Security Cameras

Y-cam Protect Indoor & Outdoor Camera's

Questions and Answers

Question: How to upgrade a camera to the Plus package?

Answer: The Plus Package allows you to store all videos made by your camera for a full thirty days, a feature that can prove useful is you are away on holiday, looking after a small business or shop, or if you’d just like to keep your clips on your account a little longer. If you would like to upgrade a camera to the Plus Package, please head to the Camera Manager section of the site and look for the column that says ‘Recording plan’. Under that column, just click the ‘Upgrade’ button. On this page, you can then select which camera(s) you would like to upgrade, as well as whether you would like the Plus Package to auto-renew every twelve months. Just fill in your billing address and card details and then click ‘Upgrade your camera’. The Plus Package will then be automatically applied.

Question: How to upgrade the firmware on your camera?

Answer: Occasionally there may be firmware upgrades available for your HomeMonitor cameras. To check whether this is the case, please head to the Camera Manager section of the site. If new firmware is available for your camera then there will be a button underneath the ‘Camera info’ column that will say ‘Upgrade firmware’. Just click this button to upgrade. If the 'Camera info' column only indicates the camera's ID, camera added date and current firmware number, it means your camera is already up to date!

Question: How to deactivate a camera from your account?

Answer: If you wish to remove a camera from your account, simply head to the Camera Manager section and click the button with a red circle and a white cross in it. This will open up a little message that asks you to confirm that you wish to delete the camera from your account, as all footage from the camera will be deleted from your Video Archive. As such, we would recommend downloading important videos to your computer before de-activating your camera. If you do wish to proceed, click ‘Delete Camera and videos’.

Question: How to add a new camera to your account?

Answer: If you wish to add a new camera to your account, head to the Camera Manager section of the site and select the button ‘Add new camera’. This will take you through the process of adding a new camera to your account, from connecting it to the router to setting the motion detection zones.

Question: How to change a camera's name?

Answer: To change your camera’s name, please log into your HomeMonitor account and head to the Camera Manager section of the site. Once there select ‘Camera Settings’. The first option will be to change your Camera Name. Just click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page, and your change will be made.

Question: How to enable or disable your camera's microphone?

Answer: To turn your camera’s microphone on or off, please log into your HomeMonitor account and head to the Camera Manager section of the site. Once there select ‘Camera Settings’. Look there for the setting ‘Camera Microphone’ and choose ‘Enable’ or ‘Disable’ according to your preference. Just click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page to confirm your change.

Question: How to enable or disable your camera's night vision?

Answer: Occasionally you may wish to either manually enable or disable your camera’s night vision (if you are planning to use an indoor HomeMonitor through a window for instance). This can be done very simply. 

Having logged into your account, head to the Camera Manager section of the site and select ‘Camera Settings’. Once there, switch ‘Night Vision’ to ‘Enable’ if you wish night vision to be active all the time, or to ‘Disable’ if you wish it to turn night vision off. Selecting ‘Auto’ will mean that the camera will switch to night vision when it gets dark and back to its day vision when it gets light again. Whichever you choose, just click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page to confirm your change.

Question: How to include snapshots with your email notifcations?

Answer: If you are receiving e-mail notifications from your camera when motion is detected, you have the option to have a snapshot included from this motion recording. This will typically be taken a few seconds into the video, therefore giving you an idea of whom or what has caused the motion recording. You can then use the e-mail to check the video on your desktop or mobile device. 

If you wish to have this snapshot included in your notification, please head to Camera Manager and select ‘Camera Settings’. Once there look for the setting ‘Image with E-mail attachment’ and select ‘Enable’. To remove the snapshots from these e-mails, just select ‘Disable’. In either instance, click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page to confirm the change.

Question: How to change the alert notifications you receive?

Answer: When your camera detects motion, as well as making a recording that is saved into your Video Archive, you can have it send you an alert notification. There are two types of alert notifications that you can receive:

1. E-mail notifications, which are sent to the e-mail address linked to the account, as well as any others you have added in User Manager
2. Push Notifications, which are sent by the Y-cam HomeMonitor app on your mobile device. At the top of your phone a little HomeMonitor icon will appear, indicating that motion has been detected and that a recording is being made.

To turn alert notifications on or off in general, you will need to head to the My Home page in your HomeMonitor account. You can then press the ‘Alert Notification’ button. If it is greyed out, this means the alert notifications are turned off; if it has a little green circle in the bottom-left, then alert notifications are turned on. 

If you wish to change the type of alert notifications you receive, please head to the Camera Settings section of the site and select ‘Camera Settings’. Once there look for ‘Alert Notification Settings’. You can then choose whether to just receive either E-mail or Push Notifications, or Both of these. Whichever you choose, just click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page to confirm your change.

Question: What happens after 12 months?

Answer: Any camera activated on an account will have 7 days rolling storage of motion activated video clips for 12 months. After 12 months, your camera will require a subscription plan for continued cloud video storage. You will have a choice of subscribing to a 7 day storage plan or our Y-cam Plus service which provides a 30 day storage plan with additional Y-cam Protect Alarm system benefits. See subscriptions charges here. 

If you do not purchase a subscription plan, then your camera will notify you when motion is detected, and let you watch live, however your camera will no longer record video.

Question: Where should I position my camera?

Answer: As with any camera, for the best results try not to point towards light sources, as this can distort the image. Think about what you are trying to capture, for example if monitoring pets then make sure the camera is at a level that is appropriate to their size. If you are monitoring people, then it is important the camera is positioned to capture as much of the face as possible, which is especially important for identification purposes.

Question: How does night vision work?

Answer: Whenever surrounding light levels are sufficiently low or the lights have been turned off, the camera automatically turns on its infrared led(s) so it can see in complete darkness. Below is detailed how far each camera can see in the dark:

• Indoor HD can see up to 15 metres
• Outdoor HD Pro can see up to 15 metres

Question: Where is my footage stored?

Answer: Your footage is owned by you and saved in your private account on the Y-cam Cloud Platform. This service is provided for no additional monthly cost, and means your videos are kept secure, even if your camera is damaged or unplugged.

We provide continuous 7 days storage of your videos for free*, and if you need 30 days then you will need to subscribe to Y-cam Plus. If you want to to keep any videos permanently then you can download from the Y-cam app or to your computer from the Web Portal.

* One year Free video cloud storage. To continue after 12 months to access video cloud storage a monthly subscription is required

Question: Are the camera's battery or mains powered?

Answer: As the cameras are designed for security, they require mains power to ensure reliable connectivity and to power the infrared night vision led(s). Our experience is customers don't want to replace batteries every few months, and don't want to risk their cameras running out of power at the time they need it most.

Our Outdoor HD Pro can also be powered using Power over Ethernet (PoE). To set up PoE you need to make sure that your PoE switch or injector is 802.3af compliant and has a minimum of 13W power, we also recommend using Cat 6 cabling.

Troubleshooting 

Problem: I have spiders on my outdoor camera

Answer: This may happen on any external product, you can purchase a Teflon spray or dedicated spray to repel the spiders from the camera but ultimately you may not be able to prevent them completely, so the camera will need cleaning periodically. 

If you have a question and you can't find the answer on the Knowledge Base, please contact our experts and we will try to help.