alternative firmware for IPC-F42P Imou Bullet 2C

[Jochen1]

Hello,
I have got a IPC-F42P camera, a.k.a Imou Bullet 2C 4MP.

https://dahuasecurity.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/imoulife/files/PDF/617A5B896FDF2.pdf

At the place where the camera should be used there is no internet access. So I wanted the camera to take snapshots in a fixed interval and if (human) motion is detected. The snapshots should be stored to a simple local FTP server that I can watch them when I am at the location. Some regions at the edge of the images should be masked out for legal reasons (privacy).

Unfortunately the firmware of the IPC-F42P does not provide a web interface for configuration and the Imou App has no option for FTP.

I noticed that the design of the camera and its specifications look very similar to the IPC-HFW1430DT-STW from the brand Dahua.

https://www.dahuasecurity.com/asset/upload/uploads/cpq/prm-os-srv-res/smart/datasheetzipfiles/IPC-HFW1430DT-STW_datasheet_20220707.pdf

Does anybody know if the hardware is actually the same?

I have tried to upgrade the firmware of IPC-F42P with different firmware files I found for IPC-HFW1430DT-STW using the Dahua ConfigTool. The upgrade process started but got stuck at about 50% each time. Afterwards camera restarted with the former Imou firmware.

Is it possible to get rid of the limited Imou firmware?

 

[Bene.s]

As far as I know the imou cameras are locked to imou firmware and there is no way to set it up for time-lapse.
However, with 'smart-pss' from duhua you are about to set a secondary storage device as a ftp server. This is not an option I have tested myself. Personally I would disable human detection, leaving motion detection active, and swith to the dmss app. Its far more reliable. And presumably there is a network connection so why not remotely store to a nvr or if the machine you wanted to use as a ftp server is capable of accepting p2p or online connections go down that route because the cameras support it even with the imou software

 

[kobebeef]

Imou's camera can only be updated with LC_IPC-Consumer firmware.
Can't be replaced Dahua firmware.
Because the flash chip is only 8MB