Newest IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E firmware

[bugmenot01]

Hi Andy,
I bought 2 x IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E from you in 2019.
What is the newest firmware available for upgrade?
I saw the following firmware available from Dahua website. I am not sure if these are safe to upgrade and won't brick the camera?



What does does CustomPro, MCF, E2 mean?

I am currently on the following firmware version.
System Version
V2.800.0000000.6.R, Build Date: 2019-08-01
WEB VersionV3.2.1.768580
ONVIF Version18.06(V2.4.5.698080)
S/N5J10I1HGF9B4025
Algorithm Version1.0.0
Security Baseline VersionV2.0
Copyright 2019, all rights reserved.

 

[wittaj]

I guess the biggest question is why are you updating?

If the camera is working without a problem, why update it and risk causing an issue that you are not experiencing? I am running my Z12E on older firmware and it works just fine. Many here subscribe to the if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality.

I remember one member here updated the Z12E and then the camera constantly rebooted afterwards.

As mentioned in this thread, folks are saying not to update the Z12E with the latest firmware:

IPC-T5442T-ZE IPC-T5442TM-AS IPC-T5842T-ZE SMD 3.0 Smart IR Latest New Firmware From EmpireTech

Hi Andy I thought this firmware is not recommended for IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E, but it is listed in the first post, is it still not recommended? Can work well too, because they all use same baseline.

ipcamtalk.com

 

[samplenhold]

I purchased two 5241 Z12E cams from Andy back in 2020 one month apart from each other. They came with different firmware:
V2.800.0000000.6.R
V2.800.0000000.10.R Build date 2019-11-18

In January 2021 I updated both to V2.800.15OG004.0.R build date 2020-10-19 to get a specific option. I think it was the manual mode under Focus & Zoom? It also had Smart IR, which I did not need.

But those cams kept rebooting a few times a day. Andy posted a different firmware that had the manual mode in it but no Smart IR. That was V2.800.000000.22.R with a build date of 2020-11-19, which I updated both cams to. The rebooting stopped and I am happy with those cams.

I see no reason for me to update to a newer firmware than that one. But if newer firmware that has an option that I would use comes along, then I would consider it. As I use these cams for LPR, I have no need nor want Smart IR.

 

[JK200SX]

Hi guys, I've looked around and am confused as to whats the latest firmware for my IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E . Its from EmpireCandy has the following firmware in it:



Thanks for your help!

 

[wittaj]

Hi guys, I've looked around and am confused as to whats the latest firmware for my IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E . Its from EmpireCandy has the following firmware in it:

View attachment 157768

Thanks for your help!

I will repeat what I said in post #2:

I guess the biggest question is why are you updating?

If the camera is working without a problem, why update it and risk causing an issue that you are not experiencing? I am running my Z12E on older firmware and it works just fine. Many here subscribe to the if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality.

I remember one member here updated the Z12E and then the camera constantly rebooted afterwards.

As mentioned in this thread, folks are saying not to update the Z12E with the latest firmware, including a guy that tears these firmwares apart are reports the findings back to Dahua:

IPC-T5442T-ZE IPC-T5442TM-AS IPC-T5842T-ZE SMD 3.0 Smart IR Latest New Firmware From EmpireTech

Hi Andy I thought this firmware is not recommended for IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E, but it is listed in the first post, is it still not recommended? Can work well too, because they all use same baseline.

ipcamtalk.com

 

[JK200SX]

I will repeat what I said in post #2:

I guess the biggest question is why are you updating?

If the camera is working without a problem, why update it and risk causing an issue that you are not experiencing? I am running my Z12E on older firmware and it works just fine. Many here subscribe to the if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality.

I remember one member here updated the Z12E and then the camera constantly rebooted afterwards.

As mentioned in this thread, folks are saying not to update the Z12E with the latest firmware, including a guy that tears these firmwares apart are reports the findings back to Dahua:

IPC-T5442T-ZE IPC-T5442TM-AS IPC-T5842T-ZE SMD 3.0 Smart IR Latest New Firmware From EmpireTech

Hi Andy I thought this firmware is not recommended for IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E, but it is listed in the first post, is it still not recommended? Can work well too, because they all use same baseline.

ipcamtalk.com

Firstly, I'm curious to know which is the latest software? I also presume their are others that are using a later version of the firmware than me, so I would assume it can't be a bad thing. provided the firmware is stable with no bugs. Perhaps additional feature may be present in newer firmware versions?

Lastly, there is an official firmware on the Dahua site. Would that work on the Empirecandy version of the cam that I have? Why or why not?

Thanks!

 

[wittaj]

Again what difference does it make if the camera is working for you? I have two of these and one is 2019 firmware and the other I messed up doing a firmware update.

Firmware updates are usually security bugs but since we isolate the cameras from the internet, it is a moot point.

I jumped on the bandwagon when this new firmware came out because it was one of the few times an actual improvement was introduced - SMD 3.0 that was supposed to be a better AI algorithm- it was worse for me, and other members here, than the previous firmware I was on and it was missing triggers the previous AI did not.

When I tried to rollback my firmware I almost bricked the camera. It took a desperate attempt of holding in the reset button for 3 minutes, but the picture quality isn't as good as it was prior to the update.

I am only sharing with you my experiences and a link to others that have experienced issues updating this particular camera.

If you decide you still want to update then go for it with either the latest firmware in that thread I posted or yes you can update with the firmware on Dahua website, just recognize that folks have experienced issues with this particular camera and newer firmware.

Keep us posted - maybe you will be one of the lucky ones...

 

[looney2ns]

You should contact Andy for guidance on which firmware is ok.

 

[samplenhold]

A little info on the firmware update issues that I have come across.

I have two IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E that I purchased from Andy. Cam name, purchase dates and original firmware info below:
LPR-E 3/10/2020 V2.800.0000000.6.R
LPR-W 4/12/2020 V2.800.0000000.10.R

I had not updated any firmware on any of my cams, so these two cams were on different firmware versions, but I could not see any difference.

Sometime around November 2020 a new firmware version was released. It had an option I was interested in. That was manual focus. Up until this time there was no manual focus option and one had to jump through hoops to get the proper focus in the dark. So this was a great update for this cam. This new firmware had other updates, like smart IR. This was an experimental version that had been developed by a collaboration between Wildcat1 and Dahua.

Andy made available that firmware to us. It was V2.800.15OG004.0.R and I updated both cams. The manual focus was great. But within a few days I had random reboots of the LPE-E cam. Sometimes it would just get in a boot-loop for 30-40 minutes before I noticed it. Strangely, the LPR-W cam rarely had this issue. I could never find out why that cam was rebooting, so I was going to revert to the original firmware.

But Andy had a version that did not have the Smart IR but did have the manual focus. It was version V2.800.0000000.22.R and I updated the LPR-E cam to that version. The random reboots stopped. So I updated the LPR-W cam with that version also just to stop any random reboots that might happen in the future.

So the point is, do not update firmware unless there is a specific reason to. Updating can cause unintended issues. Each cam can respond differently from one cam to the next.