Solar

Camera Setup

• Phone Compatibility

• Phone or tablet compatibility
  The following are the minimum requirements to install and use the Tend Secure App:

  • Android phone or tablet running Android 6.0 or later
  • iPhone, iPod, or iPad running iOS 11.0 or later
• Setting up a camera

• Powering your camera on and off
  When you first power your camera, it should turn on automatically. If you’d like to power off your camera for some reason, press and hold the back button for 4 seconds. The front LED light should turn off. If the camera is being charged, the front LED light will turn solid red instead.

  To power your camera back on, simply tap the back button.

  Deciding where to place and how to position your solar panel
  Your solar panel should be placed where there is no or little interference of the sunlight - avoid trees and tall buildings. You may also want to avoid mounting the panel on your roof shingles, as the screws may damage your roof top.

  To get the most power from your solar panels, you need to point them in a direction that captures the most sun. If you live in the northern hemisphere, your panels should face true south. If you live in the southern hemisphere, your panels should face true north.

  If you live in an area where there is snow, you may want to use a steep angle so that it is more likely to shed snow. A snow-covered panel will generate no power.

  Solar panel assembly
  Once you have picked a location for your solar panel:

  1. There should be 6 screws that are partially screwed into the back of the solar panel. Some of the screws may have fallen out during shipping. Make sure to lightly screw them back in. Do not tighten the screws at this time.
  2. Run the power cable connected to your solar panel through the hole at the back of the dome.
  3. Align the 6 holes of the dome, to the 6 untightened screws at the back of the solar panel. Press the dome down and twist counterclockwise until the dome is tightened.
  4. Using a screwdriver, tighten the 6 screws.
  5. Connect the extension cable to cable on the back of the solar panel.
  6. Using the supplied screws, mount the base plate to the location where you intend to mount your solar panel.
  7. Place the solar panel assembly from #4 into the base. Use the supplied screw to lock the two in place.
  8. The final assembly should look like this:

  Deciding where to place and how to position your camera
  Solar is designed as an outdoor camera. If you place it indoors, the camera will not be able to sense motion through glass. You should also avoid pointing the camera at a pool, as the constant changes in the pool’s temperature may trigger false alarms.

  The best position to detect motion is between 6-10 feet high, pointing slightly down.

  Mounting your camera
  Before mounting your camera, you should first activate it and use the supplied power adapter to make sure it is fully charged.

• Mounting Your Camera To A Wall

• Before mounting your camera, you should first activate it and use the supplied power adapter to make sure it is fully charged. Solar is designed as an outdoor camera. If you place it inside, the camera will not be able to sense motion through glass.

  1. Snap off the back cap of the wall mount. You may need a screwdriver to help remove the cap.
  2. Using the supplied screws, screw in the back cap to the wall where you plan to mount the camera.
  3. Snap the wall mount back on the back lid, which is now screwed into the wall.
  4. Plug the power adapter into the back of the camera.
  5. Mount the camera onto the wall mount. From underneath the camera, use the supplied screw to secure the camera into the wall mount.
• Mounting Your Camera Under An Overhang

• Before mounting your camera, you should first activate it and use the supplied power adapter to make sure it is fully charged. Lynx Solar is designed as an outdoor camera. If you place it inside, the camera will not be able to sense motion through glass.

  1. Using the supplied screws, screw the overhang attachment to the surface where you plan to mount the camera.
  2. Using the supplied screws, screw the wall mount into the overhang attachment.
  3. Plug the power adaptor into the back of the camera. Make sure to thread the cable through the overhang attachment.
  4. Mount the camera onto the wall mount. From underneath the camera, use the supplied screw to secure the camera into the wall mount.
• Set up additional cameras

• You can setup multiple cameras to your Tend account. While setting up your camera, you will reach an Account Creation page. Instead of creating a new account, tap on Login to Existing. Enter your existing Tend username and password, and proceed with setup.

• Connecting to a new router

• If you have replaced your home router or want to setup your camera to a new router, you will first need to power off your camera by pressing and holding the button on the back of the camera for 4 seconds. The LED light in the front should turn off. Then press and hold the button again for 15 seconds. You will see the LED light start blinking. You will need to go through the setup process again.

  During the setup process, instead of creating a new account, tap on Login to Existing. Enter your existing Tend username and password to ensure your camera remains on your existing Tend account.

• Resetting your camera to factory default settings

• If your camera is still on, press and hold the button on the back of the camera for 4 seconds. The LED light in the front should turn off. Then press and hold the button again for 15 seconds. You will see the LED light start blinking. Once you factory reset your camera, you will need to go through the setup process again.

• Linking the Tend Camera with myQ app

• Please note: The camera must be initially set up with the Tend/Tend Secure app prior to linking to myQ.

  How to link Tend Secure app to myQ app:

  1. Select “Works with myQ”
  2. Select "Tend"
  3. Select "Link"
  4. Enter Credentials and Authorize
  5. Then check "Devices"
• Camera Setup troubleshooting

• Setting up a camera on PC/Mac
  Your camera can only be setup on an iOS or Android phone or tablet.

  Cannot connect to router
  When setting up your camera, if your camera does not appear in the router list, tap on the Refresh button to refresh the list. Note that your camera is not compatible with 5GHz routers - 5GHz routers would not appear in the router list.

  Once you select your router and enter its password, if the camera still does not connect, try moving the camera closer to your home router.

  Here are some other common issues:

  • Blocked Ports: In corporate / work environments, some ports may be blocked.
  • Firewalls
  • If you have your router supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz, the passwords may be different. Please make sure to use your 2.4GHz password.

  If you still have issues, please contact us at support@tendinsights.com.

  Connecting to a mobile hotspot
  We do not advise connecting your camera to a mobile hotspot. Video can consume a large amount of bandwidth. This can quickly deplete your data or run up your data cost.

  Router compatibility
  Our camera can only be connected to a 2.4GHz router. It is not compatible with 5GHz routers. Furthermore, the following routers have been reported to not be compatible with our cameras:

  • Apple A1409
  • Belkin N750, AC1200, AC750, N600 Extender
  • Netgear WN3000RP

  If you discover other routers that are also not compatible, please contact us at support@tendinsights.com.

Battery Operation

• Checking your battery levels

• You can check your camera’s remaining battery level by logging in to the Tend Secure App and scrolling to your Solar’s home view. You will see a charging indicator if your camera is actively being charged. If your camera is plugged into the solar panel, but there is no sunlight, the charging indicator would not show.

• Low Battery Notifications

• When your camera’s battery gets low, you can choose whether to be alerted through a phone notification.

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to your camera’s name.
  2. Turn On or Off the Battery Level Notifications.
  3. Tap on the back arrow.

  You will then receive a phone notification when the battery reaches 15%. Once it reaches 1%, you will receive a second notification. The camera will turn itself off to allow the battery to re-charge.

  If your camera is plugged into a power source, the camera should turn on by itself after the battery has recharged back to 10%.

  If your camera is not plugged into a power source and you wait 3 or more days before charging it again, you will need to tap the power button on the back of the camera, to turn it back on.

• Critical Battery

• If you let your camera’s battery drain to 1%, the camera will turn itself off to allow the battery to re-charge.

  If your camera is plugged into a power source, the camera should turn on by itself after the battery has recharged back to 10%.

  If your camera is not plugged into a power source and you wait 3 or more days before charging it, you will need to tap the power button on the back of the camera, to turn it back on.

Using your Tend Secure App

• Turning on audio

• When your live video starts, the audio is turned off by default.

  1. Open the camera controls by double-tapping the live video or tapping on the full screen icon.
  2. Tap on the speaker icon.
  3. Tap on the power icon to toggle the audio on and off.
• 2-way talkback

• Using your Tend Secure App, you can speak to your loved ones on the other side your camera.

  1. Open the camera controls by double-tapping the live video or tapping on the full screen icon.
  2. Tap on the microphone icon.
  3. Press and hold the large microphone icon to speak. Let go when you are done speaking.
• Taking a snapshot or recording my video stream
• 1. Open the camera controls by double-tapping the live video or tapping on the full screen icon.
  2. Tap on the save-to-device icon.
  3. Select the camera icon to take a snapshot or the video icon to make a recording.
  4. Tap on the large circle to take a snapshot of your live video or start recording. Tap again to stop recording.
  5. Your photo or video should be stored in Gallery for Android and Photos for iOS.
• Upgrading firmware

• At times, we will provide new firmware to roll out new features, fix bugs, or to improve the performance of your camera. If there is new firmware available, you will see a New Firmware message on the home view. To upgrade:

  1. Tap on New Firmware.
  2. Tap on Update Now to proceed with the update.

  Your camera may be offline for up to 5 minutes during the update. Once the update is complete, your camera will automatically return online.

• Multiple users using the Tend Secure App

• If you and your family member try to login to the Tend Secure App at the same time, you will notice that one of you will get logged off automatically. In order for multiple people to use the Tend Secure App simultaneously, you will have to share your camera to your friends and family. Please see the Sharing Your Camera section for instructions.

• Configuring your camera

• Changing your camera’s name
  Once you’ve setup your camera, you can change the camera’s name.

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to your camera’s name.
  2. Edit the text field under Camera Name.
  3. Tap on the back arrow.

  Night vision
  By default, your camera’s night vision will automatically turn on once it gets dark. To change this setting:

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to your camera’s name.
  2. Tap on Night Vision.
  3. Turn the setting On (always on), Off (always off), or Auto (on when there is low light)
  4. Tap on the back arrow.

  If your camera is indoors pointed outside of a window, the infrared lights will cause a glare at night. You will need to turn and keep your Night Vision OFF in this scenario.

  Deleting your camera
  If you are no longer using your camera, you must delete it so that it no longer shows up in your Tend App.

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to the camera you wish to delete.
  2. Tap on Delete Camera.
  3. Tap on Delete.

  This action is not reversible. Once you delete your camera, you will need to set it up again in order to use it.

Sharing Your Camera

• Sending an invitation

• You can share your camera with friends and family, to allow multiple people to view the live video simultaneously. You will need to send an email invitation to your friend or family. Once your friend or family accepts the invitation and creates his/her own Tend account, he/she will be able to view your camera.

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to the camera you wish to share.
  2. Tap on Sharing.
  3. Tap on Share with new.
  4. Enter your friend or family’s email address.
  5. Tap on Share to send the invitation email.
• Unsharing your camera
• 1. Tap on the gear icon next to the camera you wish to unshare.
  2. Tap on Sharing.
  3. Tap on the friend or family you wish to unshare.
  4. Turn OFF the Live Stream setting.
  5. Tap on the back arrow.

  You will need to repeat these steps for each friend or family you wish to unshare.

Motion Detection and Cloud Storage

• Enabling recordings and alerts

• The Solar was designed to be an outdoor camera. In order to detect motion, the camera should not be placed behind a window or glass. You should also avoid pointing the camera at a pool, as the constant changes in the pool’s temperature may trigger false alarms. To turn on your motion-triggered recordings:

  1. Tap on Motion Detection in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Turn on Event Recording.
  3. Update the Sensitivity level from Lowest to Highest.
  4. Tap on the back arrow.

  Once you’ve turned on recordings, you can also turn on alerts - so you can notified anytime there is motion detected in your home.

  1. Tap on Motion Detection in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Turn on Other Motion under Phone Notifications.
  3. Tap on the back arrow
• Scheduling alerts

• When you are at home, you may not want to be notified when there is motion. Instead of turning on and off the alerts every time you leave the house or return home, you can schedule when you receive these alerts.

  1. Tap on Motion Detection in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Make sure Event Recording and Notifications are turned on.
  3. Tap on Notification Schedule.
  4. Turn on Set Times.
  5. Select the Start Time, Stop Time, and which Days of the week you’d like to receive alerts.
  6. Tap on OK.
  7. Tap on the back arrow.
• Viewing recordings

• Once Event Recording has been turned on, your camera should begin recording Events. To view these recordings, tap on the middle Event icon in the Tend Secure App. You should see a list of all your recordings with the neweset Events at the top and the oldest Events at the bottom.

  If you have more than 1 camera, you will see a badge with the first letter of each camera’s name to the right of the Event. To filter by camera, tap the filter icon on the top right corner. Select 1 or more cameras, and tap the back arrow.

• Downloading recordings

• You can download your Events to your phone or tablet’s local storage.

  1. Tap on the Event you want to download in the Tend Secure App
  2. Tap the download icon to the right of the playback bar.
  3. Your video should be stored in Gallery for Android and Photos for iOS.
• Motion Detection troubleshooting

• Recover expired recordings
  Once your recordings have passed their expiration date, they are no longer recoverable. For security and privacy reasons, we do not store your recordings beyond their expiration date. If you’d like to keep your recordings, you can download them to your phone or tablet.

  Local storage
  Motion-triggered recordings are only uploaded and stored to our secure cloud. There is no local storage on the camera itself. If you’d like to keep your recordings, you can download them to your phone or tablet.

Facial Recognition

• Creating a profile

• To add a profile to your facial recognition library:

  1. Tap on Facial Recognition Library in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Tap on the + icon.
  3. Enter your name and tap Add a Picture.
  4. You can take a photo with your phone or choose an existing photo from your phone’s photo gallery.
  5. Once a photo is added, tap the back arrow to save your profile.
• Adding pictures to a profile

• You can add more photos to your profile to improve the facial recognition of that profile.

  1. Tap on Facial Recognition Library in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Tap on a profile.
  3. Tap on the camera icon.
  4. You can take a photo with your phone or choose an existing photo from your phone’s photo gallery.
  5. Once a photo is added, tap the back arrow to save the additional picture.
• Changing your profile picture

• If you have more than 1 picture in your facial recognition library, you can change your profile picture.

  1. Tap on Facial Recognition Library in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Tap on a profile.
  3. Tap on a picture to make that your new profile picture.
  4. Tap the back arrow to save your changes.
• Enabling Alerts

• Once you have added a few profiles, you can choose to receive custom alerts on your phone when each person checks in / walks in front of the camera.

  1. Tap on Motion Detection in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Next to each profile, you can turn on or off the alert.
  3. Tap the back arrow to save your changes.
• Deleting a Profile

• Once you have added a few profiles, you can choose to receive custom alerts on your phone when each person checks in / walks in front of the camera.

  1. Tap on Facial Recognition Library in the Tend Secure App.
  2. Swipe right on the profile you wish to delete.
  3. Tap the trash icon to delete the profile.

Account Management

• Changing password
• 1. Tap the App Settings (Heart) icon in the Tend App.
  2. Tap on Change Password.
  3. Enter your old password and your new password. Passwords must be at least 6 characters long.
  4. Tap on Change Password.
• Changing email
• 1. Tap the App Settings (Heart) icon in the Tend App.
  2. Tap on Change Email.
  3. Enter your new email address.
  4. Tap on Change Email.
• Changing username

• Because your camera(s), settings, and subscriptions are all tied to your unique Tend username, we do not allow you to edit your username. If you are not happy with your username, you can setup your camera(s) again under a new username. WARNING: Your services will not transfer over if you setup your camera under a different username.

General Troubleshooting

• Camera goes offline

• Occasionally, your camera may go offline by itself due to connectivity issues. Normally, the camera should come back online by itself. If your camera stays offline for an extended period of time, try unplugging and re-plugging the camera. Once re-plugged in, the camera should come back online again.

• Live video is black and white

• The live video can become black and white if the night vision is turned on before it gets too dark. You can manually turn off your night vision by doing the following:

  1. Tap on the gear icon next to your camera’s name.
  2. Tap on Night Vision.
  3. Turn the setting Off.
  4. Tap on the back arrow.
• Too many false alarms

• The Solar camera uses passive infrared to detect motion based on changes in temperature. If you point the camera at a pool, the temperature changes in the moving water can set off false alarms.

• No recordings

• The Solar camera uses passive infrared to detect motion based on changes in temperature. It cannot detect motion/temperature changes through glass.

• LED behavior

• There is 1 LED light on the front of your camera. When your camera is powered on:

  Off	Asleep. Your camera will automatically wake up if you attempt to start live video, or if motion is detected.
  Green	Connected to Tend servers
  Red	Disconnected from Tend servers
  Flashing Red	Not connected to the internet / home router
  Flashing Red and Green	Camera is not setup. Please follow instructions to setup your camera.

  When your camera is powered off:

  Off	Fully Charged, if connected to a power adapter Off, if not connected to a power adapter
  Red	Charging, if connected to a power adapter

   

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