Alright, so I spent some time messing around with these ‘black cat 5’s’ the other day. Figured I’d jot down how it went, maybe it helps someone else out, maybe not. Just sharing my little adventure.
Getting Started
First thing, I had these five identical little gadgets. Let’s just call them the ‘black cats’ ’cause they were small, black, and kinda sneaky to set up. The goal was simple: get all five working together for a little home monitoring thing I had in mind. Nothing too fancy, just wanted to see if I could pull it off.
So, I unboxed all five of them. Laid them out on the table. Checked if I had all the bits and pieces – power cords, tiny manuals nobody reads, the usual stuff. Everything seemed to be there. Okay, step one done.
The Main Grind: Setting Them Up
This is where it got a bit repetitive, obviously. Five times the fun, right?
- Cat 1: Plugged it in. Followed the basic instructions. Connected it to my Wi-Fi. Seemed straightforward enough. Got it showing up on my network. Cool.
- Cat 2: Did the same thing. Plugged it in, connected to Wi-Fi. This one took a couple of tries, for some reason. Kept saying ‘connection failed’. Fiddled with the router placement a bit, tried again. Finally, it connected. Bit annoying, but okay.
- Cat 3: Smooth sailing again. Plugged in, connected first try. Just like Cat 1. Maybe Cat 2 was just being difficult.
- Cat 4: This one was a pain. Plugged it in, lights came on, but it just wouldn’t broadcast its setup signal. Tried resetting it like the manual said. Nothing. Tried a different power outlet. Still nothing. Seriously thought this one was dead on arrival. After about 20 minutes of poking and prodding, it suddenly just… worked. No idea why. Maybe it just needed to warm up? Weird.
- Cat 5: Plugged it in. Connected instantly. Phew. Was bracing for another fight after Cat 4.
Making Them Work Together
Once I had all five talking to my network, the next step was getting them to work as a group in the app I was using. This part was actually easier than the individual setup. The app found all five ‘cats’ pretty quickly. I just had to group them together and give the group a name. Tested it out, making sure I could see the feed or status from all five. It worked. All five little black boxes doing their thing.
So, What’s the Takeaway?
Well, I got it done. The ‘black cat 5’s’ are up and running. It wasn’t super complicated, but dealing with multiples of anything always means you might hit a snag with one of them, like my Cat 4 issue. Patience is key, I guess. And maybe restarting things a few times. It took longer than I expected, mostly because of that one stubborn unit. But hey, they’re working now, and that’s what matters. Just a typical afternoon wrangling some tech.
