Install the AI camera box
The Prism camera box is a small PC that lives at your gym. It records your security cameras around the clock, runs the AI detection (tailgating, wrong-way entry, intrusion and more), and talks to Prism using outbound connections only — no port forwarding, no VPN, no static IP, ever. Footage stays on the box; the app reaches it securely when you need to watch.
What you'll do
Prepare the box to recover from power cuts on its own, run the installer, connect it to your gym with a claim code, and prove the whole chain works by pulling the plug.
You'll need: the box, a keyboard and screen for the one-time setup, your gym network, a staff account with the camera-configuration permission, and ideally a small UPS.
Steps
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Place the box near your network gear and connect it to the gym network with an Ethernet cable. Connect the camera to the same network — or straight into the box's second network port; the box finds it either way.
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Set the box to power on when mains power returns. Enter the BIOS on first boot and set Restore AC Power Loss (sometimes named State After Power Failure or AC Back) to Power On, then save and exit. This must be done physically, once, at the box — without it the box stays off after every outage.
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Enable automatic login so a cold boot reaches the desktop without a password, and run the provided autostart script so the recorder and the Prism agent launch at every boot. Boxes shipped ready-made by Prism arrive with steps 2 and 3 already done.
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Run the installer on the box (your installer or Prism support does this part — it installs the agent and asks for the claim code from the next step).
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On your phone, open Settings → Devices & access → Cameras & zones. The screen is titled Security Cameras. Tap Connect a box.
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A large 8-character code appears with the note Enter this code on the box within 30 minutes. It connects itself — nothing else to set up. Tap Copy code and give it to the person at the box.
One code, typed once at the box — that is the whole connection step. -
Enter the code on the box. It exchanges the code for its own credentials, deletes the code, and starts checking in. Within a couple of minutes the box shows as online in the app.
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Let the box find your camera. It scans the gym network by itself, verifies the camera is really a camera of a supported brand, and registers it by serial number — so the camera's IP address can change forever after without breaking anything.
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Do the power-pull test: unplug the box, wait 20 seconds, plug it back in. It should boot, start the recorder, and show Online in the app within about 2 to 3 minutes — with nobody touching it.
What you should see
The Security Cameras screen shows the box online with its recorder version, free disk space and retention setting, and your camera listed and live. From here you can draw detection zones and watch recordings — see the related chapters.
If something goes wrong
- The box didn't come back after the power-pull test — the BIOS power setting (step 2) is the usual culprit, then auto-login (step 3). Recheck them in that order.
- The claim code expired — codes last 30 minutes. Mint a fresh one with Connect a box and try again.
- The camera wasn't found — confirm the camera has power and a network link, and that it's a supported brand. The box only scans networks it is actually connected to, so camera and box must share a network or a direct cable.
- The box shows offline — check the box's Ethernet and power. The box only ever connects outward, so no router changes are needed; if your firewall filters outgoing traffic, allow outbound HTTPS.
Still stuck? Email hello@prismgym.com — include your gym name, the device, and a photo of what you see.