IP CCTV Cameras

[D00DY_T00DY]

Hi all, little bit of a brain teaser.

We installed 5 IP dome Camera's(Onyx i believe is the make) to a DVR(Which receives the data and records it) QVIS izeus 4000 if that'll help. We have three working and the other two aren't; They're connected via CAT 5 and RJ45 connectors with each having their own port with PoE(Power over Ethernet).

The two that don't work are the furthest from the DVR by around 30-35 metres. at first we suspected damaged cable so we re-ran it. Nothing. we then realised it was CCA Cable (Copper Coated Aluminium) which is only good for around 30/35 metres so we suspected the volt drop would too high for them to actually power the cameras. We rewired them again using solid copper wire (Which is good for around 100Metres) yet still no success.

A couple of options would be to move the DVR closer to the load(Which would be impractical since it's wired through 20mm conduit and it's all set up) or move the cameras closer to the DVR which again can't really be done since the customer wouldn't be able to monitor where he wanted to. I rang Paul with his infinite wisdom hoping he could solve it, he suggested to double the power cable to those cameras with any spare pins however I later found out there's not any spare pins:

So we were going to try a light transformer (230V AC to 12V DC) but turns out the transformers convert it into 11.8V AC(We'll be trying again with the right transformer when we're back at the job i think) and testing what the volt drop actually is at the camera point.

It's wired in 20mm conduit, There's no LV cables anywhere near the CAT5 cables, the cameras are proved; we took them down and tried them using a short Ethernet cable. The cable has continuity throughout and the manufacturer did all the port forwarding to get it to be able to be viewed with the IP address etc.

Wondering if anyone came across this before or just wants to have a go at finding a solution... I was going to post this when we figured out the problem. Can't wait to hear some of your ideas.

 

[Connexions]

I do cctv as my main work have you checked on the dvr if the cameras are enabled I dont use qvis as they are pants but on the hikvision systems you can disable cams from the menu or if it is swap the 2 that dont to the ports that the two working are In if they then work it may be the dvr tbh ive run ip cams up ro 100m also doesnt the cams have a seperate power in aswell as the rj45 port ? Just incase your using a dvr that isnt poe or is the dvr only poe on 2 ports

 

[tazz]

The POE network puts out 48v so voltage drop would be minimal over a full 100m.
Are you using customers existing network or have you fitting a purpose POE..?

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

I do cctv as my main work have you checked on the dvr if the cameras are enabled I dont use qvis as they are pants but on the hikvision systems you can disable cams from the menu or if it is swap the 2 that dont to the ports that the two working are In if they then work it may be the dvr tbh ive run ip cams up ro 100m also doesnt the cams have a seperate power in aswell as the rj45 port ? Just incase your using a dvr that isnt poe or is the dvr only poe on 2 ports

The dvr doesn't even recognize the the cameras ... We've tried to add them manually via the port IP and we've realised QVIS aren't the best :| to say the least... And yeah they have another port for power; we're going to use that with the transformer to try power them, we've also tried probably every possible combination of cameras in different ports. The closest three would be picked up automatically with the furthest two not at all. Closest we got was a "can not connect to host" or "can not find host" on the channel the furthest cameras were on. can't remember which one it said

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

The POE network puts out 48v so voltage drop would be minimal over a full 100m.
Are you using customers existing network or have you fitting a purpose POE..?

didn't know that and new install, new dvr and new cameras... and new cable(Pushed the boat out this time )

 

[tazz]

You need to check, alot of existing networks, maybe be spit and some network switches may not be poe

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

You need to check, alot of existing networks, maybe be spit and some network switches may not be poe

Well if it wasn't poe the cameras wouldn't power up and wouldn't work at all? We have three cameras that work on all ports and then the furthest two that arent even recognised( they're all the exact same model of camera btw)

 

[tazz]

Normal network switch puts out 5-12v, enough to put the led on at the camera.....powering the camera as you suggested will prove this, otherwise, it down to ip settings

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

Normal network switch puts out 5-12v, enough to put the led on at the camera.....powering the camera as you suggested will prove this, otherwise, it down to ip settings

The camera is rated at 12V 4Watts but yeah I'll let you know how it goes with a transformer powering the cameras

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

UPDATE: turns out we just pinned it out wrong :lol: over the first three it wasn't a problem but over longer distances the volt drop was too great I suppose? All to do with twists per metre in the cable. New connections and job done. We presumed if the colours the same at the other end it'll be fine like alarm cable but aprrenantly not. Tried 2 different NVRs and ending up sticking with the original