Yes you need the Tapo app to set up the camera. Once that's done you can find the IP address and block it in your router.
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Camera to watch over garden
- Thread starter Keizer
- Start date
Does the animal detection cause a BI trigger? The advertising says this is a 4MP camera with a 1/1.79 sensor and f1.0 lens. This sounds like the new wiz-color line, which might not be able to detect animals, at half the price. It looks like the case isn't as robust as a dahua case is, but if you can set a static IP address and cause BI triggers, it sure looks like a serious alternative.
I'm still tinkering with getting the camera to send BI it's own ONVIF trigger events. I have it set up exactly the same way I have all my Andy cams set up in BI but a "GetEvents error 00002f78" shows up in BI. It actually switches back and forth from "GetEvents OK" and "GetEvents error 00002f78". I posted a screen shot earlier in this thread.
The camera case is not as robust as the rest of my Andy cams are. Matter of fact I put together a little shelter for it to keep it out of the elements.
Here's a thread with someone else having the exact same issue as me.
Can you turn off ONVIF Authentication in that camera? If so that will stop the errors.
That and keeping it HTTP instead of HTTPS
Sadly you are stuck with only the settings in the app. And ONVIF Authentication is not in there. It's not really that big of a deal for what I'm using the camera for. The app sends you notifications of what time an alert came in. I can then go to BI under the camera timeline and see what it was.
All working. Auto-Updates and External access to IP blocked, thanks! Thanks!
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My lady gardener put her metal statue of a frog in the garden. It's about the size of a small dog. The camera kept identifying it as a "person". I had to move it.
I ended up buying a second camera. The garden is really long and I wanted one at each end. This morning was the first time a deer came up to chow on the garden. It didn't stay long once the sprinklers kicked on. 
View attachment 2025-06-08 05_16_52.mp4
View attachment 2025-06-08 05_16_52.mp4
Excellent idea. Might get some deterrents like that and sell them to the UK government. So to stop the migrants filled small boat crossings from France to the UK!
Well I learned a few things about these Tapo cams. I've only had a few deer visit the garden so far but both times the animal detection had a massive delay before scaring the deer away. Found out the AI animal detection is actually called "pet detection". As in dog and and cats. The article I found on these cameras said that more animals will be added in future firmware updates. So, with this new knowledge I had to switch over to basic motion detection. This works excellent on all animals but as you know, it also detects bugs, plants blowing in the wind etc. Also when using the built in LED's, it attracts all kinds of flying insects.
Anyway, I ended up building a LED flood light system that's located in the center of the long garden bed. It has two fixtures facing slightly east and west from each other. The lights have watt adjustment (15 to 35 watts), color temp adjustment, as well as 0-10 volt dimming. I have them sitting 15' in the air out of the cameras view. Now I can turn off the built in LED's and eliminate/reduce the bug false positives. I have a junction box on the back of the pole with a GFI outlet to plug in my smart 0-10 v dimmer. I also have a smart switch in there so I can now set up on/off automations. These Tapo cams have a really good sensor so they don't need alot of light. Thats why I went with low wattage, 0-10 v dimming light fixtures.
Here's a few pics.
Anyway, I ended up building a LED flood light system that's located in the center of the long garden bed. It has two fixtures facing slightly east and west from each other. The lights have watt adjustment (15 to 35 watts), color temp adjustment, as well as 0-10 volt dimming. I have them sitting 15' in the air out of the cameras view. Now I can turn off the built in LED's and eliminate/reduce the bug false positives. I have a junction box on the back of the pole with a GFI outlet to plug in my smart 0-10 v dimmer. I also have a smart switch in there so I can now set up on/off automations. These Tapo cams have a really good sensor so they don't need alot of light. Thats why I went with low wattage, 0-10 v dimming light fixtures.
Here's a few pics.