Odd Issue with Dahua Camera

[Smack2k]

Hoping someone has some insight into this....but my hopes are not high!!

I have several IPC-HDBW4433R-ZS camera's around the exterior of my house connected via Cat6 and POE. The hardest one to get to (of course) started having an issue where it was dropping offline. I would reseat the NIC in the switch and nothing. If I wait about 8-10 days and then reseat the NIC in the switch, the camera will come back on as i see the port light up and I can access the camera via the network. But after about a day or two it will drop back offline. Reseating the cable does nothing unless you wait another 8-10 days in which time reseating it will bring it back on. You can reseat the cable in the switch or try other switch ports 1000 times before that 8-10 days is up and it will not come back online.

The run from the switch to the camera is about 75 Ft. I have changed out Cat6 cables as the initial one I made and thought maybe it had an issue, but the new is 100ft pre-made and works fine when tested.

Any clue to what the hell might be happening? Camera is not damaged, Ive been up to check it. Its just a huge pain to go back up and if I have to replace the camera, gonna suck even more. Not a huge fan of high ladders!!!

Thanks for any info!

 

[TonyR]

Have you tried and left it plugged into a DIFFERENT POE port?
When up there did you inspect the RJ-45 female connection for the appearance of discoloration or corrosion from moisture?

 

[Smack2k]

Yeah, you can try different POE ports, doesnt make a difference until those 8-10 days or so are up. Then you can plug it into any one of them and it comes on.

I changed out the RJ-45 cable entirely and made no difference, exact same issue. The RJ-45 female connector looked fine. I even gave it a clean to be sure.

If the female end of the RJ-45 were bad, why would it come on every so often, work for a day then drop off and not come back until time has passed again? Wouldnt it just not work?

 

[TonyR]

Yeah, you can try different POE ports, doesnt make a difference until those 8-10 days or so are up. Then you can plug it into any one of them and it comes on.

I changed out the RJ-45 cable entirely and made no difference, exact same issue. The RJ-45 female connector looked fine. I even gave it a clean to be sure.

If the female end of the RJ-45 were bad, why would it come on every so often, work for a day then drop off and not come back until time has passed again? Wouldnt it just not work?

Corrosion can cause a mechanical issue aggravated by heating up/cooling down, vibrations, etc. which connects/disconnects the data and/or power.
Particularly, the data lines are very low current and it takes very little increase in impedance/resistance to disrupt them.

 

[Smack2k]

Corrosion can cause a mechanical issue aggravated by heating up/cooling down, vibrations, etc. which connects/disconnects the data and/or power.
Particularly, the data lines are very low current and it takes very little increase in impedance/resistance to disrupt them.

Would it make it so it disconnects for a period of time, then connects again for a day or so, before dropping? I figure if it was heat, it wouldnt take 8-10 days to work again. As for vibrations, the cable is held down pretty well, but I guess that could do it....

What would you suggest I could try and clean it again with? I cleaned it before with some vinegar and then some alcohol and the pins looked fine...no corrosion or discoloring, but still could be I guess

 

[TonyR]

If you're going to the trouble to get to that hard to reach cam, I'd use something actually meant for electronic contact cleaning (DeOx 5?) with NO paraffin and then coat male/female with dielectric grease.

 

[wittaj]

Yes corrosion can do weird things.

Just because you don't see corrosion doesn't mean it isn't there.

Many people have had good success with Deox. They put it on pins that look perfectly clean and then the camera starts working again.

It is why best practice is to use dielectric grease on the connection points as air induced moisture can be the long-term killer and never show up as visible corrosion.

 

[Smack2k]

I can spray some Deox on it and see how it goes....followed by some dielectric grease.

Or is it too late and I need to replace the camera?

Appreciate the information.

 

[wittaj]

Many people have got cameras going again with Deox.

 

[bigredfish]

^^^^^^
Raises hand

 

[Smack2k]

Excellent....I will give a shot...just gotta get back up there!

 

[TonyR]

Excellent....I will give a shot...just gotta get back up there!

Let us know when you head up there so if we don't hear back from you we can call 9-1-1!