3 ACTi E32s were working fine 3months until....need help!

[f13dfx 0]

Hello All! I installed my own outdoor surveillance system in July 2013. Everything was working fine until it started to get colder. Mainly, it's the camera in the front driveway with the longest run of 100'. In Blue Iris this camera started & continued with several no signal alerts in the night-time. When there was video the fps varied from 0.60-5.00fps. I have dialed back the CBR to 128k for a resolution of 2048x1536 @5fps. I've done this to the other 2 cameras as well. I'm still a novice at this, so I figure that by doing this, there is less bandwidth clogging up the system. I also turned the front driveway camera to the DAY setting since I have 3 street lights that keep the area bright all night, thus keeping the IR LED's off, thinking that maybe this exceeds the maximum PoE port power of 15.4watts put out by my Zyxel switch (but I'm not really sure that this is the reason for the very low fps & signal losses).

 

Here is my system:

- 3 brand new ACTi E32 cameras

- 1 brand new Zyxel ES1100-8p unmanaged PoE switch

- dedicated Zotac SD-ID12 Plus 1.8ghz D525 Intel Atom dual-core mini-pc w/2gb memory, 250gb hard drive w/Win7 64bit

- Blue Iris latest software

 

Any explanation as to why this is occurring & advice towards improving the video in my front driveway camera would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

[buellwinkle 0]

Someone else complained about this with BlueIris and ACTi cameras, maybe part of a new maintenance updates. Try a different program, like ACTi NVR 3 which is free, just to see if it works better. Here's the link - http://www.acti.com/product/detail/Video_Management_System/NVR_V3

 

Pretty easy to install and setup. The only weird thing is that by default, the schedule is set to record full time so you need to go into schedule, change it to event recording only, that is if you want event recording. You set the motion detect windows and sensitivity in the camera.

 

BTW, I was using BlueIris and slowing my ACTi cameras started not working, first the older ones like acm-3511 and then the E32 were not right, so I gave up and switched to Milestone at Voipninja's recommendation.

[Razer_SE 0]

I'm running 8 e32 cameras on the 16 port version of your ZyXel switch with no issues like that. I also know from running the cameras on a Cisco switch that the cameras only use like 5-7 watts of power in day or night mode so you should not be having any power issues.

 

 

When you are having issues in software can you access the camera directly in a web browser fine? The only other thing I can think of is an end or cable issue of some type. How cold are we talking? Maybe the cable or end is being affected by really cold temps?

 

 

 

I have had guys connect ACTi cameras a few times and I can access the camera and change IPs and all but you get no video at all. Have them put new ends on the cable and it works fine, so the end must be 99% there but not quite right somehow. You never know I guess.

[f13dfx 0]

I'm running 8 e32 cameras on the 16 port version of your ZyXel switch with no issues like that. I also know from running the cameras on a Cisco switch that the cameras only use like 5-7 watts of power in day or night mode so you should not be having any power issues.

 

 

When you are having issues in software can you access the camera directly in a web browser fine? The only other thing I can think of is an end or cable issue of some type. How cold are we talking? Maybe the cable or end is being affected by really cold temps?

 

 

 

I have had guys connect ACTi cameras a few times and I can access the camera and change IPs and all but you get no video at all. Have them put new ends on the cable and it works fine, so the end must be 99% there but not quite right somehow. You never know I guess.

 

I found the problem. Through a process of replacing cables, ends, swapping cameras, I was able to determine that the E32 in question is defective. I've been issued an RMA & sent it back to ACTi, who were awesome as far as communicating with me!

[f13dfx 0]

Just an update for all those who contributed to this thread:

 

My camera has been fixed & here is the comment on the repair from the technician:

 

"Yes we had located the source of failure and replaced an electrical component inside."

 

I have to commend everyone down at ACTi for their EXCELLENT SUPPORT!!!

[RichardU 0]

I had the same problem with an E33. Replaced the computer, switch, cable etc. but kept getting dropouts, particularly as the weather turned colder. ACTI replaced it, although it took them a week to duplicate the problem.

[f13dfx 0]

I ended up replacing the E32 in our front driveway with a Dahua SD3282D-GN 2MP PTZ that can be powered just with PoE without a separate power supply. I needed more coverage & it has proven to be an excellent choice!