Help! Horizontal Lines on 2/8 Cameras

[x2416 0]

I have an annoying problem and so far have been beating my head against a wall.

 

I have 2 cameras out of a 8 camera system that have horizontal lines on them. I know what you're thinking ground loop problem.

 

I purchased two ground loop isolators for these cameras, and they get rid of the horizontal lines. The power is set to bounce for an hour on the cameras everyday because they're wired into another circuit that required the restart.

 

When they come back on with the ground loop isolators on them, there is no video. I remove the ground loop isolator, and video returns. Shortly after that, the horizontal lines return. I put the isolator back in place, the lines are gone. Power resets at night, no video until I do it all over again.

 

1) Should the video not return after a reset? Why does unplugging it, and then plugging it back in matter?

 

2) The cameras came with some other inline filter for the power wire. I thought it was a DC voltage regulator, but hooking it up to my power supply, cranking the voltage and then voltmeter'ing the other side does not show any difference.

 

3) The ground loop isolators are on a camera which is mounted about a foot from a camera that doesn't have problems (One is facing the backdoor, the other facing the yard area). The camera right next to it doesn't have any problems. The other camera showing problems is probably 10 feet from the DVR.

 

4) All the equipment is plugged into a UPS that's inline (the power resets behind this). Someone posted at one point UPS' could cause ground loop problems by their psuedo sine wave.

 

Heeeelllpppp please

[Sam228 0]

I'd like to see pictures before making guesses. Ground loops look different from other power issues on the screen but are usually described the same way.

 

 

"Someone posted at one point UPS' could cause ground loop problems by their psuedo sine wave."

 

I don't know about the reasoning, but yah, some UPS units just don't play nicely with these systems. I wouldn't rule it out and it might be the easiest thing to check at this point.

[x2416 0]

Here's a good example.

[the toss 0]

Fault Finding 101 - take UPS out of circuit , disconnect/swap cables & cameras etc

[Sam228 0]

That doesn't look nasty enough for me to be a ground loop. The ground loop isolators may be helping to correct the issue, and I've seen that before when a ground loop wasn't at fault, but I think you have another problem.

 

Like the toss said, try removing the UPS first. I think there's a halfway decent chance that that's your problem.

[x2416 0]

I'll run an extension cord from another power source over and see if that takes care of it. I just assume it wasn't the UPS since it's not happening on all 8 cameras at the same time. It seems to be the same two, and it seems to follow the camera despite the placement of port on the DVR.

 

I've also tried to replace one of the crappy wires that came with the kit with some cat5 and converters, and it made it better, but still imperfect.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions, I'll post an update after I try it

[phillipscctv 0]

It looks like the inline filter you referring to is video balun, video balun is used to transmit analog signal over CAT5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP). This is very common problems at night when the IR is ON (horizontal lines rolling) if you have multiple cameras with a different brand, this can be corrected by isolating your power supply. Also, ground loop isolator doesn't work with balun and it will make it worst.

 

Unplug the 2 bad cameras and use a separate power supply. You may also unplug all the camera power supply and plug it in one by one and see which camera has the rolling lines so you know which one to separate. I suggest you do this at night when the IR is ON.

 

Please update us with the results.

 

Good Luck!

[x2416 0]

@phillipscctv - It's not a video balun over cat5. It's on the power wire... Kinda odd thing. It's a small black rectangle and I'm not sure of it's purpose.

[phillipscctv 0]

Can you attach an image here.

[x2416 0]

Here's the converter.

 

Small progress, I tried taking the UPS out and the same two cameras had same problem. I then unplugged one camera, and the other still had the problem, disconnected the other camera, and the first one no longer exhibited the problem.

 

I think the problem is isolated to the one camera, and am going to try replacing the line to that camera and maybe tack it up and away from any possible interference.