Adding a base station and camera

[sorova]

Pain in the ass doesn't reallt describe this system enough! My internal cameras - that is a good system and both work well. I bought a base station and I cannot get the app to recognise this. Do I needto be on the LAN or should it recognise via the WLAN? Of course I have plugged it into the D7000 router but no joy at all. Also, do I need to press any buttons for it to reconise the base-station or should it just recognise it straight away in the app?

[trickytcamgeek]

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sorova wrote:

Pain in the ass doesn't reallt describe this system enough! My internal cameras - that is a good system and both work well. I bought a base station and I cannot get the app to recognise this. Do I needto be on the LAN or should it recognise via the WLAN? Of course I have plugged it into the D7000 router but no joy at all. Also, do I need to press any buttons for it to reconise the base-station or should it just recognise it straight away in the app?

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You must plug the White base station into your modem-router (not an extender).    The base station can not recognise your wifi WLAN, because it would need to know the SSID and password.   There are no instructions on how to do that.   Assuming of course that a hack is possible. 

Provided your iPad or phone is on the same wifi network, and you have added the app, it should find your base station and any connected cameras.

[jguerdat]

You can use an extender that has a good connection to the base and also has an Ethernet port.  It MUST be Ethernet but the underlying network can be anything.

As stated above, plug the base into the router.  Make sure whatever device you're using to set up the system is on the same network that the router provides. Clcik on the Add Device button on the Cameras tab, choose the base and it should auto-populate.  If not, try a factory reset on the base using the reset button until the LEDs flash amber.  Once the power and Internet LEDs are green again, try again.  

[sorova]

I got it so that my router sees the base station (after re-setting my router!). I then paired it up - the blue light flashes. However, I cannot see the camera on my app! It's just not there. The base station appears under modes so I can set it to motion capture (though nothing happens). Are these cameras continuous or do they only capture motion? ie can I see live pictures on my app? (which I cannot of course). So what now? I did everything by the book and still nothing.

[jguerdat]

It sounds like the camera isn't actually synced.  The proper LED sequence on the camera is for a slow flash of the blue LED for several seconds and then a rapid flash for 10 seconds, indicating a successful sync.  If you don't see the rapid blue flash but get an amber one instead the attempt didn't work.  Opening and closing the battery door should get you the rapid flashing, too, if properly synced.

Without the sync, you won't see the cameras in the app or browser and obviously can't record or live view.  To sync the camera, you're using the Add Device button on the Cameras tab, right?  You might want to try a browser instead of the app.

[sorova]

I have opened and closed the battery door umpteen times and no difference. I get the slow flashing blue. I checked the batteries and they each read ok.

I suspect the software isn't that good if it takes all this messing to get it right. The inside cameras worked first time.

I also tried a browser instead of the app on my phone. I asked earlier if I need to be on the Lan instead of the WLAN and the answer was it didn't matter.

The browser I am using is on a PC but still on  the WLAN.

[jguerdat]

Correct, as long as you're on the same network it doesn't matter if LAN or WLAN.

At this point, I'd factory reset the base and do the battery doors one more time. Remove any devices I. settings, My Devices. Use the Add Device button in the Cameras tab and configure the base. Then repeat the process and add the cameras.

[sorova]

Did all that to not effect. One thing - when you reset the base station it still appears on the app. There doesn't appear to be a way of erasing it from the app.

[jguerdat]

Use Settings, My Devices to remove any and all devices, including base stations.

[JamesC]

sorova,

After having removed the base station completely and adding back to your account as jguerdat suggested above, are you still having difficulty syncing your camera?

Please let us know,

JamesC

[sorova]

I removed the base station and re-installed it. It found it no problem. It won't find the camera though.

I am now investigating the batteries again. The batteries appear to be so expensive they cost as much as the camera!

[jguerdat]

While battery prices vary according to country and location, generally the batteries can be had for $1.50 apiece or so. You just have to search a little. There's lots of threads here about best prices as well as rechargeable batteries.

[sorova]

Cheapest are 13 dollars NZ, where I live which is hyper expensive. That is per battery. Maybe I can get rechargeable ones or something or rig an external rechargeable pack outside after I get it to work.

[sorova · Accepted solution]

Ok finally found the problem after about a month - all working! It seems that despite my earlier measurements the batteries that came with the camera were duds (or one of them was and the others were less than 3v). I went out and bought 4 rechargeable ones + charger at considerable cost but it worls great now.

I never expected that to be the source of the problem.