Camera Fading in and Out

[3RDIGLBL 0]

I got a customer who has had a camera installed for sometime now. It is a vandal proof dome camera similar to that on CCTVImports website listed as 7500 or the 7600. This camera does not come from them as this customer was one of our first ones.

 

Anyhow.....The camera appears to be fading in and out to complete darkness. I changed out the camera and I even changed out the power supply. The customer only has two cameras there so it was easy to swap out the 12V supply with a spare I had in stock. That did not fix the issue. Between camera changes I put a low light camera (non-IR) in its place and it ran for a couple months until I got back out to the customers and changed it to what they had initially. Well guess what the fading in and out is back.

 

First thoughts are that the IR draw is maybe causing an issue but the distance to the powersupply is only about 75 feet or so and it is 12V DC. Could it be that the 500ma supply could be the issue? The original was a 500ma so the one I replaced it with was also a 500ma. I have a spare 1.5a supply here which is the only thing I have that is one step up from 500ma. The camera spec calls for 500ma.

 

Thoughts anyone? At a loss and would like to try something new as it doesn't appear to be the camera itself.

 

Thanks.

[sinbad 0]

I'll trust your hunch better than their specs

power it up a little see what happens.

[metafizx 0]

maybe you have a bad cable ? or a ground loop ?

[kalpesh_nikumbh 0]

I m with Sinbad!!

 

We all r here by trial & error!!

 

[RickA 0]

Check your cable and then switch to the 1.5amp supply.

[cctv_down_under 0]

Try unplugging the cam from power and let it bleed out all power...leave it for at least 20 mins, then power it back up and tell me if the picture is now fine at the time of power up...perhaps its just some dodgy caps

[latenightrob 0]

I am very new to this and while I was installing my 1st camera (last week) I noticed it would come on then off....etc. I disconnected it and noticed that the pin inside the wire was not really long, making a bad contact. By pushing the wire into the fitting the inside pin extended out more and my problem went away.

[cctv_down_under 0]

make sure you crimp that center core as well or solder it, metal can expand and contract

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Well the last two responses hit the nail on the head I think. After all the things I had done to try and fix the issue for some ODD reason I never did look at the center core tip of my connector on the camera side . Well the darn tip was pushed right into the connector....................Well I feel like an idiot but let this be a lesson that sometimes the darn problem is not as hard as it might seem. Off course I tested continuity of the connectors to check for shorts but I had done it from the DVR end so I did not see the core tip on the camera side.

 

The temporary camera I put in it's place was from a different manufacturer and they probably used a different connector on the camera so it made a good connection but the original camera did not. Since it was a small convenience store right on a busy road the vibration of passing trucks or the vibration from the cooler compressors were breaking the video connection. Then when the vibration reoccured the video would come back on. Well I hope this fixed the problem because I could not reproduce it while I was there even with the bad connector.

 

Needless to say this was very frustrating and even more so if all it was was the darn commpression connector core tip. And the customer is an hour away so the time and fuel spent argh........ Hopefully the customer does not call back with the same issue

 

I'll find out if after a few days the customer does not call back.

 

Thanks for all the responses.

[cctv_down_under 0]

I wouldn't feel embarassed if I were you..we have all done it...to be honest i bet at times we have all trouble shooted to buggery becasue we were just too lazy or to arrogant to admint we may have wrongly crimped a BNC...god knows I have!

[robg 0]

I have been through my weight in BNC's! Just takes practice.

[rory 0]

I wouldn't feel embarassed if I were you..we have all done it...to be honest i bet at times we have all trouble shooted to buggery becasue we were just too lazy or to arrogant to admint we may have wrongly crimped a BNC...god knows I have!

 

Not me, I use twist ons

[cctv_down_under 0]

You ALWAYS used twist ons...right from the start

[3RDIGLBL 0]

I wouldn't feel embarassed if I were you..we have all done it...to be honest i bet at times we have all trouble shooted to buggery becasue we were just too lazy or to arrogant to admint we may have wrongly crimped a BNC...god knows I have!

 

Not me, I use twist ons

 

You serious?!? How does that work for you in high humid areas like, well, outdoors.

 

We use nothing but compression connectors but this incident was one of those that got away. It worked and then didn't work etc....was expensive on fuel to figure that one out...doh!

[rory 0]

You serious?!? How does that work for you in high humid areas like, well, outdoors.

 

We use nothing but compression connectors but this incident was one of those that got away. It worked and then didn't work etc....was expensive on fuel to figure that one out...doh!

 

Never had a problem.

I would never leave a connection exposed though, for security reasons as well.

I havent had any apps that required compression connectors.