Here's something that I bet most of you aren't aware of that might be useful. Even I wasn't aware of it until 2 days ago...

​

So Reolink's new standalone floodlight has the capability to be linked to some of their cameras, meaning when that camera triggers a motion event, the floodlight will turn on. According to this support article, the Floodlight only supports direct linkage to the latest cameras:

1. Reolink Duo 2 PoE/WiFi
2. Reolink TrackMix PoE/WiFi
3. Reolink Duo Floodlight PoE/WiFi
4. E1, E1 Pro, E1 Zoom (the AI type)
5. RLC-833A, RLC-823A 16X
6. Doorbell POE/WIFI

​

I went over how it works in my review from a few weeks ago. I personally have mine set to turn on when my Duo 2 detects a person. However, I also have a 1212A at the other corner of the back of my house. The floodlight is right in the middle of those two cameras so I would have liked to be able to set the 1212A to trigger the floodlight as well.

Well, apparently you can! (if you have an NVR)

Willson recently pointed out to us mods that if you have the floodlight added to the NVR, you can link it to ANY of their cameras. I've even successfully tested it with a Lumus and with a 5 year old RLC-420. Obviously, it's because the NVR itself is managing the linkage. So for once you actually gain something by using the NVR lol. I know I know, that's sacrilege coming from me.

Also, I thought at first that the floodlight would have to be connected directly to the NVR, but it does not. You can have it connected via a PoE switch and add it as an IP device just like you can with cameras. So I can indeed still have my cake and eat it too.

Of course, it depends on which NVR you have. Here is the list I was given (and can also be found here):

RLN8-410: N7MB01, H3MB18, N2MB02, N3MB01

RLN16-410: N7MB01, H3MB18

RLN36: N5MB01

​

One of the drawbacks to this is that it can't be configured in the mobile app or desktop client (yet), it has to be done on the NVR's GUI.

​

Here are some images of the process....

​

Proof that it can be added as an IP device while not connected directly to the NVR.

​

The IoT screen showing my floodlight after being added

​

A rule for the Lumus to turn the floodlight on when it detects any motion. If Lumus detects any motion, then Floodlight turns on.

​

What the trigger creation process looks like for an AI camera

​

Since it only shows you two rules per screen, it's nice that it gives you a dropdown to filter by camera.

One slightly annoying thing is your rules can't span across days. For example, I only want mine to trigger from 6p-6a. If you try to do that directly, it will give you an error and you can't save the rule. So as you see there in that last screenshot, I had to create two separate rules for my 1212A back door camera.... one for before midnight, one for after. Hopefully they'll be able to fix that in the future, especially since it works fine when doing this standalone through the mobile app.

You also don't have as many trigger conditions this way as you do when configuring it standalone through the mobile app, as you see compared here:

https://preview.redd.it/td9eh7luto8a1.png?width=929&format=png&auto=webp&s=cace1c735090e20a33a4b5386029862978bf9c82

So anyway, hopefully some of you find that as enlightening as I did. Let me know if you have any questions.

​

​