FAQs

How is WiFi Strength Measured?

WiFi Strength is measured in dBm, an indication of how strong the WiFi’s radio waves are when received by the camera. This measure goes from -100 to 0, with -100 being the worst.

What is Your Recommended WiFi Strength?

We generally recommend dBm greater than -55 in order to ensure the best camera streaming and recording experience. Greater than -70 is acceptable, but may result in poor video experience. Anything below -70 dBm will result in severely degraded experience.

How Reliable is This Measurement?

There is no perfect measurement of WiFi strength. We’ve found that sometimes customers who have strength measurements below our recommendations have perfectly fine camera experiences, while other customers who have strength measurements above our recommendations have degraded camera experiences. Nevertheless, the vast majority of customers should have experiences in line with our guidelines.

Causes of Weak WiFi

WiFi signal strength is the quality of the communication between your camera and your router. Think of WiFi signal strength as how well two people can hear each other talking. Some causes of weak signal strength are:

Obstructions between the router and the device (trying to talk through doors and walls)
Interference from other electronic devices which generate electronic signals (trying to talk in a room where others are also talking)
Distance between the router and the device (trying to talk while far away)
Multiple devices streaming to your router (trying to listen to multiple people at once)
An outdated router (not understanding the latest lingo)

Indications of Weak WiFi Signal Strength

1. Degraded video or audio quality
2. Motion notifications may be delayed or may not come through at all
3. Recorded videos may have gaps
4. Live View may not connect or may disconnect during streaming

Yes, you can easily move your WiFi camera. If the new location is still in the range of its current WiFi network, it can be moved around the home without any preparation. It will reconnect to the same wifi network when you plug it back in.

If the new location is on a new WiFi network, you will need to reset your camera and change your camera’s WiFi settings.

Which one should you purchase for storage?

Here are the Pros and Cons of these 2 different kinds of storage:

Cloud Storage

SD Card

Nanny Cams can be defined as undetectable cameras placed strategically throughout an individual's home in an effort to monitor what the nanny or babysitter is doing while on the job.

Audio Surveillance is an all-encompassing term that refers to the use of electronic devices for remotely listening in on conversations and recording them.

Outdoor cameras are security devices that can capture and record criminal activity around your home. These devices can usually withstand extreme temperatures, and they often come with two-way talk, night vision, and HD resolution.

Dash cams can capture vehicle accidents, but they can also provide proof for police in hit-and-run situations, or if you've captured footage of someone driving under the influence. Dash cams with a wide view can also capture pedestrians, cyclists, and others who may be behaving in a way that endangers drivers.

Body cams are audio/video recording device that is clipped to a person's clothing, usually on the torso. Body cams are a type of body-worn video (BWV) device. Body cams are used in recreational activities, surveillance, journalism, and healthcare.

Counter surveillance devices are designed to help users detect and prevent unlawful and unwanted monitoring, whether that means detecting hidden cameras, scrambling unseen signals, or creating white noise masking that prevents recording devices from capturing voices.

Spy Covert Cameras are very discreet Video Surveillance Cameras used to capture footage in various environments and under different circumstances without being identified, detected, or seen by the general public and they bring great benefits to businesses.

At the moment, we don't have devices that run their own mobile network or through cellular data. We will have those devices available very soon. Kindly stay tuned to our website for updates.

These are very similar devices. They look a bit different physically though.

Aside from the price, here's the difference between the 2 smoke detectors:
(It's actually with the viewing angle)

We take all major credit cards and PayPal.

The answer is yes. Just put the address of where you want the package sent into the ‘shipping address’ section when you place your order. That could be your work address, your neighbor’s, a PO box, or wherever you want.

Please note: we still need your billing address. Nothing will ever be sent there - we only need it to prevent credit card fraud.

This package is so plain-looking, you probably won’t know what it is when you get it. 

The order will arrive in a box that has no markings on it. The only thing on the box is a shipping label so they know where to send it.

You get free ground shipping on every order, which takes 3-5 business days (5-7 business days maximum). 

If you need it faster, upgrade to 2nd Day Air or Priority Overnight and it’ll be delivered in two days or overnight. Keep in mind that orders placed after 4pm EST will be sent the following day, and orders placed on Saturday & Sunday will shipped on Monday.

1. Open the TUYA app, click "Add Device" or click '+" on the upper right corner of the app.  Choose "Camera & Lock" and then select "Smart Camera Wifi.
2. Make sure that the device is powered ON and the indicator light is flashing quickly or a prompt tone is heard.
   To reset the device - please hold down the reset button on this camera until the camera beeps.
3. Mark the radio button and press the "Next" button to go to QR code pairing
4. Please select 2.4Ghz wifi network then enter your router's password, and make sure you enter it correctly.
5. The app will display a QR code, please scan the QR code using the device camera 15 to 20 cm away.
6. When you heard a voice prompt, press "I Heard a Prompt"
7. Wait for about a few minutes to finalize the setup
8. Once done, the device will show up on your device's list and it will be ready to use.

Note : 

Please make sure when setting up the camera, please make sure that cellular data/mobile data and wifi assistance/auto wifi are turned OFF.  These settings will make your phone ignore the wifi network it is connected to if it senses the internet connection is bad, which is what it will sense when connected to the camera as you are only connected to the camera and not the internet.

First, let's start with downloading the app HDSmartIPC

• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hdsmartipct.cam&hl=en&gl=US
• IOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hdsmartipc/id1260420046 

Press the reset button for 30 sec while the device is on

To pair your device to your Wi-Fi and use the device remotely you can follow these simple steps: 

1. Connect to the device hotspot, it should start with the letters "AI" after you are done connecting.
2. Let's check if there is any smart networking switching 
   a.) Android: On the Wi-Fi page in settings, there should be a menu button in the upper right corner which is usually represented by three dots on the stack each other. Once you clicked on that go to Advance, Then check on Switch to mobile data and make sure that it is off.
   b.) iPhone:  Go to settings, then cellular, scroll down until you are on the bottom-most part, look for wifi assist and make sure that it is off.
3. Open the HDSmartIPC App and the camera should be there and appear online, Click on the Settings button a gear icon on the lower right corner of the online camera, and Select device settings, Once inside device settings select Wi-Fi Config, Inside Wi-Fi Config select your Home Wi-Fi on the list. Make sure that we are connecting it to a 2.4ghz Wi-Fi and not 5ghz Wi-Fi, if we try to connect it to a 5ghz Wi-Fi it will most like fail to connect,
   a.) if you are unsure you can check on your router and see if any indicator for what kind of Wi-Fi signal it emits. If not found you can contact your router provider to have them assist you if it's not available.
4. Once we select the Home Wi-Fi it will ask for the password for that Wi-Fi. Once you put the password to connect. The app will pop up a message saying that the device will reboot. Just close the app then go to your phone's Wi-Fi and check if you are connected to your internet and if the "AI" hotspot is gone.
5. Wait for 5 mins before opening the app again, Then once the 5mins is done open the app and you should be able to view the live feed in any location as long as you are connected to your internet. 

Please see the instruction below on how to set up your device to TinyCam pro app.

1. Please get the TinyCam Pro app for your smartphone - you can download it from  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jk.tinycam&hl=en_US&gl=US for Android devices or from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tinycam-pro/id1539082721 for IOS devices. 
2. Plug the device with power and Press ON/OFF for 2 seconds and wait for about 1 minute. 
3. Please make sure to turn off mobile data and WIFI assistance on your smartphone before doing the setup. These settings will make your phone ignore the WIFI network it is connected to if it senses the internet connection is bad, which is what it will sense when connected to the camera as you are only connected to the camera and not the internet.
4. Go to your smartphone WIFI setting and connect to the WIFI network with an SSID which starts with "HCAM" or "AIS", broadcast by the camera.
5. Open the Tinycam Pro app, from the main screen of the app tap the (+) icon to add a camera device then tap LAN search and select the first device found.  Back on the main menu, you should see a new camera icon preview
6. Next is to setup remote access to the camera. Hit the settings icon then select Wi-Fi Config, select your 2.5Ghz local Wi-Fi network, and input your WIFI password.
7. Then, wait a few minutes. It will display a message stating "Device is offline, please check that the network and power are normal." This is normal, just give it about five minutes to reboot. After five minutes, the device should be connected to your WIFI network.

Please note on step#6: If your router has 2 WIFI signals (2.5GHz and 5G, please don't choose 5G. Because it only supports 2.4 GHz WIFI.  

Please do the following to setup device to Continuously on the SD card. 

1. Open the HDSmartIPC app.
2. Hit the gear icon below the camera view to go to the DEVICE SETTING.
3. Select VIDEO SETTING, and then set SD card record mode
   
   
   

1. Update Configuration - {Y/N} - "Y" character means Yes - to update all the changes made and "N" mean No - changes will not update to the device. 
2. Date Time Watermark - is the settings to setup the date and time stamp of your video recordings. 
   Format - Year-Month-Day hour:min:sec {Y/N} -  "Y" character means Yes - show date and time. "N" means not to show the date and time stamp on the video recordings.
   Sample - September 15, 2022, 9:30AM - 2022-09-15 09:30:00
3. Videosize - or resolution, is the number of pixels that could be displayed in a given area that is usually calculated by the width and the height.You can set the device to record in the following resolution, (4K30/1440P30/1080P120/1080P60/1080P30/720P120/720P60)
   Sample :  1080P30            [Videosize{4K30/1440P30/1080P120/1080P60/1080P30/720P120/720P60}]
   - the device will record in 1080P resolution and 30fps.
4.  Segment Time - is the video recording length you set for the video recordings. 
   Sample : 10            [Segment Time{5/10/15/20/30}]
   -the device will max recording length will be 10 minutes long, it will keep recording to another 10 minutes video until you press the function button to stop recording. Say for example you are recording for about 30 minutes, you will have 3 videos files in the device storage.
5. Photosize - This represents the physical size and resolution of an image measured in pixels. 
   Sample - 24M            [Photosize{24M/20M/16M/13M/8M}]
   - all captured images by the device will be 24megapixels in size. 
6.  Logo - This is used to use add a logo or string name on the date and time stamp. Currently, the value is NULL for this isn't applicable at the moment. 
7.  Format - This is used to format the device storage. If set to "Y" - will wipe out all the data in the video storage of your device. "N" means not to format device storage. Its recommend to set it to  "N". If you need to format the device storage, we recommend doing it on your computer. 
8. Motor Vibration - {Y/N} - "Y" character means Yes - to enable vibration and "N" mean No - disable vibration
9. Movie Audio - {Y/N} - Select 'Y' to enable audio recording or 'N' to disable audio recording."