I’ve been using a 4-pack of cheap generic indoor pan/tilt IP cameras that I chased the MAC ID to L-Series, Shenzhen Smarteye Digital Electronics Co., Ltd. I’ve used them over internal Ethernet LAN for about 4 years connected to Blue Iris for PC with no issues, when suddenly 2 of them stopped working in the same week.
The 2 cameras in question are located in separate areas of the house and have nothing to do with one another circuit wise, so I don’t suspect any power surge would have occurred to cause an issue; especially give the other 2 IP cams in the set are fine.
The 2 problem cams have power because after I power-cycle (unplug/re-plug 5V DC adaptor) I can see the IR LEDs glow red on both. However, neither cam initializes by moving up/down/left/right after a normal power cycle as expected. Simply no movement at all in either cam.
Furthermore, neither camera feed appears in my Blue Iris software anymore. Interestingly however, when I scan for the cameras using their provided “LSearch” discovery software, the cams do appear in the list, so something must still be active in each cam’s chipset. But I can no longer access the individual cam using the web GUI (via IP/Port) anymore.
I tried doing the prescribed “reset” which fails and seems to maintain the IPs I assigned 4 years ago rather than reset to factory settings.
Thereafter, I opened each camera and thoroughly inspected each circuit board for possible signs of burnt components. All appears clean.
Bottom line, the cameras worked fine for years and suddenly 2 stopped for no apparent reason and present the same exact symptoms. So other than some embedded Chinese kill-code hidden deep in the firmware to force me to buy new cameras after 4 years.
I know these are cheap to replace, but also seems a waste if they can be fixed. Any support would be appreciated.
The 2 cameras in question are located in separate areas of the house and have nothing to do with one another circuit wise, so I don’t suspect any power surge would have occurred to cause an issue; especially give the other 2 IP cams in the set are fine.
The 2 problem cams have power because after I power-cycle (unplug/re-plug 5V DC adaptor) I can see the IR LEDs glow red on both. However, neither cam initializes by moving up/down/left/right after a normal power cycle as expected. Simply no movement at all in either cam.
Furthermore, neither camera feed appears in my Blue Iris software anymore. Interestingly however, when I scan for the cameras using their provided “LSearch” discovery software, the cams do appear in the list, so something must still be active in each cam’s chipset. But I can no longer access the individual cam using the web GUI (via IP/Port) anymore.
I tried doing the prescribed “reset” which fails and seems to maintain the IPs I assigned 4 years ago rather than reset to factory settings.
Thereafter, I opened each camera and thoroughly inspected each circuit board for possible signs of burnt components. All appears clean.
Bottom line, the cameras worked fine for years and suddenly 2 stopped for no apparent reason and present the same exact symptoms. So other than some embedded Chinese kill-code hidden deep in the firmware to force me to buy new cameras after 4 years.
I know these are cheap to replace, but also seems a waste if they can be fixed. Any support would be appreciated.