PoE cameras losing images every 12 hrs or so

[WebViewCCTV 0]

Hi

 

I am having some difficulties with a cctv system i have set up in a shop which has a broadband connection into it. I have attached a netgear fs116P to the router and into this i have plugged in 2 x Axis M3203 cameras and 2 x Axis M3204 cameras each plugged into the PoE ports of the switch. I also have 2 x Axis P3301 cameras that are plugged into the mains for power and into the normal ports of the switch for data.

 

The system will be running fine for about 12 hours or so then one by one the cameras that are using PoE will stop transmitting images. I can still connect to the cameras in a web browser and can get into the settings page, but the live view has no images. If i reboot the cameras, then data is ok again, but it will stop again after about 12 hours or so. All the while the cameras plugged into the mains for power are ok for data and we can still view images. Is this likely to be power surges on the PoE switch? I am remote from the system at the moment so cannot view the leds on the PoE Switch

 

All cameras are st up for H.264 compresed images.

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated as i am tearing my hair out on this one. I have swapped out the switch from a FS108P to FS116P as i originally thought it was this that was faulty but the same thing is happening. I am now testing with 1 cam plugged into the FS108P and 3 into the FS116P to see if this makes a difference.

 

I have previously set up a system with 3 x Axis M1054s plugged into a netgear FS108P and this is working fine

 

Kind Regards

 

Mat

[thewireguys 3]

I would upgrade the firmware in the cameras and see if that fixes it.

[Soundy 1]

My first thought was that the cameras were drawing more power than the switch could provide, but the switch is rated for up to 55W total to the PoE ports, while the cameras are rated for 4.2W maximum each.

[WebViewCCTV 0]

Hi

 

thanks for your responses. I will upgrade teh firmware to see if this makes a difference.

 

My thoughts are with the cameras drawing too much power or something along those lines. I am going to check with an electrician. Certainly there has been a very slight improvement with changing from a FS108P (32W max) to a FS116P (55W Max). But this has been from the cameras staying up for 8 hours to 12 hours. Not very good really!!

 

I have previously installed a 3 cam system using 3 x Axis M1031s and PoE splitters plugged into a FS108P and this has run for months with no issues at all.

 

I now have 1 camera plugged into the FS108P and 3 into the FS116P to see how this goes.

 

Regards

 

Mat

[bpzle 0]

I work with lots of electricians everyday... I don't think I know a single one that could even tell you what a POE switch is, much less troubleshoot it.

 

I supposed you could put an amp clamp on the 120v coming in to see how much current the entire switch is using, but I doubt that would tell you that much unless its just way off the charts...

[hardwired 0]

I had a similar problem with some Acti cameras and Netgear switches, the cameras could not even be pinged after they stopped, a firmware update fixed it.

[bpzle 0]

I had a similar problem with some Acti cameras and Netgear switches, the cameras could not even be pinged after they stopped, a firmware update fixed it.

 

Camera firmware?

[hardwired 0]

I had a similar problem with some Acti cameras and Netgear switches, the cameras could not even be pinged after they stopped, a firmware update fixed it.

 

Camera firmware?

 

Sorry, yes, camera firmware. Recording software was Milestone Enterprise.

[WebViewCCTV 0]

Hi

 

firmware is up to date - 5.12. I am also using milestone software, but its not that. If i connect another laptop to the network and browse to the webpage of the affected cameras, i can get to the page, but there are no images on the web page I get the same when browsing to the camera webpage from the PC running Milestone. I can get into the set up ok though. A reboot of the camera through the setup or removing the cat5 cable and re-inserting sorts the issue temporarily till it happens again! Its weird that the cameras are still on the network and getting power, but just are not transmitting images.

 

One of the cameras has just gone down again, although i am not too sure if it is plugged into the fs108P or the FS116P.

 

Is it likely to be power surges? It is a small shop with a lot of electrical equipment in it - fridges, display units, tills and more. If so is there any kind of PoE surge protectors?

 

Cheers

 

Mat

[hardwired 0]

Actually, it sounds like it might be the software. Make sure you have the latest device pack (5.0), Milestone did not support those Axis models until device pack 4.9.

 

You might want to check with Milestone's tech support, they are pretty good.

[WebViewCCTV 0]

I have the latest milestone device pack installed. Its not the software as if i connect to the affected cameras webpage, there are no images on it either, as though the camera is not processing any images. the camera is getting power and data though.

 

Regards

[Soundy 1]

Funny, I have a couple Hikvisions that do something similar...

[Soundy 1]

He already said the firmware was up-to-date - look just four posts north.

[thewireguys 3]

He already said the firmware was up-to-date - look just four posts north.

 

Well correct me if i am wrong but from what I read he was able to connect to the camera but it was not streaming video until he restarted the camera. I would say it's a POE issue if he could not connect to the cameras at all, but this sounds like a camera firmware issue. I know there was an issue with the last version on Axises firmware on there new P and Q cameras. They had a quick fix something like 5.12.1

[Sawbones 0]

What kind of network card are you using on the Milestone machine?

 

If it's an on-board NIC (eg. motherboard-integrated), consider replacing it with a PCI-E gigabit NIC (preferably an Intel Pro/1000, 3Com gigabit NIc, or similar). I've had that issue with on-board ethernet controllers on several occasions.

 

Unfortunately, unless you're using a full-on server motherboard (Tyan or similar), the NICs included with many motherboards are garbage. Some of the "gigabit" NICs are even attached to the regular PCI bus instead of PCI-E. PCI at 33MB/s maximum bandwidth cannot deliver the kind of bus bandwidth a gigabit NIC needs, and will bottleneck at the bus speed limit.

 

A lot of on-board NICs also greatly increase your CPU utilization.

[Harrar 0]

Any correlation to the time of day when you lose images? Can it be in the middle of the night or only when the shop is in full operation? Does your server and switch run on a dedicated power line or are you running off of normal building power common to everything else? Have a UPS or conditioner on the line? How about trying a couple of PoE injectors.

[WebViewCCTV 0]

Thanks for all your help. It was indeed firmware. As it was affecting 2 different types of camera i had kind of ruled it out and thought it was a PoE issue.

 

Axis had to provide me with a firmware that hasn't been released. Glad it is sorted, but did cause me a bit of a headache!

 

Thanks again

 

Mat