Anyone here have the Amcrest floodlight cam?

[Raylo32]

I am thinking of adding one of these, not as a main cam but it is right next to my most vulnerable point of entry door where it could be useful as cam and as a deterrent. How does it work for you? One curious thing in the product info says that the wifi camera needs to be connected to power to function (d'oh), but does that mean a SEPARATE power supply other than hard wiring the fixture in?? I mean you have to hard wire the thing into the light fixture for the light to work... does than not also power the camera?

Amcrest SmartHome 1080p WiFi Outdoor Security Camera with Floodlight, Built-in Siren Alarm, 2000lm Floodlight, Two-Way Audio, 114° View, IP65 Weatherproof, MicroSD & Smart Cloud Storage, ASH26-W

 

[sebastiantombs]

Frankly, if it has "Smart Cloud Storage" I'd avoid it like the plague. On top of that it's WiFi which isn't optimal for video surveillance. Dropouts can be a real problem with WiFI cameras for a whole host of reasons and usually happen at the worst possible moment, thank you Mr. Murphy.

 

[wtimothyholman]

Frankly, if it has "Smart Cloud Storage" I'd avoid it like the plague. On top of that it's WiFi which isn't optimal for video surveillance. Dropouts can be a real problem with WiFI cameras for a whole host of reasons and usually happen at the worst possible moment, thank you Mr. Murphy.

Amcrest Cloud storage is strictly optional and not really needed. You can record all motion events to an SD card, so dropouts in WiFi can be tolerated.

In reading the manual, the biggest drawback I see is that you are forced to configure the camera through the Amcrest smartphone app. Most Amcrest cameras use rebranded Dahua hardware, but it's not so clear if the same is true for this camera. Unlike most Amcrest products, there are no instructions for directly accessing a web-based interface and doing direct configuration.

The camera does support ONVIF, and the instructions show that it can be added to Blue Iris, so hopefully the Amcrest app can be ignored once you've got it integrated into your security system.

 

[wtimothyholman]

One curious thing in the product info says that the wifi camera needs to be connected to power to function (d'oh), but does that mean a SEPARATE power supply other than hard wiring the fixture in?? I mean you have to hard wire the thing into the light fixture for the light to work... does than not also power the camera?

Yes, both the camera and lights are powered by the same power connection. Like most motion floodlight cameras, the Amcrest model is intended as a drop-in replacement for a standard motion-sensitive floodlight.

 

[Raylo32]

I agree that's how it SHOULD be... but look at the 4th bullet in this product info snip. Now if they said "this DEVICE" (to include the light) it would make more sense.

And yes, the intent would be to bring this into my BI setup. But reading about many issues with the light and cam triggering, false alarms, etc. I dunno. I suppose I could disable the onboard cam triggering and let BI handle that... and besides my other cam will trigger first. The light on this thing supposedly triggers independently of the cam.

Yes, both the camera and lights are powered by the same power connection. Like most motion floodlight cameras, the Amcrest model is intended as a drop-in replacement for a standard motion-sensitive floodlight.

 

[wtimothyholman]

I agree that's how it SHOULD be... but look at the 4th bullet in this product info snip. Now if they said "this DEVICE" (to include the light) it would make more sense.

And yes, the intent would be to bring this into my BI setup. But reading about many issues with the light and cam triggering, false alarms, etc. I dunno. I suppose I could disable the onboard cam triggering and let BI handle that... and besides my other cam will trigger first. The light on this thing supposedly triggers independently of the cam.

You'll find that sort of clumsy English wording in most Amcrest documentation. The problem is that Amcrest will take the bad English translation provided by the Chinese manufacturer and publish it verbatim without any attempt to fix the grammar.

As to the camera itself, I take the attitude that installing a lower-performance camera is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it is not a primary part of your security system, but only supplements it. It's an extra backup camera that may attract the attention of intruders while they completely ignore the other (much better) cameras that are recording them. The same can also be true of video doorbell cameras. They have their uses, so long as they are not your primary security cameras.

I have a fairly comprehensive security setup composed of Dahua and Amcrest (rebranded Dahua) cameras with overlapping fields of view, plus two cameras configured for LPR. Yet despite that, I also have a couple of Wyze Cam v3 cameras set up outside my house. They can't begin to compete in performance with my varifocal and bullet cameras, but they provide a great opportunity for me to pull out my smartphone, tap on the Wyze app, and say to my neighbor "See, this is why you need to spend $39 for a Wyze Cam and memory card over at Home Depot." My goal is to persuade my neighbors to install some camera ... any camera ... as opposed to doing nothing at all, and the Wyze Cam has a very low barrier to entry.

 

[Raylo32]

Totally agree. I actually have a Ring on my front door primarily for the porch pirate deterrence value and I can see packages on my stoop. But I don't rely on it for much else. Its motion detection is really bad... far too sensitive. I have it dialed down to lowest with a small hot zone and "human only" and it still fires on the odd car, headlight, or passerby.

Meanwhile my HIK over in the garage opening records the full view 24/7. This would be similar in the back. In this case I might have it only record to BI when triggered, unlike the rest I have 24/7 recording. I'd add some other maybe better cam at the back door except there is no way for me to run ethernet and/or power cables there. Sure I could plug in a wifi cam in the nearby outdoor outlet but there is nothing less secure than that. Popping in a new light is easy.

You'll find that sort of clumsy English wording in most Amcrest documentation. The problem is that Amcrest will take the bad English translation provided by the Chinese manufacturer and publish it verbatim without any attempt to fix the grammar.

As to the camera itself, I take the attitude that installing a lower-performance camera is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it is not a primary part of your security system, but only supplements it. It's an extra backup camera that may attract the attention of intruders while they completely ignore the other (much better) cameras that are recording them. The same can also be true of video doorbell cameras. They have their uses, so long as they are not your primary security cameras.

I have a fairly comprehensive security setup composed of Dahua and Amcrest (rebranded Dahua) cameras with overlapping fields of view, plus two cameras configured for LPR. Yet despite that, I also have a couple of Wyze Cam v3 cameras set up outside my house. They can't begin to compete in performance with my varifocal and bullet cameras, but they provide a great opportunity for me to pull out my smartphone, tap on the Wyze app, and say to my neighbor "See, this is why you need to spend $39 for a Wyze Cam and memory card over at Home Depot." My goal is to persuade my neighbors to install some camera ... any camera ... as opposed to doing nothing at all, and the Wyze Cam has a very low barrier to entry.

 

[wtimothyholman]

Totally agree. I actually have a Ring on my front door primarily for the porch pirate deterrence value and I can see packages on my stoop. But I don't rely on it for much else. Its motion detection is really bad... far too sensitive. I have it dialed down to lowest with a small hot zone and "human only" and it still fires on the odd car, headlight, or passerby.

When people ask me about the Ring doorbell, I tell them, "It's a perfectly good video doorbell, but a terrible security camera." I advise them to cancel their Ring cloud subscription and use the doorbell strictly in "real time" mode, while installing a few Wyze cams with the money they save. The Wyze cams will provide 24/7 recording with motion alerts at the same video quality as the Ring, but with far better video coverage.

I'd install a video doorbell myself, but my very old house has no doorbell wiring, and I refuse to mess with batteries. A video doorbell is useful; it attracts attention, and people know that the homeowner can speak to them over it. They can stare at it while my Dahua cameras record them from multiple angles. One of these days I might pay someone to run the wiring to install one.

 

[Raylo32]

You don't really need to have a real doorbell... Doorbells and Rings run off 24 vac. You can buy a simple 24 vac transformer and plug it in or hard wire it to a nearby circuit, then run the feed to your door jamb. A bit of work for not much value I suppose. I agree I don't use the Ring for much of anything, although the app alert lets me know when the UPS guy has dropped off a package.... although most times it is a false alarm.

When people ask me about the Ring doorbell, I tell them, "It's a perfectly good video doorbell, but a terrible security camera." I advise them to cancel their Ring cloud subscription and use the doorbell strictly in "real time" mode, while installing a few Wyze cams with the money they save. The Wyze cams will provide 24/7 recording with motion alerts at the same video quality as the Ring, but with far better video coverage.

I'd install a video doorbell myself, but my very old house has no doorbell wiring, and I refuse to mess with batteries. A video doorbell is useful; it attracts attention, and people know that the homeowner can speak to them over it. They can stare at it while my Dahua cameras record them from multiple angles. One of these days I might pay someone to run the wiring to install one.

 

[Bitslizer]

It is not truly ONVIF, most likely you cant config it via ONVIF, it does support RTSP stream for NVR recording and Motion Detection does trigger fine on the NVR. This is based on my AD110 doorbelll and ASH21 which are both Smart Home (SH) type.

I believe it just need the one AC power source to power the camera, but you can check the install instruction. Cloud is optional, by default it will store locally to SD card and web/cloud access just read from the SD Card, NVR recording if you have one