A quick note about Alarm.com video cameras
By john on Jun 11, 2009 in Home Security, featured
I’ve recently made some changes to my network topology at home which included re-IP’ing my network. Since I do my IP addressing via DHCP this isn’t normally a big deal and I thought nothing of it. Then I realized that my security camera through FrontPoint (and Alarm.com) no longer worked.
Since the instructions for the camera don’t give any guidance on how to reset the camera, and I could find nothing quickly in a google search, I thought I’d post a quick set of instructions on here.
Since my camera now could no longer talk to Alarm.com, I couldn’t access it via their servers to change IP information. Instead I had to reset the camera and perform the “initial camera setup” steps all over again.
To reset the camera, take a paperclip or similarly sized object and press the reset button located in a recessed area on the back of the camera. I held that for approximately 15-20 seconds before releasing. The blue and orange led’s on the front of the camera flashed a few times and it rebooted (twice, I think). Do this WITH power connected.
After that I followed the instructions for initial setup of the camera and all was fine.
Simple. The way I like it.
Popularity: 36% [?]
Below is the response I received from alarm.com. Slightly different from your instructions–must hold the reset button for 60 seconds.
Hi xxxxx,
Thanks for contacting us. When resetting the camera, the reset button must be depressed and held for AT LEAST 60 seconds. The LED on the front of the camera will go through a series of flashing patterns. When the LED starts flashing steadily blue for a second time, it is okay to let go of the reset button and attempt to re-add the camera to the account (www.alarm.com/addcamera).
If you are still unable to add the camera after attempting this, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Alarm.com Support Services
Regards,
Eric | Feb 15, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the comment, Eric. I only posted instructions that worked for me – I never did ask Alarm.com how to do it (but rather just did it myself until it worked). If they suggest doing it for 60 seconds then I would follow their instructions, though that does seem a rather long time to have to hold a reset button…
john | Feb 15, 2010 | Reply