New IPC-T5442TM-AS is already crapping out?

[Sybertiger]

I've got three of these models recently mounted around the house. One of the original three had a microphone defect that Andy replaced with another. Now one of the other ones is having problems with loss of signal. Looking for direction on what to look for that might explain the problem but it's been working for about a month or so but then a couple of days ago I noticed in BI status messages occasional green triangle events like you see below. I decided to have BI text me every time one of these events happened and progressively the loss of signal problem started happening more frequently starting yesterday afternoon and now seems constant (every few minutes). I thought maybe my cheap POE switch was possibly having issues so I switched ports with another cam but when it didn't change/fix anything I moved it to a completely different POE switch but the problem continues. Is this another defective cam, perhaps but if you have some ideas on things I should look for I'd appreciate some pointers.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Sorry you're having problems with these. I only have one but it's been rock solid since I installed it about two months ago.

The only other possibilities I can think of are -

Try a reboot through the software.
Bad cable or cable problem, RJ, of some sort.
Take it down and test on the bench.
Use the reset button inside the camera
If that still shows a problem after all that check with Andy.

 

[DognamedTank]

Are you able to view the camera on the web interface when it shows loss of signal in BI? Does resetting the camera in BI bring it back up (not a camera reboot)? I have a few cameras that are doing this, but it seems to be more of an issue with some configuration for my windows box than the cameras, because I can view the cameras just fine in the web interface and just resetting BI's connection to the cameras fixes it right away. For now I am just using BI's watchdog settings to reset the connections until I have time to do a clean windows install and get my settings back to a good starting point.

 

[guykuo]

Is there another switch between your POE switch and the rest of the network? If so and it is more than four years old, I would also be suspicious of a failing switch. That manifests as increasingly worsening, random connection failures.

 

[Sybertiger]

Sorry you're having problems with these. I only have one but it's been rock solid since I installed it about two months ago.

The only other possibilities I can think of are -

Try a reboot through the software.
Bad cable or cable problem, RJ, of some sort.
Take it down and test on the bench.
Use the reset button inside the camera
If that still shows a problem after all that check with Andy.

Not sure how the cable could just start to fail but maybe the crimped connector wasn't done perfectly and environmental issues over time are having an effect...good theory and it's true I did that crimp back before I perfected by technique using newer pass through type connectors. Just weird the frequency of the problem just started ramping up. I might have to pull it down and bring it inside.

 

[Sybertiger]

Are you able to view the camera on the web interface when it shows loss of signal in BI? Does resetting the camera in BI bring it back up (not a camera reboot)? I have a few cameras that are doing this, but it seems to be more of an issue with some configuration for my windows box than the cameras, because I can view the cameras just fine in the web interface and just resetting BI's connection to the cameras fixes it right away. For now I am just using BI's watchdog settings to reset the connections until I have time to do a clean windows install and get my settings back to a good starting point.

When it happens the Dahua Config Tool can't see it just like it's unplugged or doesn't have power. It magically will come back on line then disappear again. Working fine for a month then disconnecting/reconnecting back and forth.

 

[Sybertiger]

Is there another switch between your POE switch and the rest of the network? If so and it is more than four years old, I would also be suspicious of a failing switch. That manifests as increasingly worsening, random connection failures.

Tried that already. I have two 8-port POE switches. One is new and unused but bought it for the eventuality of plugging POE IR floodlights into it. I think the POE switch as potentially a problem has been eliminated. All other cams working fine regardless of the POE switch they are plugged into.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Murphy is normally a resident here, at my house. I've had crimps that look and test good when installed fail after some period of time. I've done, probably, over 10,000 RJ45s and a few thousand RJ11s in my life and it still happens every now and then. I'm not saying that is the problem, but it's one of the first things I'd look into, thoroughly.

 

[Sybertiger]

Looks like it down for the count at the moment. Without a connection there's no way to do a remote reset other than unplug/plug it back in which I've done. No choice but to pull it from house. I'll bring it inside to bench test but while I'm at it I'll but another RJ45 on it using my newer pass through connectors. Will update when I have a chance to do this.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Take the camera down and check it with a New premade short Ethernet cable. Use a wall wart for power and plug it into the close switch to the computer or directly into the computer. Do not use the same POE switch.

Also if you did not weather proof the RJ45 connector when you installed it, that may be your problem also.

I have seen very few camera failures.

 

[looney2ns]

Connections not properly waterproofed. Di-electric grease in the RJ45, then wrapped with Coax Seal.
Used Copper Clad aluminum instead of Solid Copper cable of 23awg or 24 awg gauge.
No "flat" Ethernet cables used.
You didn't use the 568B wiring standard.

 

[Sybertiger]

I'm coming to the conclusion it's on it's death bed....

I took the cam down and brought it into my office for inspection.
Tried out two different cables, one factory, one short self made so that's three total cables. Pretty much rules out cable issues.
I connected to two different POE switches. My other 7 cams work fine on the both POE switches. Pretty much rules out power/communication via POE switch.
Hit the hard reset on the cam multiple time sometimes up to 30 seconds. Interesting that it did not reset to factory settings as I thought that's what hard reset did.
Dahua Config Tool sometimes sees it momentarily then it's gone. Tried that several times (it wasn't reset to factory by hard reset) and once when it was alive I logged in quickly but no video as seen below in screen shots. Then the browser lost communication again and the Config Tool could not see it.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Did you hold the internal reset switch down before powering up? Hold it down, no power, then keep holding it for a minute, at least, after applying power.

 

[Sybertiger]

Did you hold the internal reset switch down before powering up? Hold it down, no power, then keep holding it for a minute, at least, after applying power.

I did the hold reset button then plugging in the ethernet cable...it worked! Then went to reconfigure the thing to get it back to where it was. Gonna keep an eye on it but video is back for now. I think I'll keep it in my office for the evening and see how it holds up by sunrise. I'll report back tomorrow.

BTW, holding it down then rebooting the device tells me this isn't a hard reset per se but rather the firmware while booting up checks to see if the button is depressed and if so erases everything to put it back to factory...similar to if you did a reset in the Dahua config tool. Thanks for the tip!

 

[sebastiantombs]

I'm glad that worked for you, I was shooting in the dark with my eyes closed. I hope it stabilizes now. Out of curiosity, have you upgraded the firmware an what version are you running?

 

[Sybertiger]

I'm glad that worked for you, I was shooting in the dark with my eyes closed. I hope it stabilizes now. Out of curiosity, have you upgraded the firmware an what version are you running?

V2.800.0000000.10.R, Build Date: 2019-11-18

Thought I'd give an update....

I thought after the reset and letting it run for a while was going great the last 6 hours until...I set up a tripwire a few minutes ago and as soon as I hit the save button it crapped out. Hmm, coincidence? I'd been running this cam with IVS rules like tripwire, intrusion (human/auto) for the last several weeks and it was fine up until a few days ago as described in the OP.

 

[Sybertiger]

For shits and giggles and went ahead and did the reset using the cam's reset button holding it down for one minute while it powered to to reset it back to factory settings. Changed the IP address to get it back onto my BI network. Went back to IVS and set up another tripwire...so far so good...then hit the save button and CRASH!

UPDATE: This morning, intermittently on/off/on.....I'll contact Andy.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Do you have a 12V 2A adapter to test the camera? If the camera still have the same problem, just replace one for you.

 

[Sybertiger]

I don't have a 12V 2A wall outlet adapter but I do have active POE splitters (12V 1.3A - 2A max) and I have two POE switches to get power to the splitters.

Even though it came with the latest firmware I reflashed the firmware and did a factory reset, then configure it, then did the IVS rules setup described above and it consistently crashes the camera. Here's a screenshot after saving the IVS rules then clicking on the LIVE tab. From that point on the cam falters.

 

[looney2ns]

I don't have a 12V 2A wall outlet adapter but I do have active POE splitters (12V 1.3A - 2A max) and I have two POE switches to get power to the splitters.

Even though it came with the latest firmware I reflashed the firmware and did a factory reset, then configure it, then did the IVS rules setup described above and it consistently crashes the camera. Here's a screenshot after saving the IVS rules then clicking on the LIVE tab. From that point on the cam falters.

View attachment 55465

Do either of the substreams work for live view? What browser are you using?
Smart Codec turned off?
Can you view the camera with SmartPSS?
Do you have iFrames set the same as the FPS?