Interesting note that I thought I'd share with the community here. I have been using quite a few hemispheric cameras and the ACTi KCM-3911 camera was one I had used several times now. Most have worked okay, though they get very hot in normal use. I have had three now that were working okay for a little while, then they quit being reliable. They would work fine after a reboot for a few hours, a day, whatever but they would continue to quit. I replaced them with Vivotek hemispheric cameras and no more issues.
After sending the cameras back to ACTi they come back looking new, a new cover on the camera and a new adapter plate to keep the cameras off the wall and get more airflow behind the camera. Seems the overheating problem is a big one and they have set up some fixes for them, but I never heard about it until I sent it off and got it back a few days later. Important to note that my cameras were mounted with the 15 degree angle mount, so my cameras were never mounted hard against a wall, and air can flow out of the one inch hole at the top of the mount, but even with that mount they want the plate used behind it to get the camera some more air behind it.
I thought I'd hare photos of the fix, and let people know about it as the heat the cameras have to get up to to shut down must be high as these cameras get HOT. Has to impact the lifespan to be expected from the camera I would think. My long term fix is that I've moved to Vivotek for my hemispheric needs for the time being and they are working great. Too many issues with ACTi in general, I say this as I'm boxing up yet another shipment of bad cameras off to them.
Original camera on the right, new updated cover on the left, I guess to try to get more heat out of the camera up front.
Camera on the 15 degree mount that I use, then on the new adapter plate they give you when you send it in to them.
View attachment IMG_20140807_115135.jpg
Sticker on the back of the plate showing its usage.
So far so good after the fix, not sure if anything else is done inside with this repair/upgrade, but they are working for more than a few hours at a time now. I'm sending two more off to them for this fix as soon as I get the UPS label off the printer. I'll use them as spares for the others that are still working, but I will not purchase more or install these except as direct replacements for now. Not a fan of the new look in my offices as it's not as subtle but I'll survive. I preferred the "smoke detector" look more myself.
After sending the cameras back to ACTi they come back looking new, a new cover on the camera and a new adapter plate to keep the cameras off the wall and get more airflow behind the camera. Seems the overheating problem is a big one and they have set up some fixes for them, but I never heard about it until I sent it off and got it back a few days later. Important to note that my cameras were mounted with the 15 degree angle mount, so my cameras were never mounted hard against a wall, and air can flow out of the one inch hole at the top of the mount, but even with that mount they want the plate used behind it to get the camera some more air behind it.
I thought I'd hare photos of the fix, and let people know about it as the heat the cameras have to get up to to shut down must be high as these cameras get HOT. Has to impact the lifespan to be expected from the camera I would think. My long term fix is that I've moved to Vivotek for my hemispheric needs for the time being and they are working great. Too many issues with ACTi in general, I say this as I'm boxing up yet another shipment of bad cameras off to them.
Original camera on the right, new updated cover on the left, I guess to try to get more heat out of the camera up front.
Camera on the 15 degree mount that I use, then on the new adapter plate they give you when you send it in to them.
View attachment IMG_20140807_115135.jpg
Sticker on the back of the plate showing its usage.
So far so good after the fix, not sure if anything else is done inside with this repair/upgrade, but they are working for more than a few hours at a time now. I'm sending two more off to them for this fix as soon as I get the UPS label off the printer. I'll use them as spares for the others that are still working, but I will not purchase more or install these except as direct replacements for now. Not a fan of the new look in my offices as it's not as subtle but I'll survive. I preferred the "smoke detector" look more myself.
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