SeanMort

I need some tech assistance with resetting the password for a Pos-Watch / KXR2416 DVR. It's probably stored in EEPROM on the motherboard. Assistance with this would be appreciated. You can PM with a response. Thanks ...

Greetings ! It's been a while since I was last here. Now working for ADI in Cape Town, South Africa. I'll try keep up some posts from now on.

I've used the Maxtor 250GB Firewire drives on the GE units. They work well BUT there are some things to consider; 1. The Firewire drives cannot be played back with Wavereader/Browser via the GE unit and a network connection. You can only playback via the units front panel and then, and I stand to be corrected, you have stop the unit from recording to do so, or else it won't let you select the Firewire drive in the search filter. You do have the option of copying the Firewire drives contents onto the units internal drives for viewing across the network, but what happens to the footage already recorded internally (I didn't have the nerve to find out !!) 2. You can't view the drive by connecting it to a PC. I only have one customer that uses these drives and he is a credit card distribution company whose insurance company requires him to take every months recorded footage off-site for storage. He has to do this for a years total footage. 3. You have to make sure that you have enough Firewire drives for the amount of footage you need to archive, and this will take a day or two, or more, to archive. The most frustrating thing about using Firewire drives with GE units is that almost none of the above is documented in the user manuals, or readily available from GE. I would be keen if anyone else could shed some light on my experiences, and perhaps correct me on my findings. Anyone from GE care to reply ??

I've had a similar problem in the past with the older Rev LE DVMRe. It was flashed with the wrong firmware and this caused two problems; 1. The ethernet port was disabled on reboot. So there was no way to flash correct firmware. 2. The menu would not let me in to enable the ethernet port as it flashed up on the screen quite rapidly and the front panel buttons were all screwed up (Cam 1 button gave a #3 response etc). To sort this out I opened the DVR and, after tinkering around for some days, worked out that the front panel ribbon cable to the motherboard had something to do with the workaround. The end result was that the workaround involved connecting an appropriate spare ribbon cable (from an old PC) between the motherboard and front panel and by cutting the first four wires from the right side of the cable (if facing the front panel) it stabilised the menu to the point that I was able to access the DVR's communication menu, enable the ethernet port (using the default IP settings), connect the PC and flash the right firmware. It worked out great. I can't say if this solves your particular problem but it may help someone else out who has unit in a similar state. Sean

Merry Christmas and Happy 2006 to all. Enjoy ... don't drink & drive and enjoy some family time for a change !!

It's made by Hi-Sharp in the Far East. I've seen it around over here but never installed one yet. Go here for more info; www.hisharp.com/ENGLISH/ PDF-E/DIGITAL%20DVR/HS-DVR045-E.pdf

Hi Galaxy60, got your PM re this matter and sent you a reply. The DM DS2 is not a true embedded system. The master HDD does indeed contain the OS to drive this unit but it does have a sort of BIOS firmware embedded though. For the price of these units I think DM could have engineered something better.

Hi again Mark, Apologies for the late reply but I've been on a customer site for the past week. In answer your last posting; The data daisy-chain config response is puzzling as RS-485 is designed to be daisy-chained. Only in a star config do you need the data distributor device. You don't have a whole bunch of domes with great distances between them so by all means daisy-chain them if your site/system allows. As for the UTP devices; as Rory said above, check out the NVT gear as it is good. I just thought you may get a good deal out of a bulk purchase on the GE gear (and uniformity if you like that). The WaveReader dome control does allow you to set pre-positions, but I'm not sure it will let you past the passcode feature of the Legend series domes (I've not worked with them yet). Perhaps a new release of WaveReader in the future will ?? Looks like you may need the keyboard. Maybe another member has some experience of the Legend dome and WaveReader ?? Regards Sean

Hi Mark & welcome, The first thing to address is the cabling issue; GE makes a range of active and passive UTP devices for transmitting video on CAT cable. For the distance you mentioned I would opt for the active UTP devices in lieu of co-ax. The CAT cable solution would also allow you to use the same cable for a data path to the domes. If the data cable is to be wired in a star configuration you would need the KTD-83 (data distributor), but you can avoid this by wiring the domes in a daisy-chain (multi-drop) configuration if it is possible, with the last domes data line terminated. The data line would then simply be wired straight into the RS-485 data port of the DVMRe. I'm not sure what cable types are available to you locally though (I'm sure other members can advise), but go for a thicker core size (0.5mm) if you can. Secondly; If you are going to use the WaveReader software supplied with the DVMRe across a LAN link you can control/set the domes via this software across the LAN connection. Expect a bit of latency on the video through the LAN though. The software PTZ control still works great though, and no keyboard is needed in this instance. Otherwise the keyboard is required.

There was a posting on this forum about month or so back that tackled this issue with quite a lot of discussion. Just search for it ...

1. How many cameras are connected ? The pps is divided amongst the amount of cameras you have hooked up. 2. I don't see a big problem with switching the DVR off every day, after all the drives are also used in standard PC's on a similar cycle. All drives have a finite lifespan, but the big thing to take care of is the regulation of the power to the DVR, particularly if you want to switch it off every day. Use a decent voltage regulator. Perhaps Rory or other members could advise you here for locally available gear.

Anyone ever had to install a remote camera onto a forklift ? A customer asked me to explore the feasability of installing a remote camera onto each of three forklifts that operate inside a logistics warehouse. The warehouse has several rows of 4M high metal and wood shelving racks and is about 80M x 80M in area inside with a metal sheeting construction all round. The idea is that the camera will monitor the forklift activity (to validate claims of deliberate damage to palleted goods) and send the signal back real-time via wireless to open channels on an existing GE StoreSafe DVR (which is not the way I think it's going to work). I absolutely hate using wireless in this situation (borne out by past years of frustration) and short of installing a small secure onboard 1ch DVR I have to consider the wireless alternatives. I am thinking along the lines of an IP cam with a WiFi link and multiple AP's in the warehouse with external antennas, but I dunno ... Suggestions anyone ??

What ver software is it ? Can you direct mail me a screen shot ? Is the noise coming from the buzzer ? Is the BDM jumper block on the front of the motherboard set correctly (can you send me a pic if not sure) ?

Is this the same DSR you spoke of some time back ?? What are the symptoms again ?

OK .. meant to say defragmentation.

What normally happens when you swop the master / slave drives around is that the RTOS sees them as potentially new drives and then formats them for use. If there was prior information on the drives it would destroy them in the process. It seems this format process is also done at a low level whereby it also checks the drives for defects (all drives have inherent defects) and marks them against future use just as any standard PC low level format would. The menu commands for Delete and Destroy: well the Delete command would naturally delete the image files, but with the possibility of undeleting them before being overwritten, and the Destroy would permanently erase the information. I'm not sure if it does fragmentation though. Fragmentation to my mind is an old Microsoft OS "thing" whereby files are not always stored in contigious sectors on the disk. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't ??

Questions: 1. Are you using the WaveReader + LAN hookup with a constant valid IP ? 2. Are you using the e-mail notification features ? 3. Are you using the alarm notification feature to WaveReader ? 4. Are you using the intrusion motion detection on any cameras with a timed out buzzer alarm ? 4. Is this a recent problem that you know of ?

Here's the link for info on the Power Pack: http://www.geindustrial.com/ge-interlogix/docs/kalatel_tech_nu_60.pdf

This type of scam made the news here recently. Once you supply all your details they then ask you to pay over some money to cover "admin" costs etc in order to process your claim !! I think you'll get a Homer soon though Doh !! I saw a TV show about two years back detailing the worlds most innovative scams of recent years and there was this one that went like this; These two fresh out of college students set up shop with a PC, telephone and fax line. They constantly procured details of largish sized businesses across the US and proceeded to invoice them a small varying amount of around $50 for "services" they didn't actually do. If it was queried they refunded, if not they carried on invoicing the same co's. Most of these companies never queried these small invoices and only found out when these kids got bust !! They raked in a small fortune.

I've had this problem before on the older series GE units. There are three things to check here before going into the hard drive issue. The first thing to check is what version of power pack came with the unit. It is a documented problem with GE on the power packs supplied with the older units. The power pack may seem fine after a few weeks action, but then it seems to have problems delivering the right current supply to the DVMRe. This causes the unit to go into a continuous reboot. The reboot is as a result of the units internal RTOS monitoring the boot-up drive speed and, when it meets criteria, carries on with the boot-up. In this case it never does reach the right speed (because the drive collapses on current demand) and the RTOS keeps rebooting. GE has stated that they will replace these earlier power packs at no charge. You can find this document somewhere on their website. The older power pack is much smaller than the units currently supplied now. The second reason I remember, although I've never experienced it but it has been "copied" to me by their service personnel, is if there is a non-IP cable plugged into the LAN port. The LAN port apparently senses this and reboots to make sure. I'll have to find the mail sent to me on this and make exactly sure what it says though. The third thing is a bit more tricky; I've also had the same problem occur to me on older DVMR units (Rev LE motherboard) where the edge connector on the small secondary processor PCB (next to the RAM PCB) seems to make bad contact with the motherboard connector. We solved this problem by very carefully tinning the edge connector on both sides with a soldering iron and then very carefully stripping the solder back with de-solder wick, cleaning it up with an ultrasonic cleaner. This leaves a very fine solder layer on the edge connector and ensured a much better connection with no re-booting. I've only had this happen to me twice though, so it's unlikely. The hard drives; a single 7200RPM drive should work with no problems in these units, and with a newer power pack. Two of these drives would be a problem though. It will work initially, but the current draw on the 5V line will put the 5V regulator on the motherboard under strain and it will overheat causing a problem with the drives. Ideally the drives should be jumper selected as Master/Slave. I've not tried the CS selection, but I'd stick to how the manufacturer sets them up. The new drives will auto-format when all is OK with them and the power requirements are met. From what you describe it sounds to me like the power supply is at fault though. Just a question, every time it reboots does the power pack LED also turn off then on ?

Finally decided to quote on an embedded 4ch version very similar to the APPRO unit. It has a purpose built lockable vibration proof box, 12 - 30V DC input supply, 12V DC cam supply and removable HDD with W-Lan & viewing software. We've decided to use 3 cameras instead of 1 because we really need to see the drivers actions/activity, the lower reach operations and also the upper reach operations up to 9M high. So were going to use bullet cameras mounted into/onto a custom metal bracket for ruggedness, discarding the normal bullet camera mounting brackets. Lets see what happens .... thanks guys for your input !!

After reading this thread, and all the other ones of a similar nature it just brings me back to thinking why forums like this exist in general. The basic premise is that a group of like minded people get together online to share thoughts, ideas, product info and the like. All for Free !! I've not been a member of this forum for very long, but I've had a lot of exposure to local ones. The best site local to me is one that you now have to pay for (see http://www.security.co.za ), and is sadly not a forum anymore. Prior to this change the site was a free for all and poorly managed. Needless to say it became useless for the genuine users (bombed with warez and xxx). Now it's rebuilt in a different form with great benefits to the bona-fide users. The forum aspect is still under discussion though. This is principally why I sought out the CCTVForum.com site as an alternative (and now my de-facto) avenue for industry interest. Larry, from where I sit I think you have done an amazing thing with this site and yes, you have pioneered a global offering. I personally would not mind paying an annual fee towards being a member. One of the things with running a forum that has so many members (and growing) is that the management thereof does become onerous as it grows and thus the percentage of "alternative personalities" increases daily. From what I've seen, the management and moderation of this site is way better than most I've been on, and it is this attitude that has kept it ethical and clean. Well Done !! PS How abput a spel cheker for posts so that loosers can get it rite ? and a mirror site (sometimes things are slow this side of earth) ....

Hello SammieT, you probably need an outdoor PIR with some range and pet immunity. There are some in the popular DSC range such as the LX and VX series outdoor PIRs with ranges up to 80M, and then there is the Optex RedWall product range which I think have a better range of products. Check out this link: http://www.optexamerica.com/indexes/gen_index.cfm?class=outdoorpir

I've seen this gear being advertised around and have thought about it usefulness. I haven't really explored the technology but I did some video carrier transmission work on HV DC for trains a few years ago and we had the problem of when the signal encounters an isolation or step-down transformer it doesn't pass through properly. Is this the same for this technology ?

Thanks for your suggestions guys. The power will come off the forklift into another buffer supply for the gear. I'm now thinking about putting an onboard 1ch DVR in a really secure vib-proof box and then the customer can interrogate the DVR remotely via WiFi when they need instead of having the video streaming constantly with possible inconsistency (and the customer breathing down my neck). Past experience tells me not to create "spaceships" that don't fly so well and need some major tinkering to get off the ground !! It's gotta work first time ..