Just Bought your Filimin?
Wondering how to set it up? Is it doing something you don’t expect?
We’re here to help!
Before you can use your Filimin, you must configure it to your Wi-Fi. It’s an easy process and we’ll walk you right through it. Just visit and you’ll be up and running in no time.
“I just plugged my Filimin in and all sorts of things are happening. What’s going on?”
When you first plug your Filimin in, your Filimin will goes through what techies call a bootup process. The bootup process is similar in concept to what your computer or smart phone does when you first turn it on. And, like your computer or phone, you can safely ignore it and enjoy the light show. But if you wish to understand better or something unexpected happens and you want to know what’s going on, here’s a brief explanation of what you might see and what it means:
- Slow Pulsing Green: This is the first thing you will always see when you plug your Filimin in. Your Filimin is looking for a known Wi-Fi connection.
- Fast Pulsing Orange: If your Filimin does not find a known Wi-Fi connection, it will give up and let you know by pulsing this way. This will happen if your Wi-Fi is out of range or if you need to configure your Filimin. You can configure your Filimin on our setup page and it is the first thing you should do after receiving your Filimin.
- Solid Red: Once your Filimin finds a Wi-Fi connection, it looks for a software update. If it finds one, it downloads it and restarts itself. During this process you will see solid red. Software updates are not common so typically you will see only solid red for a brief second. However, you may see solid red for a minute or two the first time you plug your Filimin in.
- Solid Blue: After your Filimin has confirmed that there are no software updates, it will connect to the other Filimins in your group, and let you know it is doing this by showing solid blue. You will typically see this for only a brief second.
- Celebratory Rainbow: Finally, after the bootup process was successful, your Filimin will celebrate by showing a rainbow. Your Filimin is connected to its friends and is happy. Time to touch it and tell your loved ones you are thinking of them!
Status Codes
Your Filimin needs to do all sorts of things when you initially plug in, such as find the Wi-Fi as well as its other Filimin friends. As it goes through this process, your Filimin will display patterns and colors of lights or “status codes.” If anything goes wrong in the process, the status codes can help you figure out what you might try.
Your Filimin will always pulse a slow pulsing green when first plugged in, signifying that it is looking for your Wi-Fi.
Your Filimin cannot find your Wi-Fi. Most likely, you have not yet configured your Filimin with your Wi-Fi name and password. Go to http://filimin.com/setup to configure it.
It could also be that your Wi-Fi may not be in range. Try moving your Filimin to a different location.
It could also be that your Wi-Fi may not be in range. Try moving your Filimin to a different location.
After a minute or so, your Filimin will pulse a slow green color and try to connect to your Wi-Fi again. Hope springs eternal for your Filimin.
Your Filimin will show a solid blue color when it is looking for other Filimins in your group. Typically it finds its friends in just a few seconds. If your Filimin stays solid blue for more than 1 minute, your Filimin is having trouble communicating on the Internet. Here are some possible reasons:
- Your Wi-Fi signal might be weak. Try moving your Filimin to a different location.
- Your Wi-Fi router may not be connected to the Internet. Confirm that other devices connected to your Wi-Fi are connecting to the Internet.
- If you are behind a corporate firewall, it may be preventing your Filimin from communicating. Talk to your network administrator and tell them that Filimin uses port 443, TLS/SSL encryption, and both HTTPS and MQTT protocols.
If none of these solutions works or you need further help diagnosing, Contact us.
Your Filimin will always show a solid red during its boot-up process while it checks for and possibly downloads and installs a firmware update. Typically this will last only one or two seconds, but if a firmware update is available it could last several minutes while it receives the update. If your Filimin remains red for more than several minutes, your Filimin may be having trouble communicating on the Internet. Possible causes:
- Your Wi-Fi signal might be weak. Try moving your Filimin to a different location.
- Your Wi-Fi router may not be connected to the Internet. Confirm that other devices connected to your Wi-Fi are connecting to the Internet.
- There may be a corporate firewall preventing your Filimin from communicating. Talk to your network administrator and tell them that Filimin uses port 443, TLS/SSL encryption, and both HTTPS and MQTT protocols.
- If none of these solutions works or you need further help diagnosing, Contact us.. We’re happy to help.
Your Filimin is celebrating! Either:
- Your Filmin successfully connected to other Filimins in the cloud or
- Your Filimin was correctly configured and is restarting.
Be Happy! Your Filimin is happy
Your Filimin will pulse a slow pulsing violet when you connect it to your laptop or mobile device for configuring. You can finish configuring your Filimin or simply unplug and replug your Filimin in to reset it.
Your Filimin will show a fast pulsing blue when your Filimin has connected to your Wi-Fi but is having trouble communicating on the Internet. Here are some possible reasons:
- Your Wi-Fi signal might be weak. Try moving your Filimin to a different location.
- Your Wi-Fi router may not be connected to the Internet. Confirm that other devices connected to your Wi-Fi are connecting to the Internet.
- If you are behind a corporate firewall, it may be preventing your Filimin from communicating. Talk to your network administrator and tell them that Filimin uses port 443, TLS/SSL encryption, and both HTTPS and MQTT protocols.
If none of these solutions works or you need further help diagnosing, Contact us.
Your Filimin has detected a problem connecting to the other Filimins in your group. Contact us.
Troubleshooting
If things with your Filimin don’t go as you expect, this troubleshooting guide might help. Still stuck? No worries. Contact us and we’ll get things right for you and your loved ones
Turning your Filimins into a happy Filimin family consists of:
- Connecting your Filimins successfully to your WiFi (PDF walkthoughs)
- Creating an account in our manager
- Registering your Filimins
- Making a group for your Filimins to live in
- Inviting family members and loved ones to join your group if they have Filimins registered to them
- Dragging your Filimins into the group you created.
- Optionally configuring your Filimins so each has a different color range, fade time, and sleep time interval when it won’t wake you up.
Sound confusing? Our videos will walk you through the entire process. And we are always ready to help.
If your Filimin reacts to your touch by changing between solid colors, you have successfully connected your Filimin to your WiFi. If it is pulsing any color, it is not successfully connected.
That can be frustrating. There are several steps to the process and you need to follow them exactly:
- Using a WiFi-enabled device (laptop or phone), go to http://filimin.com/setupFilimin
- Click OK so the popup goes away. Your browser window will indicate that it is looking for your Filimin
- Connect your device to your Filimin’s WiFi network. If prompted, the password for your Filimin is I love you (capital I, spaces where indicated.)
- If you are using a phone or tablet, go back to your phone’s browser. With a laptop your browser window should still be up.
- After some seconds, the browser window should indicate that it found your Filimin and your Filimin will start pulsing violet.
- In your browser you should now have the option to enter your router’s name and password. If your WiFi does not show up in the dropdown list, you can click the connect tab to refresh the list. Filimins do not see and cannot connect to 5Ghz networks. Choose the 2.4Ghz network in your home.
- click next then save
We have a video walkthrough using a Windows 7 laptop, but the process is similar on all devices. We also have PDFs outlining the process for Windows 7,8,10 and OSX.
We have found a few Windows devices here and there that can be finicky connecting to Filimins, but Apple and Android devices are especially reliable in setting up Filimins so if you have one of those you might try it.
To help those who do have Windows devices, we have an autoconfiguration program to help; if your Windows device is connected to your 2.4Ghz home network, download and run our program and it will configure your Filimin to you WiFi network name and password for you.
Still having trouble? Contact us.
Below are the steps for connecting your Filimin to your WiFi using an iPhone. If you have troubles, contact us, explaining what step is deviating from what we have listed here and how it is deviating:
- you have your phone near your Filimin
- you have a strong home WiFi signal (you are reasonably near your router)
- you point Safari on your phone to to http://filimin.com/setupFilimin
- you click the popup away
- you go to your WiFi connections on your phone
- you see Filimin_XXXXXX (where XXXXX is 12 letters/numbers)
- you choose that WiFi connection
- you type in the password “I love you” (capital I, no quotes, spaces as shown)
- after some seconds your phone says you are connected to Filimin
- you go back to Safari
- the page on Safari has changed to say it found your Filimin
- you see your home WiFi connection listed in the dropdown (or are you choosing “WiFi not listed?”)
- you type in your password to your home WiFi (not “I love you”)
- you click NEXT
- you click SAVE
- your Filimin does a celebratory rainbow
- your Filimin restarts pulsing a slow Green
- now does your Filimin start pulsing a faster orange or does it do a celebratory rainbow and go dark?
First, confirm your Filimin is successfully connected to your WiFi before you try to register it. If it is successfully connected, it will respond to your touch by changing solid colors. If it is pulsing a color, it is not successfully connected. You must get your Filimin successfully connected to your WiFi before you can register it.
If you are absolutely sure your Filimin is connected to your WiFi (it is responding to your touch with solid colors) it could be the ID on the bottom of your Filimin is incorrect: when you configured your Filimin to your Wi-Fi, you connected to Filimin_XXXXX where XXXXX is the ID of the Filimin. If you unplug and replug your Filimin in again, you should be able to see that Wi-Fi signal again from your phone or laptop. Make sure that XXXXX number matches the one on the bottom of your Filimin. If it does not, use the ID shown in your WiFi network instead of the ID on the bottom of your Filimin to register it.
The touch sensing Filimins use is sensitive to radio frequency interference as well as rapid environmental changes. If you are having trouble with your Filimin detecting your touch, here are some things to try:
- Make sure you set your Filimin down before you plug it in as the touch calibration is calculated for the environment when initially plugged in.
- Make sure you aren’t touching your Filimin at all until it has fully started (after the celebratory rainbow).
- Make sure you are using your whole hand to touch it.
- Try another location to see if there is something in the location throwing the touch sensing calibration off (strong RF interference, metal table, etc.).
- If the touch sensing is still not working, leave your Filimin on and try it again in 5-10 minutes. If the initial calibration is off for some reason, your Filimin will gradually correct.
If none of these things help, contact us.
Blue pulses mean your Filimin connected to your WiFi fine but can’t connect to the outside Internet. Said another way, your Filimin connected fine to your router, but something is blocking it from connecting beyond your router to the outside world. Examples of issues that could be causing this:
- Do you log into your Internet with a captive portal? (i.e. you have to log in in some way AFTER you connect to the WiFi. Starbucks does this for example)
- Are you behind a corporate firewall?
- Are you behind a University firewall?
- Did you connect to the guest network on your router? Filimins tend not to like guest networks.
- Is your WiFi internet is actually down? Maybe your router got unplugged from your modem, your modem is disconnected or literally your Internet is not working?
- Is there a security setting with your router blocking access for your Filimin?
If you have another WiFi signal you can connect to, you might try it. Otherwise, the actual connection between your Filimin and your router is fine so reconfiguring your WiFi settings will not help.
Stuck? Contact us.
If you are needing to enter both your student ID and a password to access your Wi-Fi then your university might be using WPA-Enterprise. Filimins work only for the more standard home Wi-Fi setup where you connect to a Wi-Fi network and enter the password only.
Hopefully your university offers a workaround. For example, Wichita State University offers a guest network which is friendly to Filimins. University of Kansas will allow your Filimin to connect to their network if you give them the Filimin’s MAC address, which is the same as the Filimin ID.
While you and your friend share a group, your Filimins may not be in the group. Make sure you and your friend have both dragged your Filimins into the group. We fully explain this where this video is cued up.
Still not solved? Take a screenshot of the group and send it to us so we can see the IDs of the Filimins and how they are grouped together.
It sounds like your Filimin has been activated during its “sleep time,” a time interval when it has been set not to disturb you. To change this, log into our manager and click on your Filimin in the dashboard. From there you can change the sleep time interval as well as set the color ranges and fade time for your Filimin.
Setting the color is just a matter of logging into our manager, clicking on your Filimin, and clicking and dragging the start and end colors on the color wheel.
We fully explain this where this video is cued up. We also have a PDF that walks you though the process:
Only the person who registered the Filimin can assign a color to it.
You can log into our manager at any time to change the color range, fade time, or sleep times of your Filimin. You can also change the group your Filimin is in, create a new group, and invite others to join your group with their Filimins.
Problems? Contact us and we’ll help.