As a first time viewer, not having to suffer through some horrendous opening song or shamelessly begging for money, your video is a breath of fresh air. Thank you. Subscribed.
just bought 2 of these. Will be in tomorrow. I have 2 420s on one end of the house and these will go on the other. If I likey, I'm going to add 4 more to the exterior of the house. Monitoring with Blue Iris and Rob's setup (The Hookup).
Excellent professional review. I will definitely recommend this channel. This saved me a lot of grief that I would have had if I just went ahead on my own. I am an electrical engineer so I could have figured it out, but only after missing the key issues like mounting and the other details and who needs that problem. Thank you.
He plays and has fun with his son and he has a dachshund ... seems like a man worth listening to. Thanks for the video. I just ordered two of these and the problem with the mounting plate is something I was not expecting, although I am sure I can figure out a workaround. Appreciate the links.
Actually have 4 dachshunds. Ha. I stick the kid in at times as he loves seeing he is on the "big RU-vid". Be sure and check out my latest one of the custom firmware one with the clip, scroll to the end showing his stunts. The plate does have a little click but I feel it isn't enough especially when we came from set screws. Nothing moved those!
Nicely done! I have four of these, they all work great…electronically. Two of the four have awful mount problems, though. Their plastic bases are flawed, so I pinched a cardboard donut between those and their metal plates. Reolink is trying to help me, but I suspect I’ll have to live with the otherwise loose mounts.
You can just connect it to a 12v supply and an ethernet cable to get it on the network. Doesn't necessarily need PoE, it's a comvinience feature that allows one cable to the camera rather than 3
2 or three 90 degree lugs mounted under the base plate and coming up the outside edge of the camera. Screw into the camera for security. Just make sure there is clear space inside for the screws.
great vid again. i wish this was out 40 days ago when i ordered one from aliexpress !! the mounting thing sounds like an issue. . . . . will see how it goes when it arrives.
After watching your previous dome video I bought 4 RLC-520's. About the mounting... I mounted the base on a round Red Dot box. And then it took a couple minutes to get the twist right. When I fitted it right and twisted it right , I felt it go into place . I like it. I did have to drill the mounting base existing holes a bit to fit our american box I mentioned. One got hit by lightning so I have bought 5. I am watching for Lightning deals now to buy more RLC-410-5MP's. I've bought Blue Iris but got to get a more powerful computer. Suggestions gladly accepted. I may end up with around 15 cameras. Thanks for all your videos. They work!
well this camera mounts really great if you understand how it actually works, the 3 mounting tabs when you turn kinda have to use some force for it to clip into the housing, have to turn the bottom which clips in, and the top rotates freely once bottom is secured, cannot go more than 360 or the wire would damage, this information is not available on the manuals as it super easy to understand when you use common sense.
@@digiblurDIY your video at time code 11:31 shows us that you did not finish yet turning the base (bottom) to clip in. From that point you feel resistant & you feel like you cannot turn the base clockwise further... but you have to use little more force (use both hands) to keep turning it further until your hear click & locked.
Love your channel. Had the same concern as you with the mount on an RLC-822A, didn't seem like there was a way to lock camera to mounting base so it wouldn't fall off. After looking closely I could see that there was a little extra room for the camera to rotate on the mount in order to lock it in. Ended up using a silicone pot holder to get better grip on the camera base to rotate and it did lock in. Definitely not user friendly and nothing was mentioned in the user manual regarding this. And yes maybe this featured was added later in production. I am going to buy a similar Amcrest to compare. Feature for feature the Reolink seems a better value though.
Thanks! Glad to have you! I didn't have the issue of falling off, it just seems it doesn't put enough tension on the camera itself. I get making it easy for people but throw a set screw thread in the side so we can add the screw.
Travis, Thanks for the video review and your honest "Callin' it like it is" approach to reviews.👍 Now where's that hammer? I think it could help with that mount! 😉
It definitely needs a hammer then a 3D modeling pro to make some locking design! I recorded that segment right after I was trying to mount it. I knew I had to capture that moment quickly and put it somewhere in the video.
I bit the bullet and got the RLC-520. I like the overall look and the main body of the camera is still metal, but that mounting bracket is crap. You can work around it as the dome itself can move sideways a certain amount, but I preferred the mounting system of the RLC-420, but I like the audio recording and the InfraRed LED pattern of the 520. Not sure what it is in feet, but the IR seems to be good even at 5 metres away. There are a couple of bollards about 5 mtrs from the camera mount (camera is also 3 stories up) and the IR leds reflect off the bollards at night. Overall, I don't mind the RLC-520 and the night vision quality was pretty darn good, but I just hate the cheap feeling mounting for it. The mount really does suck. It is awful for trying to align the camera.
Yes it is. Of course at 5m up it definitely is better since it can't easily be moved or bumped but man it so needs a set screw to tighten to do those precise adjustments and keep it there.
Thanks for your comments. I've been doing a bunch of research and feel the same way. Just curious if you still have the cameras? That mount and everyone's valid concerns are making me not want to buy. Thanks!
Thanks for answering my question (before I asked) about using with Blue Iris software. I have 5 Reolink cameras and use BI to view all of them and record motion. I want this one to use as one that can PAN around when needed.
It is a shame that the mount is that terrible since the IR seems to be much improved. I am experimenting with making IR flood lights so I can kill off the built in IR ring of the 420. Attracts too many bugs and can create glare.
You need to put the camera over that mounting bracket and turn it until the tabs click in. I would twist the camera by the very BOTTOM ring ONLY to do this. Once you have it attached then you can adjust the camera’s rotation by continuing to turn it in the installation direct BUT you must now hold it by the top ring (dome) of the camera. I don’t think you were turning the camera enough to get the tabs to lock in place.
The tabs are there but don't really click. It just twists back off when you are pointing it unfortunately. The lack of the set/lock screw is what really kills it.
@@digiblurDIY But aren't the camera body and the bottom ring turn-able independently? I was suggesting that to aim the camera you keep turning the the camera (top domed part) clockwise.
I have a 820a which has the same form factor as the 520 you showed here. When I went to mount it i discovered (like you) that the mounting solution is terrible. Literally a quarter turn and it's off. I'm just waiting for someone to steal it or for it to fall off to buy a turret cam. What an absolute terrible design.
Well done video covering the features. I'm going to check the other video w/ the install details. My issue is not having a closet where I can consolidate all these PoE drops. I found an 8port "rugged" PoE unify switch, but I'm concerned it won't survive my southern TN attic conditions. Any tips for the switch end of things? I've located 6port keystone covers for 1gang outlet boxes, but I already have a 4port in that one. First world problems eh? WAF prevents me adding another "outlet" in that room.
Sometimes it is good to have less features. I was quite interested in the new camera as it looks pretty good, but that mounting situation is making me reconsider. I don't want a camera that might be easily knocked down or stolen or whatever. Did you find a way to get the mounting to be solid?
Unfortunately no. That's the way it is apparently. Designed to make installation easier. It wouldn't be as bad if the ring clicked and you had to pull down a tab to remove it. Maybe someone can design a 3D printed replacement ring or the manufacturer could?
You need to click that plate into place , with some effort, it has lugs inside that lock. The ring can be removed by gently prising it off all the way around with a screwdriver in the slot you noticed. They are easy to dismantle for spraying. Gently open up the jaws for the ball camera and you can remove it.
I have two or three of these design types, they do have that slight bump when you go far enough but it won't lock the ball in place on either of them. My cameras get enough spraying here from the weather this hurricane season. 😎
Travis, thank you for the video. Any luck getting your Reolink cameras into HA? Or do you not bother? I like the wife-friendliness of having all cameras accessible to her in the HA app.
You can install them still much like I did in the previous RLC-420 video but I don't put them in there anymore as I've been using Blue Iris with their web gui/app to view cameras. Here are sample configs to put the camera in the GUI. community.home-assistant.io/t/stream-component-confirmed-cameras-and-configurations/106729
@@digiblurDIY It really does. I was frustrated about not being able to lock it, but after seeing Gorrits' comment, I twisted it a bit further and it clicked.
It's unfortunate about the mounting. I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on some cameras, and this has been the one I've been thinking about, but that mounting is making me second guess it.
@@CTTH100 I actually still haven't pulled the trigger. I am now looking at the amcrest 4k cams. But for some areas, I may still go for these cams, like inside my garage, under my back deck.
Not really. Some have said the mount is a little tighter. Probably the better solution is just throw a quick bead of silcone on the edge to keep the wind from pushing it or you knocking it around cleaning the spider webs off it.
Has Reolink updated their firmware to supprt MJPEG or even H.264/H.265 video streams from the web browser? Not a big deal for me, but curious nonetheless.
I bought this camera and I kinda wish it had a 2.8mm lens and the IR went further. I ended up putting it on my Lanai. Gonna install a reolink PTZ on the garage.
I put a reolink PTZ on my garage and found with the lens it came with pretty much overs my hole driveway but fun to be able to move it around and zoom in on the mailbox
Where you are trying to mount it the piece of wood, and you say it sucks, it rotates and falls off ! About 12 minutes in. It falls off because you haven't done it right ! hold the base of the camera, where the cable comes out, then turn it, it will click into place, and lock. now you can rotate it without it falling off ! And I'm watching you for help ! Even I figured out how to lock it in place to the base plate !!!
Mine locks into place, be brutal, takes a bit of force in a clockwise direction. You have to grasp the last 1/2 inch nearest the baseplate and turn hard until it clicks. Same to unlock it, it’s a really tight fit, so can’t be stolen easy…
I have a couple of them. They don't lock well nor does it lock the camera from moving. It does click but doesn't do a whole lot. Their old design had a set screw and worked great.
@@digiblurDIYI posted elsewhere on here the same situation. There should be nubs inside each of the three slots, but on some cameras, the plastic wasn’t formed correctly. Waiting on Reolink to hook me up with replacements.
I thought i had the same mounting issue you had, even bought some neoprene fiam tape to tighten it up. I was able to pop the plastic ring off the main case and there is a locking tab that takes a good amount of force to twist past, once that clicked the camera wasn't going anywhere.
Excellent video. I am very new to this. Is it advisable to use a wi-fi router in order to avoid excessive cabling? Why is the cable so expensive at £240?
WiFi cameras aren't as reliable as ethernet cables and since you have to run power to them anyways, so why not? But I do get it, you can't always run a wire in all scenarios.
2020 and still using flash. 🙄 I intentionally tried using flash as recently as a few months ago and couldn't figure out how to do it in chrome and the "old" non chrome Microsoft edge.
Great review! I'm looking for a good poe camera that can record 24/7, preferably directly to the SD card rather than using a DVR or NVR. Is that possible with this camera? Would you have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance
I really like your videos, thank you! I’m just getting into Home Automation and IP cameras. I have HA running on my OpenMediaVault NAS, and I’m planning to run ZoneMinder in a docket container to manage multiple camera feeds. With that setup, do I need to use the camera interface for anything, or will most cameras just spit out a “raw” RTSP feed allowing me to set everything in ZoneMinder?
Thanks! Look for cameras that support RTSP/onvif so you can use them in whatever app you decide. The camera interface is really only needed if you want to tweak some picture settings.
great information in this video! Nice - almost ready to buy me a 4-set of those cameras. How about masking for privacy though? Does the software allow for that? local law requires me to mask anything which goes beyond my own ground! Ergo: parts of the street i qould not be allowed to film, also not the neighbours ground et cetera. is there a way to mask-out certain areas of the video frame, so I can comply with my local law?
Great video. Do I need to use the client software and computer to run this camera day-to-day? My daughter wants this type of camera installed but all they are interested in is have the live feed, SD card recording and access through an iPhone app. Regards.
22:08 - Why exactly was Amcrest recommended as an alternative here? Does it have something to do with Flash mentioned in the same sentence? I'm not to familiar with how all that works. Is there a danger of a camera becoming useless once Flash "expires" in december 2020 ?
Camera operating temperature is as low as -10celsius. But do you know, what will go broke when temperature goes below -10degrees and the camera is on outside?
Not really sure. I haven't heard any reports from others. It does seem like a weird number though given it does produce a little heat itself but maybe not enough during daylight hours with the IR off. Coldest I have seen in my area since I had Reolink cameras is about 14F which is -10C. I surely break the barrier on their 90% humidity level spec though in my area.
I bought 2 of these cameras and the quality of the video is good. However the one big problem I have is receiving motion alerts. I have the setting down to 1 and have a area the smallest size possible { the size of a pencil head!} and movement from shadows, insects, a leaf moving!!, all set of alerts. Very disappointing.
when you wall-mount this camera can it tilt 90 up and twist 90 left or right so I have the screen not on its side, you dit show 90 up already but how far can you twist it after, roof mount's nice but not sure fore wall mount? can you show off how flexible the camera can move before install?
@@digiblurDIY so are the domes better than a turret for a wall mount up high,or it makes no difference? wanted to buy a reolink set of 4 but do not know if i need to take 4 turrets or dome rlk8-800d4 vs the rlk8-800b4-A turrets
Purchased a reolink "plug and play" set off amazon. (4 cameras and an NVR with some cables to link everything.) Can i just plug the NVR into my poopy wirless router, and the cameras into the NVR and get it running? The router has a "wan" port and two "lan" ports. 1 and 2. Thats all the ports other than the power cord. Is this enough to get started or do i need a switch?
Would it work with a TP Link 1005P right now? the same cameras. It just so happens that in the sales description it says "All Reolink security cameras work with Reolink NVR only." Could you help me? It's the only thing stopping me from making the purchase.
I just checked mine and the little ring at the top that is about a quarter inch tall will stay stationary to the ring mounted on the building. Then the camera itself turns on that ring.
I'm considering this as for my first camera. How does everyone configure their cameras on their network? I have a basic TPLink router (Archer C7). Several of the videos I've been watching show running cameras on a separate vlan. I can't do vlans with my current hardware. Would that be a major security risk? I can block outgoing traffic (based on ip or mac address) in my router. Would that help at all? Maybe I'm just being paranoid especially since this is only going to be mounted outside pointed at our driveway and front door. Thoughts?
You can turn the p2p off on the network settings and if you don't expose them via port forwards the risk is minimized but there still lies a bit of trust in the camera manufacturers at that point though. I have implemented various cameras on regular consumer based routers utilizing things such as parental controls and such with success. It all boils down to how nervous you are.
I'm confused. Do I need one of those boxes to get power because just running it to my router doesn't do anything. And how long of an ethernet cable do I need? Seems like I would need 50 foot or more to run these to the outside. And where do you hide the wire running inside?
Did you find your RLC-520 camera keeps logging in all the time? I am running two one is fine and the other will log in and out during the day? Any suggestions that it might be in settings? I current run it on about a 50 foot length of cat 5 and over a Netgear PoE 8 port switch.
@@digiblurDIY Yes keeps rebooting, blank screen then it reboots and I can see a picture again. What I have done is returned it for a replacement via Reolink-Link direct .
@@digiblurDIY could you also cover optimization stradegy, I have 9 reolink 420 cameras, 2tb harddrive records 4 days worth of footage,. Is that to hard on my surveillance harddrive? Or am I over reacting?
Hey man thx for the vid, I would like to comment on something else. I think you should trim your hair very short, you have a great shaped head for it. It will look much better than the 4 hairs you have left now. Trust me, coming from a bald going man ;-)
I have several of these RLC-520 cameras as well as an RLC-410-5MP. I have them connected to a Ubiquiti gigabit POE switch. I just noticed the Reolink cameras are all connecting at 100Base-T. Are yours connecting at gigabit speed?
can you record to the NVR if you connect your cameras through an external POE switch? If so, how? I seem to need a microSD card to be able to record with this network architecture.
@@digiblurDIY I have the reolink RLN16-410. I think i need the microSD for my application. I cannot get the nvr to record the footage captured over the external POE switch.
fairly new to cameras, how do the motion alerts get passed down? I used to have a WD EX2 Ultra with Milestone Arcus Surveillance and the ONVIF-recognized cameras had a motion trigger, but Arcus wouldn't recognize the signal and wouldn't record on alert signals. Eventually had to use Arcus to process image changes to record. Does Blue Iris handle the motion triggers or is that sent by the camera? Could you do a video on how Blue Iris interacts with Home Assistant, I want to set up cameras in my house, but not too sure how to integrate it with HA.
I only use BI to send a couple events with MQTT to NodeRed and HA myself. I don't have the camera viewing in HA as we rarely use the HA GUI ourselves and BI GUI is already pretty slick.
I have done this little comparison as I got asked the questions a lot of which to go with. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9PnmEOA3sHE.html
I picked up a couple of these cameras a couple of days and a new blueiris user. I can not figure out how to turn off the REOLINK logo on the image. I have the latest firmware and tried the reolink software, the camera web interface and blueiris. What am I missing here ?
Navigate to the camera's IP address, login, click the settings cog wheel at the upper right. Pick Display on the left and under OSD you should see a check mark for watermark. Uncheck it and hit ok.
@@digiblurDIY PERFECT thanks very much for the help, that worked. I look forward to watching the rest of your videos. Something that I am surprised about is why Reolink or Amcrest has not jumped into the door bell camera business. I have yet to find a real POE doorbell cam that you can integrate into an existing system.
hi. can I use 12 v to connected to power ? I don't have internet . just want to get power to set up and motion recording . or this unit need internet to operate . thanks
Hi budy digiblurDIY. Sorry this camera has 360 degree movement, backwards, forwards, left and right, could you make a video about that? Thank you very much.
