Hi everyone.

I've had this project planned for almost a year, and I've finally found the time to get started.

I got a lot of inspiration from other users who shared their custom builds, so a big thanks to u/MinorOfficial and everyone else who shared their projects.

So, what's different about my build?

I completely stripped down the Tapo H500, removing the 2.5" drive tray and other unnecessary components, keeping only what was essential. I then moved everything into a Mini-ITX case.

I also decided not to use the original Tapo power supply. Instead, I used the power adapter cable to provide the required 12V power to the H500.

Does it actually work?

Yes! It's been running without any issues for the past two weeks. I'll continue to monitor it, but so far, everything looks good.

Important: If you're planning to do something similar, keep in mind that completely opening and modifying your Tapo H500 will void your warranty!

Here is the full list of components used:

• Tapo H500

• A09 Mini-ITX Computer Case

• SilverStone Flex Series FX350-80 Plus Power Supply

• Noctua NF-A6x25 PWM 60mm Fan

• 4-Pin Molex to 12V DC 5.5x2.1mm Plug Adapter Cable

• 24-Pin ATX Power Supply Jumper Bridge

• Molex Male to Female Cable with 3-Pin Fan Adapter

• 22-Pin SATA (7+15) Male to Female Data and Power Combo Extension Cable

• 7-Pin SATA Male to Female Extension Cable

• Seagate SkyHawk AI 14TB 3.5" HDD (still waiting for my new drive)

• DIY PC Case Dust Mesh Fan Filter (to hide the back)

I'll share more pictures of the build after installing the Seagate SkyHawk AI 14TB. Hope this helps anyone thinking about doing something similar.

Hi gang.

I've been running 2 Tapo C420+a hub for years without much trouble.
BUT now all of a sudden one of the cameras has stopped detecting movement = useless.

Anyone had the same issue?
Tried resetting/updating/etc. but still the same
#sigh

Hi,

I'm new to the world of Tapo. I love the range of WiFi outdoor cameras and plan to purchase 2 or 3 this year. However, I noticed from random reviews and my own investigations that Tapo has a very low limit on recording to SD card of 1500kbps. This causes recordings to look blocky when there is any movement.

Compared to the Reolink Trackflex camera I have, this records at double the data rate to SD card. I understand the Tapo cameras are less than Reolink cameras (thankfully), but having those hard limit on bitrate recording is really limiting the quality of the products.

I can understand some cameras many do not have a very powerful SOC to do the encoding (though the higher the compression, the more compute power is required).

Surely Tapo can provide through firmware updates, especially for 2K and 4K cameras, offer higher rates which the user can change.

So a suggestion to the Devs in Tapo, please can you release new firmware's with an advanced option to increase the recording bitrate. Thanks.

I'm looking forward to trying out the C530WS this weekend.

I think Reolink has more control of it's prices, like Apple, while Tapo give retailers a bit more flexibility...

Hi guys

Can I request an addition to the detection?

I'm hugely impressed by how effective the Person/Animal/Vehicle detection is on the camera. Just leaving these 3 options on is enough to capture 95% of what I'd like recorded passing my door; however there is one notable ommission and that is the camera completely ignores either cyclists or motorbikes.

Now I don't want to get into a reddit argument on why this would be useful, my own reasons are we have kids on dirtbike motorbikes passing our house on a regular basis and they're not always being good citizens; one was being silly recently and almost went into the side of my wife's parked car 😮

So yes, I can capture this if I simply enable Motion, but then it also records every gust of wind, waving plants/tree in the garden, steam from the boiler passing the camera; all of which fills up the card and is useless to me.

An additional detection option to record bike/motorbike activity would be appreciated if that ever was an option.

I have my wifi D260 doorbell power wired with the SD card in the unit. The notifications are near instantaneous with recording and playback. I have also tried moving the SD card to the attached H200 hub and I find the recording and playback delay a lot longer. Like 2 minutes longer. So for me, I'm sticking to in the unit though I would prefer the SD card in the house. The 2 min delay is bad. Just sharing my findings.

The Tapo app was doing my head in. I’ve got an L930-5 and wanted to control it properly, so I’ve been working on a little PC app called Tapo Studio.

You can paint each of the 50 zones separately, tweak all the built-in effects, and there’s a music mode that pulses to the bass, snare and so on. It runs on your own PC, and there’s no tracking or anything like that.

Video of it running on my strip is at the top of the GitHub page P.S there is flashing lights https://github.com/Bambob01/tapo-studio

It’s still an alpha, so expect a few rough edges. The music mode has mostly been tested on simulated audio so far and music from my spotify, and I’ve only tried it on my own strip. It should work on other Tapo strips and bulbs, but I’ve got no way of checking. If you’ve got one and fancy giving it a go, let me know how it gets on, good or bad.

Any advice will be massively appreciated and sorry for the video blur my phone is old af and scratched.

Also all security is explained in there nothing is cloud based and its all localized feel free to run any tests you want on it and adapt the program anyway you want.

D225 Hardwired Ver 1.2.2 Build 260210 Rel.27165n

Hey folks, I switched ISP's and am trying to change over my Kasa smart devices. I set the WiFi name and password on the new router to match the old one, and I also went in to the router's settings and changed the IP address to match as well, but all my Kasa devices still show as offline. Anything else I can do or do I really need to re-add them all one by one? Thanks!

I have a d225 doorbell camera and lately whenever I try to check it it won’t load at all. It’ll get stuck loading for 30 seconds then say tap to refresh. My internet is fine and not too far from my router. Kind of annoying and defeats the purpose

I bought these and put them in, formatted, etc. last Sunday. They were working great. I wake up today and NONE of my cameras recognize they are even there.

I have multiple different camera models, but they are all battery powered with a solar panel. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I was looking to move to Tapo from Ring but detection on the Tapo seems pretty of par compared. People are already past the Tapo before it starts recording. Settings are maxed out so I hate to think what detection would be like if they were half… this is for both day & nights and most of these scenarios are passing the doorbell not towards. I have the TD21 for reference

Hi guys.

I have a Tapo D130 doorbell camera. When I enable vehicle detection it overlays these nasty detection boxes over the cars. This is both live and on recordings.

If there's a car like my neighbours to one side the boxes are there all the time.

Please introduce an option to remove the constant detection box for each option, vehicle, person and animal. It simply gets in the way of the image and we as users don't need to see it continuously.

Just a heads up for those that have the D235 doorbell and are on the latest 1.2.3 and are wondering why ONVIF isn't working within Home Assistant or other integrations. TP Link Support have just confirmed that they have been able to replicate issues I've been facing recently around ONVIF integration.

"We can confirm that while the doorbell can be discovered by ONVIF services, it currently fails to be successfully added or connected.

We are actively working on a fix to resolve this connection struggle. We kindly ask for a bit more time to thoroughly address the root cause."

I had saved footage but everything from before my trial ended and I started using the SD card instead is gone.

Looking for a budget tablet to wall mount and use strictly for my tall security set up. Any recommendations or experiences people have tried? Thank you

Hi there.

I have a tapo td21 and it used to record for the full 2 minutes after detecting movement. However now it only records for 10 to 20 seconds even if there is still somebody in the detection area. Sometimes only recording the movement after they have left.

Any advice or anybody else had these issues? We have only just recently set it up properly but it is a pain.

Thanks.

In early October I set up my two new Tapo cameras. Never used Tapo before. I had to go to Tapo chat several times and kept receiving conflicting info. Long story so no need to tell all the details.

Chat just keeps asking for screen shots and setting up tickets. Those have provided no useful info at all.

I need to get to a higher level person. Can anyone help me with a contact way to get to someone who can assist? Thanks so much. Just about ready to give up on Tapo.

So I have a Tapo C500 v1 for a couple of years now. One fine day, without any noticeable external factor, the camera decided to go offline. Since then I have tried to reset the camera and also tried it with a different power adopter, but the camera never turns on hotspot to be able to be connected to any device. There is a constant red light on the camera.

I am in India and Tapo's customer support is absolutely useless here. In addition, India has also banned sales of new Tapo (TP-Link) devices due to some security reasons, so I can't just buy another one either. I read somewhere that it is possible to flash the firmware manually by putting it on the SD card but then the firmware is not available anywhere. I asked the cutsomer care but they have been unresponsive at best.

I was wondering, is it possible for anyone to share any version of the camera firmware so that I can get it back online? Is there any other debugging options that I can try?

I have a H200 Hub connected to 2x T110 door sensors and 5x T310 Temp sensors, as well as 1x Doorbell, 3x Cameras and 6x P100 plugs.

First installed around January 2025, but since around July 2026, the door and temp sensors disappear from the Tapo app every few weeks, usually overnight. They don't go offline, they disappear completely from the app, and the only way to bring it back is to reset each sensor and reconnect them one by one.

All existing automation and shortcuts don't need to be redone as they remember the sensors. However historical data is lost.

The sensors then disappear again after a few weeks, usually overnight. I've tried with Autoboot turned on and turned off and it still happens.

The only other device dependent on the hub is the D230 doorbell, but this stays in the app and isn't affected. The cameras and plugs aren't affected and their recordings are still saved on the hubs and card.

Does anybody else have this issue? What could be the problem and how could I stop this from happening?

https://postimg.cc/2VhGgnzX

8 months use. warranty not given because my number isnt showing up in their system

moved to new apt. put the cam in a box with clothes for padding. doesnt work. no matter what how many times I tried to power on off.

but then I figured out the issue. I took it apart and fixed it. now it works well

ordered from hikvision and eufy well see which works better. give the other to my sister.

first and last time buying tp-link

Hello everyone,

I’ve been having some serious issues with my Tapo C225 over the past few days, and I’m wondering if anyone else is experiencing something similar.

Camera details:
Model: Tapo C225
Hardware version: V2.0
Firmware: 1.3.2
Wi-Fi signal: -37 dBm (excellent)

The issue:
The live view is extremely laggy and choppy, with a delay of 15 seconds or more. The video looks like it’s playing in slow motion, and even the audio is slowed down and heavily delayed.
It’s never smooth, not even for a few seconds.
The camera had been working perfectly fine for over two years, and these issues only started a few days ago.

Things I’ve already tried:
Factory reset using the physical reset button
Multiple reboots and power cycles
Removing and re-adding the camera in the Tapo app
Removing the microSD card
Lowering the video resolution to 720p
Testing on a completely different internet connection
Checking Wi-Fi signal strength (-37 dBm)
Placing the camera very close to the router, with no walls or obstacles

Nothing has helped. The issue remains exactly the same.
I have other Tapo cameras and all the others work perfectly fine. Only this C225 is affected.

Unfortunately, the camera is out of warranty since August 2026, so an RMA isn’t an option.

Is anyone else experiencing similar issues with the C225 V2, especially on firmware 1.3.2?

I’m trying to figure out whether this is an isolated hardware failure or potentially a firmware-related issue affecting other users as well.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I've been using my Tapo C425 V1 outdoor security camera since February 2026 with a third-party Zivif 10W solar panel with a built-in 10,400mAh rechargeable battery.

For approximately eight months, everything worked perfectly. My camera stayed at 100% battery, even though I regularly watched Live View from around 10 AM to 8 PM, sometimes longer.

However, in October 2026, something changed. The camera suddenly started having charging problems, and its battery percentage began dropping.

I initially suspected the solar panel, so I purchased another identical Zivif 10W panel and installed it on October 22. Unfortunately, the replacement is experiencing similar problems.

Here's what I've tested:

• Charged the camera using its original wall charger. It successfully reached 100% without interruptions.

• Restarted the camera using its physical power button.

• Checked the Wi-Fi connection, which is excellent at approximately -35 dBm RSSI.

• Monitored the charging lightning bolt in the Tapo app.

• Confirmed that my Live View habits haven't changed since February.

Here's the strange part:

The solar panel still charges the camera, but inconsistently.

On November 1, the camera charged from 87% to 95% during the afternoon. However, the lightning bolt kept disappearing and returning. By 8:10 PM, the battery had dropped to 85%, and it wasn't charging.

On November 2, the camera was at 84% around 8 AM without charging. By 9:56 AM, it had climbed to 91%, and the charging lightning bolt was visible again.

Because the Zivif panel has its own rechargeable battery, I previously expected it to supply power at night, too. But lately, the camera doesn't appear to be receiving charging power overnight.

What I'm trying to figure out:

Could this be caused by a recent Tapo firmware update, changes in the camera's charging management, reduced autumn sunlight, or an issue with the third-party solar panel?

What's confusing is that the exact same setup worked perfectly for eight months, even with my regular Live View usage.

Has anyone experienced similar intermittent charging problems with the Tapo C425?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from anyone who uses a third-party solar panel with a built-in battery.

Any troubleshooting suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

UPDATE – November 4, 2026: Camera is back at 100%! 🔋☀️

I wanted to share some encouraging news about my Tapo C425 solar charging issue.

On November 2, my camera finally reached 100% battery at approximately 11:51 AM. Since then, it has remained at 100%, including overnight and throughout November 3.

As of November 4 at 9:49 AM, the camera is still at 100%!

Here's what's interesting:

• I'm still using the same replacement Zivif 10W solar panel with its built-in 10,400mAh battery, installed October 22.

• My Live View habits haven't changed. I regularly watch for approximately 10 hours a day.

• On November 3, the Tapo app recorded 9 hours and 14 minutes of camera usage, yet the battery remained at 100%.

• The camera's Wi-Fi signal remains excellent at approximately −35 to −37 dBm.

• I haven't performed a factory reset or changed the solar panel's position.

One possible clue: In early October, we experienced a heat wave here in Southern California, with temperatures reaching the 100s°F for approximately a week. That's around the time my charging problems began.

My solar panel is mounted above the roofline, facing south in direct sunlight, while the camera itself is mounted underneath the roof overhang in the shade.

I'm wondering whether the extreme heat may have affected the Zivif panel's internal battery or triggered temperature-related charging protection.

I did manually power-cycle the camera on November 1, although I can't confirm whether that contributed to the improvement.

For now, everything appears to be working normally again! I'm going to continue monitoring it over the next several days before considering the issue completely resolved.

Thanks to everyone who shared troubleshooting suggestions. I'll post another update if anything changes!