneMinder, then you can block AWS and security of your VPN is the main risk. My guess is the camera will function without connecting to Reolink's cloud.Good Luck!
By design, Reolink cameras register their UID with Reolink's cloud service. This is how the Apple and Android apps "find" the cameras. I queried my router "open ports" table and found that all 5 of my Reolink cameras maintain open connections to 54.210.7.156 (Amazon Web Services). My guess is if you block that IP, (1) you will eliminate the security hole, but (2) your Reolink apps will no longer be able to view your cameras when not at home. (That's where ZoneMinder comes in? Or, if you run a VPN, I guess you could use the HTTP/HTTPS capability.)My cameras have the sound turned off. (no help there, sorry)I have no experience with ZoneMinder. The "Hardware Compatibility List" does not include Reolink. I am a bit confused, because that list mentions cameras that are ONVIF compliant. Reolink C1 cameras support RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol), which is the example used in the ZoneMinder User Guide. (ONVIF vs. RTSP? Here, you are WAY ahead of me.) When I do a port scan on one of my Reolink cameras (sorry, not a C1) I find HTTP, HTTPS, and Port 554 (rtsp). VLC Media Player streams from my Reolink cameras, so their implementation of RTSP seems to work.The Reolink Windows client reports using port 9000. I have no idea what that's all about.Reolink cameras support FTP, but not FTPD (server). My cameras FTP motion files TO my FTP server just fine.I don't know that any of this is helpful. Good Luck!
I am not an expert, but I do have a couple of questions:1. Is your PC Windows or Mac? (you said the magic word "iPhone")2. When you set up the camera by plugging in an ethernet cable, you said it was working. Did that include finding your WiFi router? And, you tested it by unplugging the ethernet cable, rebooting, and the PC client could still find it?3. Did you "add" the camera by UID or IP address? The smartphone app is intended to connect to the camera by asking the Reolink cloud server, "where is this camera?" and the server knows because the camera has connected to Reolink and said where it lives on the Internet. This may be critical, because one of the things the PC client and the NVR do is broadcast a query on the local subnet asking, "if there are any Reolink cameras out there, please check in."4. When you write, "sent a letter", you mean emailed support@reolink.com?Don't know if any of these questions make sense, or will be helpful.My other question is, "are you SURE that the Reolink NVR will work with battery cameras? (solar power comes under the general heading of "battery.") I may be incorrect, but my sense is that the NVR is designed to continuously collect whatever the camera is viewing. Since battery cameras would run dry in only a day if left on continuously, there is not much point in connecting them to an NVR. I would check that out by directing a question to support@reolink.com.
I have listed this as a request to Reolink for a LONG time. I doubt that programming can do much about clouds or trees moving shadows around, or foliage moving in the wind. They detect how many pixels have changed, and if we lower the sensitivity enough to ignore those events, we'll miss almost everything. I deal with some of this by masking parts of the picture, but have learned to live with it. When the camera changes modes, however, is TOTALLY something the programmer can detect and accommodate. This is just lazy, OR Reolink has to take whatever firmware their supplier produces and the supplier isn't interested.I also find it unfortunate that the cameras which are NOT able to turn off their IR LEDs switch to black and white mode when the LEDs come on, even if there is enough light to record in color. I have an Argus mounted close to a RLC-410WS. I have disabled the LEDs on the Argus and mounted a separate IR illuminator several feet away. This solves the "bugs drawn to the LEDs problem." Since I cannot turn off the LEDs on the 410, I covered them with tape. When the separate IR illuminator turns on, the Argus continues to record in color until the ambient light totally fades, but the 410 switches to black and white when it turns on its own LEDs (that I have covered and aren't doing anything useful). So, exactly same lighting, but Argus is color and 410 is black & white.
I, also, assign static IP addresses to all my Reolink cameras using the DNS table in my router. (I have Netgear, but I am 90% certain that all modern routers have the same ability.) I do not configure the camera itself with a fixed IP. I let the camera use DHCP to ask for an IP, and it always get the IP I want it to have. If, for some reason, I want to change the IP, I have only to update the router table rather than unmount the camera and plug in an ethernet cable.
Since The Argus cameras are designed from the outset to conserve battery life, my guess is the answer is going to come back, "sorry, no". I do not have access to technical information, but I would not be confident that the solar power unit will produce enough energy to keep the camera running constantly all night. As an example, there are lots of solar powered garden lights, where the solar panels are supposed to keep the light running all night. None of them last that long. And, while there may be more than 12 hours of daylight in the summer, there is a lot less daylight in the winter. It also might depend on whether you want the IR illumination at night when it is recording 24/7. That burns considerable battery.Anyway, what an interesting questions. I'll be fascinated to see what Reolink says.
My understanding is "yes, the Reolink devices (cameras, NVR) open IP connections to the Reolink cloud servers." Once a connection is opened "outbound", it is open for return traffic from that IP. Like, when you connect to a web site, that web site can send packets back to you. The unique user name and password are used to look up the connection to a particular UID that is associated with that customer. Port forwarding allows anyone, anywhere to attempt to connect to your cameras. The only thing stopping them is knowing the user name/password for the camera. (Just like they need to know the user name/password for the Reolink app.)I would email the question to "support@reolink.com", rather than asking Community members. We users have opinions, whereas the support staff are usually pretty knowledgeable.People who are "totally paranoid" about security do not register their cameras using UID, and probably do not set up port forwarding. They either do not allow access from outside their LAN, or they set up VPN's to tunnel into their network.
This is a significant difference between the Reolink NVR and Reolink client software for Windows (Mac, too?) The heart of NVR is the PoE connected cameras. The NVR "sees them" because they are directly connected. (Like the NVR's that connected cameras over coax cables) Because people have WiFi and cameras that are not PoE, the NVR broadcasts to find them.The client software allows cameras to be added by IP address. Sort of wish that option had been programmed into the NVR. My guess it's not coming any time soon, or at all.Putting the NVR and cameras in a VLAN is an excellent solution. I just did a quick Google search and was surprised to find how many inexpensive switches support VLAN's. That would have the benefit of isolating the NVR/camera network from the rest of the network, with only the devices you allow through having access. You never mentioned how your two building networks are connected or what kind of switches are deployed.
Could you be more specific about how you "configured the routers" to allow traffic from one sub-net to the other?(I enjoy the minutia of networking, but have not reached any significant degree of expertise.)My naive understanding is that when a device wants to send packets to an IP address that is on the same sub-net, it does an ARP request to get the MAC address of the device. Then, it sends packets directly to that MAC address. When the IP is not on the same sub-net, it sends those packets to the MAC address of the gateway device, which then knows which router port knows where to find that IP. So, your Windows machine says, "I want 192.168.2.x, and sends that packet to 192.168.1.1, which knows where to find 192.168.2.x" If your Windows machine had a sub-net mask of 255.255.0.0, it would say, "192.168.2.x is on my sub-net, so I'll do an ARP request to find its MAC address. Once I get the MAC address, I'll address my packets to it." But, nobody answers the ARP request, because ARP requests don't go across routers.Have you tried setting your Windows machine mask to 255.255.0.0, and you can still communicate with the camera on the other sub-net?Or, have I just displayed horrible ignorance?p.s. I agree that it seems reasonable that people might want to connect their NVR to cameras on a different LAN.
I do not know of any 3rd party apps that will work with Reolink cameras. Have you considered this:Power the Reolink camera with a "Smart Plug". Several companies sell devices that plug into a wall outlet and turn their own outlet "on" and "off" according to schedules or events you set up. The TP-Link Mini WiFi Smart Plug says that you can set up a schedule to turn things on and off. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Occupies-HS105-Wall-Light-Electronic-Component-switches/dp/B01K1JVZOE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1543884955&sr=8-3&keywords=tp-link+smart+plug. The user manual on page 7 talks about setting up schedules for when it turns on and off. TP-Link's "Kasa" system allows you to group plugs into "scenes" and have a bunch of them do things together (like four cameras). They also claim to interface with IFTTT (If This Then That) which might allow you to turn them all on when you leave the house and off when you return.I've glanced at reviews of Smart Plugs and people seem to think some have more or better features in one area or another.I do not own any Smart Plugs (yet), so I have no experience with how they work (or what about them drives people crazy).Anyway, you could try one for under $20 and see if it is useful.
The RLC-410W product page claims it works with Reolink NVR's. (Down at the bottom of the page.) The NVR product page mentions numerous cameras, none of which are WiFi models, but it also says, "etc."I downloaded the NVR User Manual. The zip file includes manuals for several types of NVR's. On page 23 of the PoE manual, it says the NVR can detect cameras connected to the NVR's PoE ports and also cameras connected to the same router sub-net as the NVR.So, my guess is "yes". Before making an order, I would email "support@reolink.com" with your question. They answer pretty quickly and seem to know their products.
That is so cool. Thanks for explaining. Sorry that you bought a product that doesn't work for this purpose. Reolink sells solid hardware at an attractive price. Software development is not their strong suit. Good luck finding what other ski sites use.
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