HOWTO: Set up your Panasonic Camera to Work on your Wireless Network
Having a wireless IP camera is great. It allows you to place it practically anywhere in your home where there is a spare power supply. This is ideal for home security when you want to keep the camera as discreet, and unseen as possible.
But, if you’re having trouble setting up your camera to work wirelessly then it can sometimes be a thorn in your side. Not to worry though, we are at hand to make the whole process much easier and you’ll find that using the following guide means you can have your camera set up in a matter of minutes.
This guide will be suitable for the following cameras:
- Panasonic BL-C20
- Panasonic BL-C30 (now discontinued)
- Panasonic BL-C131
Initial Configuration
For the purposes of this guide we will assume that you have already configured your camera and that it is accessible locally on your network using a wired connection (Ethernet cable).
Wireless Differences
First let’s talk briefly about the extra settings we need to consider when moving from a wired ethernet connection to a wireless connection.
SSID: Short for Sevice Set IDentifier, the SSID is a unique name which identifies your wireless network (WLAN) from another. Devices which attach to your wireless network must use the SSID otherwise they won’t be able to communicate over the network at all. Important note: SSIDs are case sensitive. The SSID can be found in your wireless router. Your wireless router / access point will have an SSID set by default but this can be changed to anything you wish.
Encryption: Most commonly used is WEP, short for Wireless Equivalency Protocol, this is used to secure your WLAN by encrypting the data over radio waves while it’s being sent from one device to another. In order to achieve successful communication, a password, known as the ‘Key’, has to set up in the wireless router and the camera. Note that this feature is not enabled as standard in your wireless router but it should be one of the first things you do to keep your network secure, otherwise you may find everyone in your street using your internet connection and your home network may no longer be secure (we will discuss this in another article). If encryption is not set in your router as standard, we advise you set this up first, to keep your wireless network secure.
MAC Address Filtering: One final thing to note is that on some wireless networks there may be additional security in place which restricts which network devices can connect to the network. This is achieved by restricting devices based on their MAC Address. This feature is not enabled as standard on any routers so you only need to worry about this if you know you have set this up previously. However, if you can use this extra layer of security, we advise you to do so.
Example
Let’s look at an example configuration to see how it’s done. We’ll base our settings on the following:
- We are using a Panasonic BL-C20
- Our SSID will be ‘mynetwork’
- We have set up WEP encryption, our Key is set to open authentication, 64bit strength with KEY1:AF67B9283C
If you are using an existing wireless router then all of this information can be gathered from the relevant wireless settings page. If you are using a new router then you will have to set these settings up in your router first to ensure your wireless network is secure.
Step 1 - Configuring your wireless IP address
The Panasonic BL-C20 has only one page to input the IP address and uses the same address for both wired and wireless connectivity.
Step 2 - Enter your wireless settings
Log in to your camera and enter the ‘Setup’ pages.
From the menu on the left choose ‘Wireless’. You will be presented with the following page:
This page initially shows the camera’s factory default wireless settings as above.
We need to enter our details into the camera:
SSID: We change the SSID to match the SSID which is configured in our router. In this example this would be ‘mynetwork’.
Communication Mode: Here you can choose to have the camera respond on 802.11b or g exclusively. It’s better to leave on the default setting 802.11b/g so that it can communicate on either.
Cipher: Using the drop-down box select your method of wireless encryption. Once you select your encryption protocol some further options will become available.
Remember to select an encryption strength in the drop-down box under the input box where you enter the key. It is important that the strength of the key matches exactly what is in your router or you won’t be able to connect to your camera wirelessly.
In this example we are using WEP encryption, 64bit strength, with a key: AF67B9283C in the Key 1 position.
So with all our data input into the form as below, we are now ready to save the settings.
Click the ’save’ button to save your wireless settings.
Step 3 - Connecting Wirelessly
You are almost ready to connect to unplug the cable from your camera and connect to it using your wireless network but there is just one final thing to remember with Panasonic IP cameras.
There is a small selector switch all Panasonic wireless cameras which tells the camera it is connected using either an ethernet cable or using its wireless antenna. On a BL-C20 this is on the side of the camera as shown on the right.
On a BL-C30/131 you can find the switch on the bottom of the camera, close to where you plug in the power and ethernet cable.
Finish
So, to connect to your camera wirelessly first disconnect the power and the Ethernet cable. While the camera is still off flick the switch to wireless mode and power up the camera. After the camera boots up you should be able to access it wirelessly.
If you have any questions please leave a comment.
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Having connected up the camera to my wireless home network how do I access the image from other locations via my aol broadband connection?
Hi Norm,
What you need to do is set up external access to your camera so you can view live images across the Internet. Take a look at our other article for more information: http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/blog/2007/10/22/howto-port-forwarding-101/
Thanks Greg, that make it sound pretty easy really. Cheers.
I bought this Panasonic BL-C20 camera and am unable to make it wireless. I can connect it WIRED. Also, could it NOT be compatible with the MAC computers….because that is what I am using.
Should work fine with MACs. Just double-check all your settings. 9 times out of 10 there may just be a setting out of place. Ensure that the SSID is EXACTLY the same as what is shown in the router, remember that this is case-sensitive and that your wireless encryption is also the same.
To troubleshoot, I would try temporarily turning off any encryption in the router and camera and see if the camera connects, then add it back on once you confirm it can.
I am trying to set up a BL-C20A with a mac. What software can I use to set it up.
Hi Jose,
There is no software to help set up a BL-C20A for the MAC I’m afraid as the software supplied is Windows-based only.
You can still set it up though. What you need to do is get hold of an Ethernet ‘Crossover’ cable. This cable is the same as a standard Ethernet cable but wired differently so you can connect the camera directly to the MAC without going through a switch or router.
You will then need to change the IP address of your MAC to something in the 192.168.0.x range and then call up the camera in an Internet browser using the default IP address 192.168.0.253.
Once into the camera you can configure it with more appropriate IP details using the camera’s built-in menus.
I lost my panasonic setup cd and want to set up again in another computer in other network.
I have a BL-C30.
How did I proceed?
Have you also lost the login details? If not you can re-configure the camera using its own setup pages.
If you have forgotten the password you can download the installation software here:
http://download.panasonic.co.uk/ccve/TECHNICAL/easyiptool.zip
Hi - I’m in the same pickle as Cameti2 … lost my CD and need to setup on a new box.
I tried the download you provided, Greg (the easyIPsetup) but ut’s not finding the camera. I’ve wired it up to the router and it’s on “Wired” setting, then I powered it up. The easy IP setup application never sees it, though.
Is the full CD-ROM or setup software available? Or should I reset the camera and use the easy IP setup then?
Thanks!
Patrick
Hi folks - sorry for the fire drill, found the CD!
New question, though . . . looks like the BL-C20 only supports WEP for encryption. My router, however, is set up with WPA-TKIP. Can I not use this camera on that wireless network, then? Or is there a firmware update or something that allows the BL-C20 to use TKIP?
thanks!
Hi Patrick,
Sorry, the older BL-C20/C30 models only supports WEP encryption. This has been rectified in the new BL-C111/131 model but there has never been a firmware upgrade to add more encryption methods to the BL-C20/30 I’m afraid.
Oh, that’s too bad! Thanks for the quick follow up, though. Guess I’ll have to get creative!
Patrick
Hello. Thanks for usefull information on this site. I feel you guys have a lot of knowledge, so maybe you can help me. I have a BL-C111, and have lost the CD-ROM. Panasonic support is not answering support-calls. Do you know where I can find the configuration-sw on internet ?
Best regards, Espen, Norway
Hi Espen,
Please use the following link to download all the content from the CD for a BL-C111/C131:
http://download.panasonic.co.uk/ccve/TECHNICAL/bl-c111_131.zip
Good evening…
I have the BL-C30 webcam and tonight I attempted to update firmware. When it looked like it was completing the update, the site was not able to open and not the camera appears ‘frozen’ and doing nothing… and the orange light on the front of the webcam is blinking steadily.
Is there a way to master reset this? I have attempted powering down, resetting the camera via the reset button, but nothing….
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
First make sure to follow the correct factory reset procedure. To factory reset ensure the camera has power and press the reset button for a second.
Next attempt to access the camera using the original setup tool provided on the CD-ROM. The camera may have reset back to it’s default IP address of 192.168.0.253 but if your network is on a different subnet you will only be able to confirm it’s connected by using the setup tool.
If that fails I would consult your dealer or Panasonic directly.
Do you have the setup cd for a BL-C30C.
Was given a camera but no CD or documentation.
Thanks
You can download the CDROM contents for the non-wireless version here (BL-C10).
http://download.panasonic.co.uk/ccve/TECHNICAL/BL-C10.zip
It will contain the relevant software but the manual won’t cover any of the wireless features. You can always visit the Panasonic website for a PDF manual though:
http://panasonic.co.jp/pcc/products/en/netwkcam/huc_index.html
im trying to set up the bl-c20a to my hp but unfortunatly i cannot log into it and it is wired what should i do?
factory reset the camera and use the setup tool provided on the CDROM to set up the initial IP address of the camera. The first time you log in to the camera it will ask you to set the password.