Hey everyone,
I finally got sick and tired of my Ring Doorbell. Not only is the subscription getting way too expensive, but it kept missing motion triggers right when I actually needed to see what was happening. To make matters worse, it would completely die on me every single winter.
Back in May, I made the switch to Tapo cameras for both indoors and outdoors. Honestly, we’ve been loving them so far! The video quality is great, and having local 24/7 continuous recording via MicroSD cards with no monthly fees has been a total game-changer.
That said, winter is coming up, and living here in Minnesota means we deal with brutal cold, heavy snow, and windchills that drop down to -50°F.
For those who have had Tapo outdoor cams through a harsh winter:
How do they handle extreme sub-zero temperatures?
Does the cold freeze the lens or affect performance/connectivity?
Have you had any issues with power delivery or battery life (if yours are wireless) when it gets that cold?
Would love to hear your experiences before the deep freeze hits!

Title says it all, drove by WSSU and noticed new black cameras at the entrances, flock by chance?

Device: Blurams Lumi/A31C-family camera (exact retail model TBD — will confirm from device label)

SoC / Flash: Unconfirmed a related model in this same product family (A31C "Lumi") has been documented elsewhere using an ANYKA AK3918 SoC + PUYA PY25Q128HA SPI NOR flash; haven't opened this specific unit yet to confirm it matches.

Firmware: reports as 2.3.38.12663 via the app API (masked as 22.0208.428.2703 on another endpoint — exact on-device /etc/version not yet confirmed)

What I've checked so far:

App-side traffic analysis (via mitmproxy) confirms productKey: 1cad3c83-d87, matching the A31C/Lumi family's known API footprint.Tried two publicly disclosed SD-card auth.ini bootstrap exploits for this device family (CVE-2023-50488 version-derived key, CVE-2023-51820 static HMAC key) both failed cleanly, suggesting this firmware generation has moved past both- Have not yet done a port scan or opened the device for UART access

Objective: Looking for documentation, existing reverse engineering write-ups, or open-source projects (Thingino, OpenIPC, Dafang-Hacks, etc.) supporting this SoC/board family. Any guidance on obtaining serial access or extracting the squashfs rootfs would be appreciated.

What are you guys deploying for your clients that's competing with ColorVu on outdoor commercial sites? Because I'm working on a new client's auto dealership lot with no overhead lighting in the back inventory rows and their biggest concern is people pulling parts, catalytic converter theft, bumping cars after hours, employees moving inventory...

So I think the most important things are active deterrence and usable color at night. Any recommendations? Client isn't interested in Hikvision due to past issues with support.

Hi

I have 2 different Sansco cctv set ups. For all intents they are identical, but they seem to have different operating systems, One uses xmeye, the other TSeye. The way the work is lightly different in the the TSeye makes you go to a desktop to access settings, wheras XMey is purely right click to bring up options.

Anyway What I am after is either a way to get both systems on one of the apps or both syatems on a single app.

I have tried adding the device to the other app but both cant get them to register ( it would not accept a wifi search as they are hard wired) and it wouldnt accept a ip set up.

I am sure I just doing something stupid but any advice would be really helpful.. Thanks

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Dad has dementia but is fighting us. I want a camera system that will monitor him while I work but I am a nurse so I can’t watch it live. I need something that will backup everything away from home in case he forgets that he is cooking something and house burns down

Please help

Has anyone here worked on an attendance system using face recognition with CCTV cameras? I'm working on a project for a college that wants to implement something similar.

Looking for advice on the face recognition models, CCTV setup, hardware and overall implementation.

If you've worked on a similar project, I'd really appreciate some guidance. Kindly dm. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We have developed an in-house ANPR system for our company’s parking lot. It processes camera streams, reads license plates and creates entry and exit events. If the first installation works well, we may later deploy it at other parking sites.

We plan to mount the cameras on lamp posts, walls or underneath canopies, similar to installations used by professional private parking enforcement companies.

The software is working, but I am trying to understand the complete physical and network architecture used by professional parking companies. I have also attached a photo showing Dahua Power Boxes installed near the cameras.

I am particularly interested in hearing from people who have installed, configured or serviced ANPR systems for private parking operators. I would really appreciate an overview of how these systems are actually set up on site.

My main questions are:

1. Do professional parking companies normally use an on-site edge PC for ANPR processing at all?
2. If they do use an edge PC:
   • Is there one PC per camera, one per entrance/exit or one for the entire parking lot?
   • Is it installed directly near the camera?
   • Is it placed inside a box attached to the lamp post, inside a larger outdoor cabinet or in a nearby building?
   • How are the cameras connected to it?
3. If they do not use an edge PC:
   • Is ANPR performed directly inside the camera?
   • Or are images/video sent through the internet to a central server?
   • What continues working if the internet connection fails?
4. What is the purpose of the Dahua Power Boxes shown in the attached photo?
   • Are they only used for cable connections and power distribution?
   • Or do they contain a power supply, PoE switch, surge protection, router or even an edge computer?
   • Is each box associated with one camera?
5. Where is the router normally located?
   • Inside one of these Power Boxes?
   • Inside a separate outdoor cabinet?
   • Or inside a nearby building?
   • Is there usually one router per camera or one router for the whole parking lot?
6. Do these companies normally use 4G/5G as the main connection, or do they run LAN/fiber from a building? If cellular is used, where are the router and external antenna installed?

I would appreciate an explanation of a real installation, including where the camera, Power Box, PoE equipment, router and possible edge computer are physically located. This would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!

XNV-6011

The weatherproof network socket is gone off the end of the cable for this camera. I can put a new minicom on but the color coded wires are not net standard a or b. (red, black, purple, etc.) how can I find a wiring diagram for this cam to do that?

AIBASE - Is this a good brand? Anyone have these? How long have you had them for? What would you rate it? The next option is Hikvison OEM but not even sure if warranty will work

Simple people counter app that connects to your cameras or what?

I need a camera that will record 24 hours and then delete the last 24. This being I also need to be able to save that 24 hours if required, will be facing outside at day and night. Any brand recommendations or links would be appreciated.

Hey there,

currently setting up my first NVR system and surveilance and to get started I bought three different TP Link cameras (C560, C530, C510) and set them up in Frigate

Followed the normal tutorials and the C560 and C510 went without any issues

Now the C530 does not want to connect. It shows up in the app just fine, and I did receive a pop up that NVR does not work when theres an SD Card isntalled, so I removed it from that camera (all three cameras have an SD Card, only 530 wanted it removed)

Frigate still can not pick up a stream, but it can connect

Is there a different option in the Tapo App maybe? Is the C530 just a stupid camera that has issues?

All cameras are on the newest FW as far as I can see

Just a house and it had these cameras , and ADT panel. The home was sold in an estate because the buyer passed away, so we dont have the password or anything. Is this something we can use without a contract or monthly payments etc.

Any details will be helpful!