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Here is a rain cover for cameras on Amazon.Screenshot_2021-05-03-Amazon-com-SDS-DS-1250ZJ-Universal-Sun-Rain-Shade-Camera-Cover-Shield-for-Outdoor-Camera-Camera-Photo.png
Unless it is a battery camera, all the wired camera brands I know of use the same design as Reolink, the wires come out of the back of the base. This is to completely hide and protect the wiring once installed. For putting a camera on a pole, etc. I would use a water resistant junction box and conduit to protect the wiring. A hassle to install, but once done it's not much effort to uninstall a camera or get to the reset [censored]on in the box. Reolink sells junction boxes as do hardware stores. The Reolink boxes may fit your cameras, check them out. If buying something else you'll need to drill your own holes on the plate cover to insert the wires and screw the camera into the cover, or use small bolts/nuts. If you don't know how to do this maybe a friend could help or hire an electrician. It was a lot of work but I ran ethernet cables in the attic of my house down through the soffit. My roof trusses are 24" apart so there wasn't much to screw the cameras onto the soffit. I bought some plastic boards, cut them to fit and attached them to the soffit so I could mount the cameras further back closer to the wall than the rain gutter. See pics. I don't know how your house is constructed so my solution may not work for you.I have a couple outdoor battery Reolink cameras that are wired to charge them. The wires to to an outlet in my garage, but only plug them in when they need to be charged. A few inches of the cable is exposed. I got reolink cables that have round protectors on the end to protect the connection. Or a person could use electrical tape to cover the connection. 20201220_104845..jpgdome-measure1.jpg620-406-420.jpg
I have a mix of three POE Reolink cameras with Human/Vehicle detection, three Reolink battery cameras without H/V detection, a few Blink battery cameras. Several times a fox has walked through our yard at night. The Blinks and battery Reolinks detected and recorded them, the POE's did not. I use a POE switch and record to SD cards, I'm not as yet using an NVR. Of course I also get unwanted notifications/recordings, leaves, wasps, bees, etc. I've seen on YouTube reviews a couple other brand apps that have package and animal detection settings but I don't know if they work well. Maybe a battery trail camera would do the trick for you.
I've bought Reolink cameras from the Reolink store on Amazon and eBay. They always came in a cardboard box for protection. A couple weeks ago I bought three E1 Zoom cameras on Reolink eBay store. When they arrived they were only wrapped in plastic, no outer box. When I opened them two cameras were damaged. The upper back half on two had come loose. I tried to pop them back but they were still loose. Reolink sent me a return label to send them back for replacements. I emailed them and asked that they send the replacements in a box. They arrived today from the New Jersey warehouse. Again they only came in plastic wrap just as before, not even bubble wrap. I opened them and two were damaged AGAIN. One has the screws broken away from the white plastic. The other had the back half loose but I was able to pop it together. I installed one camera and it works fine. The other two are for gifts to my sons. I don't yet know if the one I popped back together works. My disappointment from the first return changed to being upset about the second broken batch. See photos. I just emailed Reolink, saying I'll have to return the broken screws one and maybe the other. But this time I asked that they send me the replacement in a box THEN I will send them back the broken one to reduce the days I have to wait to get it.Reolink is just loosing money not having their shipments sent safer. The warehouses are likely third party shippers not Reolink employees. Reolink could insist they use boxes. I really like Reolink cameras and their customer service has been good so far. Reolink should not expect UPS and USPS to gently handle packages. At the factory Reolink could put bubble wrap or paper around the E1s so the cameras wouldn't be able to move around so much in shipment. 20210424_140231.jpg20210424_140528.jpg20210424_141231.jpg20210424_145445.jpg20210424_141319.jpg
I posted comments but it said Error I had links not allowed. But there were NO LINKS in my comments. This forum is not working correctly. Reolink has boxes or go buy a PVC box with cover plate.
Sorry, I tried to comment but this site cancelled my prior comments
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Oops, in my prior post my photos were too large to download and I could not edit to add them. Here they are:Reolink-810A-day.jpgReolink-810A-night-black-white.jpgReolink-810A-night-color.jpg
On YouTube The Hook Up channel just released a comparison of the Reolink 4K NVR system to a Blue Iris system and Unifi Protect. Overall Reolink is the obvious winner for price and performance! Congrats Reolink! The Hook Up did suggest Reolink update it's client software to have more functions like the phone app.One important thing I have learned since having home security cameras is good night vision is difficult. Most home security cameras go from about 25-30 frames per second down to 10-15 to let more light in the lens at night. This can make night videos have image noise, grainy. IR light is a challenge. Too close to the camera and a face can become an overexposed white blur. Too far away from the camera and a face becomes unrecognizable. My Reolink 810A cameras are great during daylight. At night they have pretty good face images when a person is standing still or walking. But if someone is jogging or running the images become blurred a face cannot be recognized. This is true for all brands, unless you want to pay for expensive professional cameras that have large sensors and fast 60 frames per second ability. Professional cameras are used at banks, casinos, stadiums, etc. but they are much more costly. Most home owners don't really need that much quality IMO.I added a couple more floodlights to the front of my house. This lets the 810A switch to color night vision which helps clarity. My neighbor wondered why my front driveway is so bright at night! I posted here snapshots of daytime jogging, night jogging in IR black/white light, night jogging when the 810A switched to color night vision with the floodlights. The color night vision is much better. I haven't played with the 810A settings yet to see if I can get better IR images.So thanks Reolink for good cameras at a reasonable price! Keep it up!
Thank you Cynthia for responding.
Hi family,Thanks for explaining further. I am sorry for not understanding. Having a system without Cloud is the most secure way to go. I don't want the Cloud and don't want subscription fees. You are correct, too many companies have proprietary products and require subscription fees for cameras to work. But I looked on Google Play Store, there are over 10 million downloads of the Ring app. Obviously a lot of people are willing to pay subscription fees for cameras and an easy to use app. In 2017 it was discovered Ring customer video data was being rerouted to foreign servers not related to Ring. In 2020 Ring fired several employees for improper viewing of customer videos. Reolink app has over 1 million downloads. I hope Reolink never requires subscription fee. I hope Reolink makes cameras widely compatible rather than restrictive. Cynthia will you please respond to family?
Okay, I read your original post several times. Just maybe I'm beginning to understand. The most sophisticated and detailed program I know of is what I mentioned before, Blue Iris. Their PC program and phone app is a favorite of camera tech people who want more than basic system control. You might contact them. If their software does not do what you want, I am clueless who does.
I don't mind pushing a few [censored]ons on the app and going through a few hoops to get the clips I want. You seem to be more tech savvy than me. So you are right, I don't understand your frustration. If you find a brand that does what you want, by all means let me and others know.
I will add Reolink is making good technology advances in their products, 4K, human vehicle detection, etc. Watch YouTube reviews. I like LifeHackster and The Hook Up. They show side by side video comparisons. This makes Reolink look pretty good. The Hook Up compared 2021 4K cameras and his choice is Reolink for best value. So when you say you are getting rid of your Reolink cameras for something better, well....I will add if you want a generic system where you can swap out various brand cameras then wired cameras with NVR, DVR is the way you should go. Brands like Dahua, Hikvision make some of the more advanced security cameras. Their night vision is among the best. But these are also more expensive. By the way, the USA banned Dahua and Hikvision from government contracts do to hacking and spying vulnerability, just so you know.
All brands have limitations and have had firmware and app problems. If you want to use cameras that work with other systems they need to be ONVIF and RTSP. Most if not all of these are wired ethernet or coax. I don't know of any battery cams that have this, maybe a few do. Some of Reolink's wired cameras are ONVIF and RTSP, they will work with other brand systems or third party software like Home Assistant or Blue Iris for computers. Contact other major brands like Ring, Eufy, Arlo, Nest, Blink, Lorex, etc. and ask them if their battery cameras work outside their own system. Let us know what you find out. Ring and other brands do require you to pay subscription fees Cloud service for full functionality. Reolink is one of the few companies that do not "force" you to use their Cloud service for their cameras to work. You can save videos from the SD cards to your phone, take the SD cards out and download to your computer or get their NVR. You don't need their Cloud subscription unless you want it for backup and have a little easier way to manage videos. THANK YOU Reolink for this!!!!
Did you check your phone volume settings? My android phone has a master ring volume, I pull it down and it shows separate volume controls for media (music) and notifications. See if your notifications volume is all the way up.
Good idea Jose, I didn't think of that.
Did you buy the new E1 Outdoor cams? I don't have one yet, but on Reolink Reddit community someone said these have an ethernet port to plug into an NVR, but they are NOT POE, you still need to plug in the low voltage to power the camera. I don't know if new indoor E1, E1 Pros, etc. also have ethernet ports. If so, they still need to be powered with low voltage adapter. You should be able to control the camera with Wifi phone app without plugging its ethernet into your router. The camera should also be controlled by a Reolink NVR when it's ethernet cable is plugged into it.
The decibel level of a phone is determined more by the phone specs, not the Reolink app or a music player app. 1. I have the Reolink client on my laptop. When it gets notifications it is a very loud beep, much louder than the phone. Maybe you could set one up close to your bed and leave it running all night. 2. Your phone should have an audio output jack for earbuds. You could get a small stereo system or radio with an input/auxiliary jack for your bedroom. Get a chord with correct jack size, I think 1/8", to plug from your phone into the stereo input/auxiliary jack. Turn your stereo volume up. Whatever sound comes from your phone will be played on the stereo system. Yes, this is a hassle. Don't blame me if this does not work for you. All I know is I tried it on my stereo system and it works. 3. I assume people with NVRs can turn the volume up on their display screens and run them 24/7. But this would require you sleeping close to the display/TV.
I'd like a camera that could see license plates clearly. But good license plate reader cameras that can capture plate numbers while a car is moving and used at toll gates, business parking lots, by law enforcement, etc. are expensive, way higher than the $100 or so price range most homeowners want to spend. On YouTube, the channel LifeHackster did review the Reolink 12MP and it could read license plates on cars parked in front of his house if I recall correctly. At night IR light usually reflects the light on the plate and bright outs the image making the plate unreadable.
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