Help with NVR5232-16P-4KS2E and SD4A425DB-HNY

[duplo]

Hello guys,

need some help with NVR and PTZ of a friend setup. This stuff where bought from Andy and i set it up for a friend. Now i tried to install a new PTZ to the system, but i am a bit lost.
At the moment he is only using 5442ze cams, which are all connected to a HPE PoE switch. At first the cams where connected directly to the NVR, but this was changed because he needed the cams in third party software and it was much easier to manage when they are on a network switch rather than nvr.

All cameras are inside an isolated vlan with the NVR. No internet access. The NVR can be accessed with wireguard.
Now he wanted a ptz, so i bought the mini ptz from Andy.
Because the hpe switch has only 15.6W ports, it doesnt work. So i thought it would be a good idea to connect it directly to the NVR. The specsheet says each port can deliver ~25W (max budget 130W).

NVR
NVR5232-16P-4KS2E
Firmware V4.001.0000006.0, Build Date: 08-02-2021

bought late 2021, so must be newest 2021 hardware (?).

PTZ
SD4A425DB-HNY
System Version: 2.821.0000006.1.RBuild Date:2023-03-16

Both devices seem to run the newest firmware which is recommended by Andy.


I have reset the PTZ to factory default, then i connected it to the NVR and waited. After a while the NVR initialized it but it didnt show Port1 under Port. It only shows the IP (10.1.1.65) and Port (37777).
In the one tutorial here (***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch) and a video of andys channel (nvr setup youtube link) it is shown, that it should show Port1,2,3... when connect a camera to the internal ports.

I can add the PTZ to a channel with the 10.1.1.65:37777 and it shows a picture.
but..

The NVR menu doesnt give me any setup options of the capabilities of the PTZ. So i need to setup them inside the webinterface. Unfortunately it is impossible to access.
I turned on "virtual host" option, so it shows the blue iexplorer button. If i click on it, it tries to open "10.1.1.65", which is not reachable because its inside the poe switch lan.

what i tried:

• make a static route in the router with the vlan-nvr-ip as gateway to the "10.1.1.0/24" network. I can access the NVR webinterface (10.1.1.1) from my local lan, but all other devices are still unreachable.
• several resets, same result.

• changed the ip of the ptz to the vlan network and connected a poe switch port with one hpe port.

... now i can access the webinterface of the ptz, but the NVR seems unable to get any Events from the camera.
Also some strange behaviour happen, like the nvr found "itself" under the switch ip (10.1.1.1) in the camera tab as onvif device


when connected directly to the HPE and added like the other cameras, all works fine.. but if 15.6W is reached, it will turn the port off.
So the NVR seems to be able to handle the Events the PTZ sends



I have no idea what is going on, it looks like its all incompatible.

Now i found the bald dahua guy from UK, who shows a new feature of the nvr4/5-series. Its called "bridge mode". According to him it will turn off 10.1.1.0/24 network and bridge the lan port to the poe port. so it acts like a normal switch with the lan-port as uplink.



Problem:
the NVR does not have the feature. The firmware seems too old. I dont want to brick the device with a firmware from dahua website. I have read somewhere that the hardware of these devices got changed several times, some firmwares are not compatible and brick the device. From outside they seem look all the same.


Can someone help me to connect the PTZ to the NVR?
Sure it would be possible to buy a dumb poe+ switch for 60-80€ and connect it between the HPE and PTZ , but it would easier for me to use the NVR PoE switch.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I am currently faced with this exact situation with a 28 port 802.3af switch. After agonizing over the dozen or so different solutions, I ordered a 28 port 802.3at switch off of ebay. Supposed to be delivered tomorrow. (Cisco FS350-28P for $85. Hope everything on it works because I need all the ports).

 

[bigredfish]

I have reset the PTZ to factory default, then i connected it to the NVR and waited. After a while the NVR initialized it but it didnt show Port1 under Port. It only shows the IP (10.1.1.65) and Port (37777).
In the one tutorial here (***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch) and a video of andys channel (nvr setup youtube link) it is shown, that it should show Port1,2,3... when connect a camera to the internal ports.

I can assure this will work as I just did it for the 500th time yesterday on a 5216-16P-4KS2

Remove the camera from the NVR it and delete the entry on the NVR registration page

When you plug it back in, do a full factory reset on the camera, meaning the manual button, then wait. It may well show up in the upper pane as 10.x.x.x with a 37777 port first, but if you let the NVR move it to the bottom pane automatically , it will assume a port 1,2,3 etc (Refresh button at bottom is your friend)

If you try and Manually Add it from the top pane, it will f*ck up and use the 37777 port

 

[duplo]

@bigredfish

Thanks for your reply.
I did exact what you wrote. Factory reset, confirmed with config tool .. shows "uninitialized".. deleted the old channel entry.
Plugin back again.

The NVR has also a "plug and play" option. I also tried that.

After init process, it will show as Live and "10.1.1.x"

Then i can double click on it and it will go down, shows offline, refresh, is online but still 37777 port.

I also tried another 5442. This one works normal, its only the PTZ which cannot be added to the NVR.


The virtual host function on this NVR is confusing. I did that 100x times on hikvision nvrs. With a static route you can access all devices inside the poe network. Seems not to work that way with dahua.

 

[bigredfish]

Dont use the config tool.
I havent used if for connecting to NVR PoE camera OR through an external switch in 3-4 years.
Its not needed for this and causes problems. When you successfully get the camera connected with a proper port, you use the IE button on the NVR page to access its Web GUI, and there you will be asked to give it a password and turn OFF P2P. Thats all the "initialization" consists of.

Dont do this. Thats manually adding it
Then i can double click on it and it will go down, shows offline, refresh, is online but still 37777 port.

After deleting the entry and factory reset, plug it in and do nothing. The only button you should hit is Refresh at very bottom to see it when it gets moved down to the bottom pane

Same NVR, Same PTZ

 

[bigredfish]

And actually if its truly been reset, it wont even ask you for a password because it will assume the admin password of the NVR

 

[duplo]

@bigredfish

Sure, it has the password of the nvr.
But I figured out what the problem is.

The NVR has a nice hard coded feature:

port1 has to be channel1 etc.
so if channel1 is already used by another camera (with external poe switch), it cannot use port1 anymore as "normal".

This is really annoying, because its impossible to change the channel numbering.
When using an external switch and want to use internal, external connected cameras can only added at the end.


Do you have any solution for that ?
The bridge mode which the bald dahua guy describe sounds like a real solution, because it turns off the internal network/firewall thing.

But it looks like this is only available in newer firmware versions.

And here are reports that you cant downgrade anymore when using 2022 firmware

Dahua DHI-NVR5864-4KS2 not support custom protocol

Did you report the problem to the dealer in writing (email) from whom you had bought the NVR? When and in which country had you bought the NVR? Had the problem already been there with an older firmware? My NVR had earlier a firmware 4.001.x from summer 2021 and that older firmware had no...

ipcamtalk.com

Also some people report bugs

 

[bigredfish]

Ok so I think you lost me,

Lets stick to the first problem:
Did you get the camera to connect? Please post a screenshot of the camera registration page as below:


Any camera plugged into the #1 PoE port of the NVR will assume "Port 1" as it should. Yes the NVR considers Port #1 to be Port #1!
External connected cameras will NEVER assume "Port 1" as that is specific to the physical PoE port on the NVR.

Ordering of cameras for display is something else entirely.
If you do not plug a camera into port 1, (as above) whatever the first camera you add will show at the top of the list. In the example above an external camera was first connected. Port 1 on the NVR was not connected to any camera. The order of cameras added is what is displayed yes. But this is a preference not a functionality concern.

Adding/mixing/combining cameras from an external switch along with cameras using the built in PoE ports is simple. Just search on the top panel for cameras on the NVR subnet using and external switch and add them manually when they are found.

There is no need for "bridge mode"
If you want to bypass the internal PoE ports completely you can. Simply connect the NVR LAN port to an external switch, its the same as if you have a non-PoE NVR. Any camera found on that switch or the network the switch is attached to can be added to the NVR bypassing the PoE ports completely.

As to downgrading firmwares, yes ALL manufacturers at some point have a problem downgrading past a certain FW version

 

[duplo]

Yes, it works that the PTZ is listed as "Port1".

BUT

It only works, when there is no camera on channel1.
So it is hardcoded that PORT1 can only be assigned to CHANNEL1. If there is a camera on that channel, then it will not be added correct. It is only possible to add it with the port 37777.

On NVR side it works with port 37777 , but i am not able to reach the camera via virtual host, because it only opens the port 10080 etc. if its added correctly as "port1,2,3...."

So if i use other cameras as for channel 1-16, i am losing all PoE ports. Channel1-16 has to be port1-16 on the poe switch.

Hope you understand what i mean.

Here is the video of this behaviour

View attachment 2023-07-29_14-26-33.mp4



















So is there any help with this behaviour ?




I noticed another problem which is a bit annoying.
I am using tripwires for autotracking,...

When connected to the HPE switch, the events where marked as "Motion Detection: Human" in DMSS mobile app.
Now they are marked as "Smart" and start too late, so i only see when the event is near the end and the person is already away.

Have to figure out what is going on. Maybe the old configuration was different.

There is no need for "bridge mode"
If you want to bypass the internal PoE ports completely you can. Simply connect the NVR LAN port to an external switch, its the same as if you have a non-PoE NVR. Any camera found on that switch or the network the switch is attached to can be added to the NVR bypassing the PoE ports completely.

If i do it like that, then events does not work anymore.

I assigned a static ip to a camera inside, so i can reach it from vlan and it is connected to a poe port of the nvr... add it manually then with the static ip
But the nvr does not get any events from that camera.

So it seems that there is some firewall or whatever running... the bridge mode seems to disable all this stuff.

 

[bigredfish]

Hmmmm I gotta study that...

 

[bigredfish]

Ok you have a lot going on there..

1- is your NVR IP in the 10.0.20.X range?
2- Are the cameras using 10.0.20.X on an external switch?
3- How many cameras do you have connected to the NVR PoE ports? / How many via an External switch?
4- I assume you have 16 PoE ports on the NVR?

So the PTZ seems to be acting exactly as I mentioned and as it should. I assume it is plugged into the #1 PoE port on the NVR?

So yes it would seem if the camera is plugged into the NVR Port #1 it will use Channel 1. If channel 1 is taken it doesnt know what to do.

 

[duplo]

The plan was to connect 3 PTZ cameras to the system. Because they are all over 15W , i planned to connect them to the PoE Ports of the NVR which can deliver 25W per port.
The Nvr has only 130W PoE budget, so it will use 60-70W for the PTZ alone.

I already bought a cheap 78W 4port switch(30W port max), but it struggle to have all PTZ running. There are disconnects with IR light and movement.
So i send it back.

___


1/2.
yes , 10.0.20.0/24 is a VLAN where all cameras are in. Also the LAN-Port of the NVR is connected.
The VLAN is on a HPE PoE switch

(i need this, because i want to have access with third party software and it is easier for me to manage with a firewall)

3.
There are non connected.
First the plan was to connect everything to the NVR, but then it was easier with the PoE Switch.
Because the switch was bought in 2021 it has only PoE af ports. Prices where pretty high back then and still are.

So at the end of the day on the PoE switch are around 20 cameras (18 + 2 doorbells) which should be all recorded by the NVR

4.
It is a 32channel device with 16 PoE ports ( NVR5232-16P-4KS2E )

5.
yes the PTZ was connected to Port1

So yes it would seem if the camera is plugged into the NVR Port #1 it will use Channel 1. If channel 1 is taken it doesnt know what to do.

Yeah. That is really annoying because when having other devices on the channels, then you will lose the poe ports.
Maybe the main reason why so many struggle with setup. When double-click on a camera on the upper field, then it goes down and take next free channel. Then the NVR cannot add port to channel automatic.

You can add them manual with port 37777 to the channel you want and the NVR can record etc
BUT its not possible to see the webinterface of the camera and the nvr dont have all settings visible.

On Hikvision NVR the "virtual host" setting enables access to the IPs (10.1.1.65) of the nvr network directly. So you can setup a static route and can access all cameras directly on their ip.
But on Dahua it is still blocked. it just allow access to one port (10080 etc).



___

This is all caused because the NVR is unable to sort the channels. You always see ch1 at first place in DMSS etc.

Sure i can connect the camera to another NVR port, BUT i still have problems. It is now port1, channel1

The access to the webinterface works like 10-15min over virtual host (nvr-ip:10080)... then it goes down. i have to restart everything, then it works again for 10min.
I tried the same with another 5442 , there everything is good. So it seems a problem with the new interface of the PTZ or whatever.

(seems to work now ?)

 

[duplo]

I figured something out

- The IVS problem is related to:

Dahua NVR -- where to set pre-recording seconds for IVS rule

Remind me on a Dahua NVR, where you go to set the # seconds it should pre-record for a camera's IVS rule? For example, if my IVS rule is triggered, I want the camera to record the 15 seconds BEFORE the event happened as well, so in my DMSS app I can easily see what led up to the IVS event...

ipcamtalk.com

So if have continous and intelligent record, pre-record for IVS does not work anymore.
So any IVS event is too late when searching for this only.

When turning on SMD on the device too, it works pretty well. So it is possible to search for "Motion: Human" and it shows a pre-event-record on this type.
So auto-tracking can be used with IVS and SMD shows you also the event.

For some reason after all resets DMSS shows now both: SMD(human) and Smart (IVS)

_

i plugged it in now like you mention earlier.
i connected the poe-switch side of the nvr directly to the vlan. Then i set a static ip of the vlan to the camera which is connected to the nvr.
Now i can add it to whatever channel i want and still can connect to the webinterface.

One problem seems to exist. If the camera admin password is the same as the nvr, the nvr changes the IP of the camera at some point like changing the "switch settings" under network. So need to have another password to prevent this.

Maybe thats the reason why they add the "bridge mode" to the nvr in >2022 firmwares.
You can manage your cameras as you want.

I am using the 2021 firmware and dont want to upgrade, not sure what bugs occurs then.


Conclusion:

- if want free combine channels with external poe-switch you need to enable "bridge mode" on 4/5-Series with >2022 firmware​

Bridge mode will disable the auto assignment, ip change etc. feature

- if have older nvr or older firmware needs to connect them on one port.​

Problem: the poe-switch on nvr has only 10/100 Mbit ports. So there is a limit for traffic when connecting together.

Bridge mode uses the 1gbit Lan-Port , which should be enough even when running 16x cameras with 16mbit streams (256mbit)

 

[tigerwillow1]

So if have continous and intelligent record, pre-record for IVS does not work anymore.
So any IVS event is too late when searching for this only.

This is problem well known to Dahua NVR users, and has been this way since the beginning of time, more or less.

 

[bigredfish]

Good job, and I learned something myself! Thanks!

 

[duplo]

@bigredfish

i connected the poe-switch side of the nvr directly to the vlan. Then i set a static ip of the vlan to the camera which is connected to the nvr.

this connection way seems not good.

The NVR keeps resetting the IP address of all cameras in the vlan. If they are running everything is fine, but if they are restartet the NVR change ip to 10.1.1.0/24 network.
Even worse.. because the NVR thinks cameras are connected to a specific port it changes the IP of several cameras to the same.
It killed 3 cameras, not reachable anymore, need to be hardreset with button
(even if change laptop ip to 10.1.1.0/24 network and try to reach directly)

Lol

Static IP set, Password is different than NVR, all services seems to be disabled in camera interface,...

so there must be a backdoor included which does this.

 

[bigredfish]

Yeah so that setup is not something I have tried.

I keep it simple. I connect cameras to the PoE ports and if needed, I can also add/combine cameras from the LAN manually. I have this on many NVRs without issue.
The internal PoE switch and associated ports are intended to be used as they are. Each port is issued an IP from the switch typically starting with 10.1.1.65 That port will always be 10.1.1.65 as will any camera plugged into it.

I plug the NVR into the same switch using the LAN port, as the LAN. Then any cameras on the LAN can be added. The cameras connected directly to NVR PoE ports are assigned 10.1.1.x by the port. Keep it simple.

 

[duplo]

which firmware are you running ? 2021 or 2022 build ? if 2022, do you see any problems ?

i am scared to update from 2021 to 2022 but only 2022 has bridge mode which i need

 

[bigredfish]

V4.002.0000000.3.R, Build Date: 2022-03-22

and it does have the bridge mode option

 

[duplo]

V4.002.0000000.3.R, Build Date: 2022-03-22

and it does have the bridge mode option

because the cams keep dying random .. i updates to 2022-03-22

but i cannot see bridge mode in webinterface? :/

do you have it there or only with monitor (hdmi)?