Numb-nuts

It's a tough one?

Can anyone suggest what may be happening or anything else to check? I have an Xvision UK PTZ camera that just will not be controlled fully. I have seen thsi camera work properly prior to install and after install cannot get it to respond properly and fully. I have tried various protocol and baud rate combinations, tried giving the camera different addresses etc. If the settings are correspond at controller, or DVR and Camera, I can only get it to pan and tilt very slowly, the picture is severely out of focus and no matter what I do it will not respond to zoom commands. I returned it to the manufacturer and they replaced the unit, but that has the same faults identically so I checked every aspect of my install Bothe te replacement and the original passed their boot up test and panned and tilted at lightening speed during the boot up. I have run separate control cable, power cables and even coax on both units. Finally I removed the unit from the housing and bench tested it making a separate set of leads specially for the job. I have tried it with DVR only, with controller only ann with both connected, it has not changed. It pans and tilts slowly but refuses to focus or zoom either automatically or manually. While bench testing it, I notice that the RS485 indicator LED flashed indicating that signal had been received even when sending a zoom command, indicating to me that the board is getting the signal and not interpreting it correctly. What could cause the software i n the camera to corrupt of do you think there might be another problem? This job has severely undermined my confidence in my own abilities, but i am sure it's the equipment or could I be doing something that cases a fault? I am very gentle with the equipment I always wear rubber soled shoes when handling electronic equipment. Gentlemen, the floor is yours....

Yeah my word of the week too.

Doug, am I right in guessing that DYI means Do Yourself Injury ? I certainly hope not !

Can anyone tell me what is happening to the recording in this clip? This is a new camera with a slow shutter for night viewing, sensitivity-up is on. I think this effect is called motion blur. The recorder setting is 12fps@ CIF and at D1 I cannot get higher than 6fps Click here to go to the clip on Flikr

It was the bit rate settings being too low. The settings demon must have turned them down when my back was turned

Oh well some of you may remember I posted reagrding my PTZ camera that is receiving instructions from the controller but not interpreting them correctly. Well today I had the third unit (second replacement) from the manufacturers. before placing the PTZ unit in the housing, I bench tested it and the damned thing still isn't working, displaying another set of faults different to those I encountered first and second time around. Imagine how deflated I felt, thinking one faulty unit OK it happens, two, thats quite unlucky, but three? COME ON! It must be MY FAMILY CURSE striking again I laugh because my only alternative is to cry. I am not a patient person by nature, but I have been extremely patient, with this unit. I am getting to the point where I am going to ask for a refund and buy another brand. But I asked the manufacturer to escalate my problem to their senior managers. They have agreed it has been a very poor set of events. They are taking another NEW unit from stock today and it will be bench tested by their senior technician who has said he will test the unit on my required settings PelcoD, 9600 bauds and address one. He will test it overnight to ensure it id working and send it directly my current unit is received. They are collecting my unit tomorrow. If this doesn't work when it gets here (I have no reason to suppose it won't if it's been properly tested) then I intend to return it for a full refund. I am completely worn out by this experience. Inside I am furious but what can I do? Everyone concerned has tried to help, sending me one new and one service replacement and now another new one. I live in hope.

Well to be fair, Xvision has a fairly reliable reputation but this whole episode has left a nasty taste in my mouth and I will probably avoiding it like a bad smell. However, I don't often have the choice what I am given to install. I would not recommend nor would I defame the brand, but I have had a very unpleasant experience with this brand name, so I am not seeking to repeat the experience in the near future. All I can say in a positive way is that they tried their hardest to resolve my issues.

You've obviously encountered one of my jobs jaberfribbitz indeed?

UPDATE" Finally today, I received the fourth camera (3 replacements) from Y3K the manufacturer of this camera. It was tested before sending out to me and yes you guessed it, it had a fault. To be fair, it was a minor fault but considering all I have been through with this camera, I was not prepared to accept anything less than 100%. I have been offered either the very latest Infrared PTZ camera from the same manufacturer or my money back. What is the track record of these infrared PTZ with IR under the hood so to speak? I don't know what I want to do just yet but what I will say is that everyone at Y3K and the reseller I bought the unit from, did everything they could reasonably be expected to do, so I don't blame them at all. I think this is a bad batch issue they have with this model and what they do about it is their own affair now, I have had enough. I am weary with the whole episode. Fortunately, I am going away for a few days so I can clear my head of this and think about it only when it suits me. I haven't gotten angry with anyone, I have just felt really deflated and feel kind of deflated now because I now have to deide all over again which PTZ to replace it with. I am thinking of the Inspire

I hadn't noticed so thanks, I still have to master putting the plugs on first thanks for making the point. This thread is too exciting, I can't take any more

Today I bought myself a pack of 10 x RJ45 plugs, I have had a crimper for a long time but never needed it. The idea was to train myself in fitting these plugs to Cat5 cable. I have the tester, I have the colour convention but I don't have the technique. I started off by stripping back about two or three inches of Cat5 and unravelling the pairs. I straightened them by tensioning them all over the plastic handle of the crimper, then proceeded to line them up in colour order over my finger and then cutting them to length with a scissors. Carefully placing them into the plug and pushing them home. Well I have maybe two plugs left and haven't been successful in getting all the conductors in or in getting them all in the right position yet. Any tips?

I did a search for the various standards, which prior to posting the thread, I was honestly not aware of. I vreated myslef a chart from the online stuff and I intend to print it out onto a postcard and laminate it as a guide. It will not stop me having to practice but it is useful. So for those of us that didn't know, here it is.

Thanks for the comments guys It is very useful, and even when the door is open it can still view a person standing at the door because of it's wide angle of view. The front door-view camera was a commercially available package, and performance is not that great, but better than nothing. The lens has a very wide angle, something like 110 deg and the distortion is minimal. You can actually buy the lens that looks like a door-viewer (see below) and attach it to a low light mini bullet camera. A 19 mm hole is drilled and the whole assembly passed through the door and secured using a hose clamp. To make it look tidy at the rear of the door, it's covered by a junction box on the rear of the door which holds the connections and balun. Looks as tidy as I can manage to make it. What I didn't mention is that whenever I fit a camera to brickwork, like the dome and the external housing, I always make a template out of 1/2 inch plywood, I use this to mark the holes before drilling and it's easier to handle when up a ladder. After that I stretch a layer of self-amalgamating tape around the edge and install the camera over the template. This moves the camera slightly away from the brickwork allowing a little extra adjustment. Of course, longer screws are required in most cases. Now if I ever move the camera to another location, I have a mounting template.

What do you think is happening here then, I am confused as I have never seen this before.

So for those of us that haven't a clue what tht means what do you think is the problem, settings or what?

Do you watch a lot of TV by any chance....?

I have recently purchased a bullet style sealed IR camera from a reputable dealer in the Ireland from whom I bought my first camera. It's not a low end camera but nor is it a megabucks camera either. It has just started misting up on occasion, if it were a box camera with a separate housing I would just fit a heater element if it didn't already have one but my bullet style camera is supposedly sealed against moisture. questions. 1. Do you think the moisture build up is on the outside? 2. Is there something simple I can do to minimize the chances of this happening regularly? NB. I think opening the unit may invalidate the warranty so would prefer not to do that. any help or guidance, tips or realistic suggestions etc would be greatly appreciated

I like big dogs, especially Giant Schnauzers and Dobermans. Feeding them should not be a problem round here.

I'm glad you don't live near me you low-life!

Here are a few images of the new housing UPDATE: I joined the 21st century and purchased a Makita SDS drill, goes through masonry like a hot knife through butter and better still, It's very light to handle. Haven't tried it on heavy steel or Concrete, but I don't think it'll give me any trouble.

Thats quite right, I do have lots of off-cuts, mostly solid core but some stranded, none more than a meter or two. The plugs are relatively cheap, even the Tyco ones I believe so I will simply have to practice and practice. I believe that mostly I will need to put plugs on solid core external grade (UV resistant Cat5 as this is what I use for long runs of over 15-20 meters. Some of the practice pieces when I can get them right, will remain as patch leads as they are always useful but I do have a supplier that sells patch leads so cheap it's hardly worth the effort. I found out about making sharp changes in direction a LONG time ago when using RG58 coax on a car telephone (like I said, a long time ago) when the center core fractured making an intermittent connection. I also learned that poor quality copper coated steel wire was a complete waste of time. For car-phones and two way radio we always used stranded-center core RG58 and soldered the center pins of PL259s or TNCs. By the way, here in the UK we have a unique telephone plug different to those used on telephones in the US and around the world. The diagram above is the one all my pre-manufactured patch leads use so I just started to copy that. Thanks for all your useful comments and tips, I best go and practice a little.

I bought a new drill today as the chuck on my dad's old Black & Decker , finally gave up. so I bought another drill. I need it to fit the new camera enclosure I was talking about in this thread. UPDATE: The drill was absolute CRAP! The chuck feel out when I was up the ladder and the chuck key didn't fit properly so I couldn't tighten it.

I got a phone call from the distributor's head technician today, he told me he had tested three replacement cameras from new stock today and all had faults. With the three I had that's at least six faulty cameras of the same model. If I were them, I would be testing the whole batch before sending any more out. This does make me feel better strangely as all these failures had me doubting my own ability.

All the stuff about the colour coding, I wasn't aware there were various codes, I dragged these off the internet so I jusyt decided that was the colour convention I would stick with. In the end it shouldn't matter should it? What you say about solid core and stranded cable makes sense to me as the stranded is better at taking sharp bends and being manipulated in tight spaces whereas solid core can fracture and break if not curved gently . I had no ide there was a pplug for each type, but that would make sense too. My crimper is made for RJ45s specifically and is made of metal. I have a large set of crimpers, about eight in all, some are plier and some are ratchet. I knew someone would suggest I buy more plugs and practice, and frankly I think that is the only way I will master RJ45s. The precise reason I want to learn to crimp RJ45s is for long runs in IP cameras installation. It would be my intention to run a solid core Cat5 cable close to the camera inside or out, to a junction box and join it with a female / female and run a pre=made stranded patch cable from there to the camera in a similar way to which we do with analogue cameras. Oh boy your eyesight has to be good for these plugs. I will have to look what scrap s of Cat5 I have and then buy appropriate plugs. This is going to be expensive