If we want to keep an eye on our home from our phone, one of the most popular devices is a smart camera, as it allows us to keep an eye on part of our home and be alerted if anything untoward happens.
There are different models on the market for all needs and today we are going to discover one of the easiest cameras to install and configure, called Woox R4253.
Why does the R4253 camera have this price?
The R4253 is more than just a camera, as it features two-way audio, a motion sensor, night vision, motion and sound detection, a siren, an LED and also works wirelessly thanks to WIFI connectivity and an included solar panel.
Advantages and disadvantages of camera R4253
Advantages
- Tuya compatible: Being a Tuya compatible smart camera, you can use the Smart Life App and combine any brand from this Tuya ecosystem to bring everything together in the same interface: Lidl, Nous, Moes, Woox, Immax and many more.
- Outdoor camera: Woox R4253 is a camera you can use outdoors thanks to its IP65 protection rating.
- Solar panel: No need to connect a power supply, as this camera connects to an included solar panel.
- Rechargeable battery: Even if there is no sun for a few days, your camera will still work thanks to its built-in battery.
- No monthly fees: You don’t have to pay a monthly fee to view your camera image anywhere in the world thanks to the free Smart Life App and use various features such as capturing images or videos, activating or deactivating the siren, communicating with the person in front of this camera and much more. However, there are also paid notification services, although it is not mandatory to use them.
- Built-in siren: This camera has a built-in siren that you can use for any automation.
- Two-way communication: You can listen and talk to a person through your camera.
- Night vision: Night vision lets you keep an eye on part of your home day and night.
Disadvantages
- Price: The price of this smart camera is higher than other cameras on the market.
- Wireless network: Since it works wirelessly, via WIFI, you need sufficient range for the camera to work properly.
- Does not rotate: This camera does not rotate, but Woox offers other models with this feature.
- Does not integrate the Onvif protocol: Because the camera works via a solar panel, you cannot integrate the camera directly via Onvif with other services like Home Assistant, although you can do this with plug-ins like Tuya.
Manual for using Woox R4253
Let’s discover the details of Woox R4253.
General characteristics of R4253
Opening the packaging, we see several elements.
For starters, we see the Woox R4253 camera.
Unlike other models, such as the Woox R3569, this camera is NOT rotatable but has a 120° field of view, which could be sufficient in many cases and is also cheaper.
It is a very discreet camera with dimensions of 91x64x61 mm.
It is black, but also available in white.
On the front, we have an LED indicator, a spotlight, an infrared light lens, a light sensor, a motion sensor and a microphone.
At the bottom, we have an ON/OFF button that also serves to pair our camera, a Micro SD card port in case we want to store content locally and a DC 5V power port.
This camera comes with a swivel bracket that can be screwed onto the back of the camera.
In terms of image quality, it has a resolution of 2K, 2560x1440P.
It has night vision for night vision.
It also integrates two-way audio so you can listen to what is happening and talk from your phone to a person in front of the camera.
By integrating a motion and sound sensor, we get recordings from our camera every time an event is detected.
And we also have a lamp and a siren that we can activate on our camera at any time, as we will see below.
A very interesting detail about this Woox smart camera is that it is compatible with the Tuya ecosystem. Instead of relying on the terms imposed by a manufacturer through their own app, which, in my experience in the 11 years I have been active in this smart home market, often end up abandoning their projects, which can lead to complications in continuing to use your smart device.
This Woox R4253 camera is part of the Tuya ecosystem, a project shared by several brands from around the world that you can find in different shops like Lidl or Carrefour and can generally recognise by the Tuya logo on the packaging.
You will start using the well-known Smart Life application and therefore, if you want to add other cameras or smart devices from other brands to this Tuya ecosystem, you will keep using this same application without having to download different ones for each brand.
So even if your camera brand discontinues their project, you still have control via the Smart Life app.
The camera is also compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa, so you can see your camera’s image on the screen of these voice assistants.
You can even integrate this camera into more advanced home automation systems such as Home Assistant, as we will see below.
Designed for outdoor use, this Woox R4253 camera has an IP65 protection rating, making it resistant to various weather conditions. This makes it resistant to rain, sun exposure and UV rays.
And as I said, another great advantage of this camera is that it is installed without wiring. No network cabling, no power cabling. It works via WIFI and a solar panel.
This solar panel is included in the package and measures 120x175x50 mm. It connects to your Woox camera via USB-C.
It also comes with a swivel bracket that you can screw onto this solar panel.
It can be fixed to the wall with the included plugs and screws.
The camera comes with a built-in battery, allowing it to keep working even after several days without sunshine. According to the manufacturer, a full charge can make the battery last up to three months.
And if needed, there is also a USB C cable to plug the camera into a wall socket.
And we have 2 stickers warning that we have a surveillance camera installed in our house in case we want to use them as a deterrent.
Connecting the Woox R4253 camera to Smart Life
Connecting our camera to the Smart Life application is a very simple process.
Our phone must be connected to our WIFI network at 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth must be activated.
We need to check if our camera is on (if not, there is an ON/OFF button underneath to turn it on).
Now we need to open this Smart Life application and click on “More” and “Add device”.
Now our camera appears automatically. It’s that simple. In other content, we had to scan a QR code for our camera, but now it’s not even necessary.
Here’s how to install the Woox R4253 outdoor camera
A homeowner starting his project with Home Assistant wanted a camera to monitor an easily accessible area in his garden, as a burglar might break into this part of the house.
So he decided to attach the Woox camera to the wall of his house, using the swivel camera bracket and his own plugs and screws.
This support is adjustable both vertically and horizontally, which is very interesting for viewing part of our garden from the best angle.
When installing your camera, take safety measures with adequate protection if you have to climb a ladder.
You should also be careful when drilling, use adequate protection and make sure you don’t drill into cables or pipes.
This content is for informational purposes only and I am not responsible for any risks or damages that may arise from the use of this information.
And now the user installed the solar panel that also integrates its rotating bracket and placed it on the other wall of the house that is better exposed to the sun during the day.
An interesting detail is that the solar panel’s cable is 2 metres long.
So you can easily remove this solar panel from the camera, as is the case with the user installation.
Detailed features of the Woox R4253 camera
For starters, we see the camera’s battery charge status at the top left.
In addition, we have the picture resolution that we can set to SD or HD.
On the right-hand side, we can pause or not pause the sound and we can zoom our image.
Below, we have the option of putting the camera image on the full screen.
We can take a picture of the image captured by our camera and stored in our album.
We can speak into our camera by holding down the microphone.
We can also record a video that will be saved in our album.
Now let’s see more settings by clicking on the bottom-right button.
To start with, we can use the “Playback” icon to view recordings stored on the micro SD card or via the cloud.
This cloud service is paid but optional.
Then there is the “Photo Album” which lets you view the images and videos you have recorded.
“Theme colour” allows you to change the background colour of the application to white or black.
“Night mode” allows you to set a mode for capturing images in the dark, namely smart mode, infrared mode or colour mode.
We have an “Anti-flicker mode” to prevent flickering if there are fluorescent or LED lights that may interfere.
The volume of the device can be set from 0 to 100.
Next, we can activate or deactivate the camera’s motion detection, and we can also define a detection schedule.
“Siren”, as the name suggests, allows us to activate or deactivate the camera’s built-in siren.
“Lamp” allows us to activate or deactivate the camera light.
If we go to the “Messages” tab, we can see the history of events captured by our camera.
On the “Cloud” tab, you can subscribe to various cloud services such as recording storage.
And also artificial intelligence to personalise events based on our needs.
Of course, these are optional services and by default you can access your camera for free from your phone anywhere in the world with all the features we tested in this content.
If we click on the icon at the top right, we can access additional settings.
For starters, we can pair our camera with Google Home and Amazon Alexa voice assistants.
So we will be able to see our camera’s image on our voice assistant’s screen.
“Device information” allows you to view information such as the camera’s IP address and network signal strength.
“Auto Scene and Automation” allows you to view scenes and automations associated with this camera.
“Verify network” allows you to check the connection status of this camera to your network.
And when we go to notifications, we can subscribe to paid notification services for email or SMS to receive event alerts.
Then in “Basic function settings”, we can activate or deactivate the status indicator light, image display, time watermark, configure unidirectional or bidirectional audio and set the anti-flicker.
And we have other functions like “Set Detection Alarm”, which allows us to set a detection alarm with a video recording time, an alarm interval, a sensitivity level, we can set a detection zone if we want to prevent false alarms, we can set a body detection and activate the siren.
Under “Power management settings”, we can view the battery status and set a low battery limit.
Another option that may be of interest to us is adding a shortcut from our phone to our camera.
And a final interesting detail, of course, is that we can use our camera in different scenes and automations, such as, for example, the ability to trigger alarms or turn on lights in our home when a motion is detected in our camera.
Linking the Woox R4253 camera with Home Assistant
Home Assistant is one of the most complete home automation solutions in the world and if your idea is to unify your installation, you should know that you can integrate your Woox R4253 camera in seconds, once you have paired it with the Smart Life application.
To do so, go to the Home Assistant page, go to the Tuya integration and click the “Add integration to my Home Assistant” button.
You need to go to your Home Assistant hub URL, accept the terms and conditions and enter a code.
This code is available in the Smart Life application, in the settings and under “account and security”.
And now you need to scan the QR code that appears on Home Assistant’s interface.
In your Smart Life application, click on “More” and “Read QR Code”.
That’s it, you have your camera in Home Assistant and you can monitor part of your garden from this interface.
And you have access to the various settings available.
You can download snapshots in real time.
And you can also use a Picture-in-picture function, i.e. you can keep an eye on your camera’s image while surfing the internet elsewhere.
As you can see, integration is very simple and can be very interesting in some contexts.
In short, this Woox R4253 camera is very complete with several very practical features and at the same time easy to install and configure with a complete and evolving ecosystem, making it a very good bet to keep an eye on part of our garden from our phone.
