Fried Bullet IR camera

[tomeb 0]

Hi All,

 

I have a customer who brought back 4 of the IR Bullet type camera's to us said they stopped working after 4 days on the jobsite. These camera's run on 24VAC and of course he says he was using a 24VAC power supply for them.

 

I opened them up and every one of them has a strong smoke smell and varying degrees of burned components - the burning is right around where the power comes into the actual camera housing - couple of capacitors and things.

 

Any ideas what I can tell my customer?? My opinion is that the damage was done by some sort of power surge and thus wouldnt be covered under the normal warranty.

 

What could cause this to happen, in your all's experiences?

 

Thanks

[securitymonster 0]

Our warranty covers manufacturer defects and not "Acts of God" or "User Error"

 

If you can't send the camera back for replacement, why should you warranty it for them? Were in the business of Security, not Goodwill.

 

I wouldn't just leave your customers hanging, but I would tell them that you can replace the cameras immediately, and pending replacement from the manufacturer will determine if the customer gets free replacements or if they will be paying for the 4 new cameras.

 

Let us know how it goes!

[AVCONSULTING 0]

What brand and model number? Are you sure those are 24vac? A lot of the bullet cameras are 12vdc and it sounds suspicious. I have rarely heard of 24vac cameras burning up, hard to screw that up but I sure have seen and smelled a lot of 12VDC cameras destroyed by AC transformers.

[cctv_down_under 0]

I agree with AV, much nicer sine wave for 24VAC and much less chances of problems, I have seen similar things with AC being used on 12Vdc cameras and even incorrect manufactorers specs on what power the cameras support.

 

i doubt it was a surge as you have so many cameras dmaged, my thoughts would be either an overvoltage or fualty camera batch, do not always assume that your customer is wrong, yes they will try to lie to get away with damage, but most times it is legit.

 

I would contact your wholesaler and ask them to contact the Manufactorer by email with photographs of the damage, the manufactorer may admit to a fault if it exists, ask to have your customer CC'd in on the email and they will not be left out.

 

I STRONGLY advise against the "replace them now and we will see what happens" approach, your customer will not beleive you.

 

Offer them to buy new ones and take the risk if you need to but I would advise a quick report from the manufactorer and investigate the power supply, there are also CCTV line conditioners that can be purchased if indeed a surge was the issue.

 

http://www.poweronaustralia.com.au/products.php?cat_id=12

[kg6mti 0]

I do not install surveillance system for a living. But what about offering to make a site visit for the customer for either a discounted rate or a flat rate just to take a look at the installation and offer advice. You never know the customer might not realize any mistakes that either they made themselves or another installer made. You might be able to produce some good will with the customer. You also never know the customer might have you come out and then hire you at a regular rate to fix the problems and install the camera's correctly.

 

For example, I have a mechanic that I have taken one of my cars to. They will take a look at any car for a flat rate of $40.00 US. Then they will tell you what the problem is. If you have them fix the problem they deduct the original $40.00 US from the total repair bill. That way you know exactly what your cost will be for the repair if you have them fix it.

 

Just another thought have your customer check with their credit card company if that is how they paid for the camera's. Many credit card companies will replace items that are lost, damaged or stolen. This is one of the reason I like American Express so much. They are wonderful about taking care of a customer if the items they purchased become unusable in any way or if the customer wants to return them and the retailer will not exchange or refund the cost.

 

Good Luck!

[kensplace 0]

Ask for the power supplies in question, test them to see if they are indeed 24v, and are not faulty. Kindof pointless supplying replacement camera's if they just plug them back into a suspect power source.

Also make sure 24v AC is the correct supply voltage....

[cctvfan 0]

Most IR bullets use 12VDC. Not saying 24VAC bullets do not exist, but less common, only those that support line lock sync mode.

 

Could it be that the bullets are 12VDC and mislabeled as 24VAC (of course 24VAC will surely fry a cam expecting 12VDC.)