cgcmgr

------------------------------------------- Do you know where I can get the new firmware (2.210.0000.0.R, build : 2013-03-13)? I can't seem to find it. Chris

Hi, I hope you guys can help me. I had a problem with my 215PTZ last year. It seemed as if in hotter months the video feed would constantly go in and out. Eventually the camera died and I sent it to Axis for repair. They couldn't repair it, but offered me a refurbished one at 50% off so I bought it. I may have posted about this issue on here last year. The outdoor enclosure that the camera is in is a cheap no name. It has only 1 fan and a heater and no heat shield. I planned on adding a homemade heat shield and adding some fans the next time I was at my cameras, but I haven't been there since November. The refurbished camera worked well for the rest of the year and all through the winter, but as soon as the warmer weather started to come it too started to have the same problems. Basically, I'm losing video feed over and over again. The video comes on and then off then back on and then back off. This started a few weeks ago when we had a few hot strong sunny days. I'm wondering if the direct sunlight and heat damaged the camera in some way. This last week it has been raining and cool and the camera still does the same thing, video feed on and off. I use a program called BlueIris to view my cameras remotely and noticed that at night everything is fine. The video feed is perfect and there is no loss at all. However, once day comes (doesn't matter the temperature anymore) the video feed starts going in and out. In BlueIris, I can check camera statistics. I have the Axis 215PTZ set to 5 fps. At night it is always showing 5 fps. During the day it is a different story. When there is video, the fps is listed at .20 fps and the bitrate is 14.89. Once the fps drops below .20, the video goes out. Why would this happen during the day, but be fine at night? I have a second Axis 215PTZ on my system setup exactly as the malfunctioning one (same settings) and it works fine. The only difference is it is in a very good outdoor enclosure and never in direct sunlight. I had planned on putting a heat shield over the malfunctioning camera and adding some small fans to aid in cooling, but I won't be at my camera location until this weekend. It looks like I'm a little too late. Is there anything I can do to see what is going on with the camera? It has the most recent firmware (4.49). Should I do a factory reset? I'm going to try to connect to the camera and get a server report. One more thing, I pinged the camera using the command ping 192.168.x.x and got these results: Reply from 192.138.x.x bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64 Packets sent=4 Received=4 Lost=0 Approximate round trip time in ms Min=0 Max=0 Average=0 I then did Ping 192.168.x.x -t and got the same as above except it kept on doing this over and over again (I guess that's what the -t command does) with a few exceptions. One time I got this Reply from 192.138.x.x bytes=32 time<4ms TTL=64 Three times I got a Timed Out Message. Well it looks like I cannot currently connect to the camera so I can't get a server report. Thanks, Chris

Hi Guys, I Put together a makeshift dome enclosure for a camera I have. I tested it out for the whole year and noticed it worked flawlessly during the winter (don't even think I had the heater connected), but crapped out during the hot days of the summer, I would lose video. When the temperature dropped (at night) the video came back on. So it looks like the camera is overheating. I do have a fan blowing down on the bottom of the camera to help cool it, but obviously it doesn't do the job. I was thinking of adding 2 more fans (small ones) on each side of the inside of the enclosure pointing at the camera. I know the blowers in enclosures are really only to stop the dome from fogging, but I was hoping it would help with the cooling. I'm also planning on making a heat shield out of aluminum to cover the dome. Does anyone have any suggestions on some good strong blowing small fans that I can mount in the enclosure? I'd say the fans should be about 2" x 2". They must also be 12v DC. For that matter, I wouldn't mind changing the single fan I have in there now. It is a 60mm x 60mm fan, again it must be 12v DC. Thanks, Chris

Hi All, I'm having a power issue with my PoE run of 300' to a camera. I have included a hand drawn picture so you can follow along with My current setup is in the second figure (one on the bottom). I have two 55V 30W midspans sending power over the same 300' Cat-6 cable. One midspan sends power over pairs 1&2 and 3&6 while the other sends power over pairs 4&5 and 7&8. I have built two special Y-cables so that this works correctly. On the other end the Cat-6 cable splits again and goes into two 12V 30W PoE Splitters. The splitters then power up my 14.5W (max) Axis 215PTZ camera and my 15W IR Illuminator. The camera works just fine, the IR illuminator cycles on and off constantly (as if it's not getting enough power). My initial thought was that the run of 300' is causing a voltage and wattage drop so there is not enough power to power the IR correctly. I guess I should test to see what kind of power is coming out of each PoE Splitter to make sure. I thought that if I changed my configuration to the top drawing and sent more power down the line using a 55V 60W midspan, the voltage and wattage drop would be less. I would then split the power coming out of one 12V 30W PoE Splitter to power my 14.5W camera and 15W IR illuminator. This would hopefully allow both devices to get the needed power to operate correctly. Any suggestions or comments? Would one be better than the other? EDIT - I don't see my diagram. Can anyone tell me how to insert a picture? Thanks, Chris

@hardwired If I did that, then I'd just be using the 1 PoE splitter and I would have to split the power coming out 4 times to run what I need, but I guess that is still better than what I currently have. Will all the splits degrade the power as opposed to 2 splits per 24W PoE Splitter? @Vector18, My cameras are located in Lockwood, NY- about 4 hours west from us where I am currently. Here the weather has been in the low 30's the last few days. How's the gas situation there? I'm heading back to Flushing on Monday and I'm hearing horror stories.

Hopefully one of you guys who use a PoE Splitter can answer this question. My current setup is as follows: 1 Cat-6 cable with power and data over 2 sets of pins (1,2,3 & 6) and just power over the other 2 sets of pins (4,5,7,& . Power is being fed by 2 separate PoE Injectors for each 2 sets of pins. On the other end, I have 2 PoE splitters for each 2 sets of pins to power my camera, heater/blower and IR unit. The power coming out of one PoE Splitter is split and goes to the camera and a fan in my enclosure (about 17W total). The power from the other PoE Splitter is split and goes to my IR unit and the heater in the enclosure. During the summer everything worked fine. Now that the temp is in the 30's here, my IR just goes on and off continuously. Looking at the PoE Splitter that feeds the IR unit (as well as the heater) I can see the power light is blinking on and off as the IR unit is engaged. Once the sun comes up and the IR turns off, the light on the PoE Splitter no longer blinks. Both PoE Splitters give out 12V 24W but say they can do 27W. The IR Unit/heater combo added up to 25W (15w + 10W). I figured this was the problem so I swapped out the IR unit for a camera with 72 Leds (just using the camera for the IR, not for any video) and that is rated at 9W. So, 10W+9W is 19W, but it still blinks on and off. The cable run is about 300', so I'm guessing there is a drop in voltage and wattage output. The PoE Injectors I'm using are rated at 56V, so I wouldn't think voltage drop would have been that much due to cable length. Regardless something is happening. Do you think there just isn't enough power being put out by the PoE Splitter to power both the heater and the IR Unit? I plan on running another cable in the spring just for the IR unit on it's own, hopefully that will solve the problem. Chris

Well, it definitely looks like a heat issue. The days the camera didn't work the temp was in the 80s and the temp has been in the 60s and 70s these last few days and the camera has been working fine. I will definitely try to get the fan to run all the time and I'm thinking about adding some type of heat shield over the dome to stop the direct sun. Thanks for all the help, Chris

Yeah, that's what I was going to do, thanks!

Yeah, I have to see if I know how to bypass the thermostat. I think I need a fan running 24/7

Hi everyone, I know this is a CCTV forum and I'm going to ask a question about an IP camera, but I was hoping someone out there may have an opinion on this matter. For the last 2 days, my Axis 215PTZ IP Camera has malfunctioned ONLY during the day. It works fine in the morning and at early evening and beyond, but during day hours, I cannot connect to it via my web browser. So far the camera is working today and it is 1:40PM Eastern Time. I'm guessing it is heat that is affecting it. In the morning where my camera is, it is cool and that also goes for the evening. However, during the day the sun beats down on the camera's enclosure (cheapo enclosure with a fan that only goes on during extreme temps). I'm wondering if the camera is overheating. It may also be the PoE Splitter that sends power to the camera, maybe it is overheating and not sending power correctly. Here are my symptoms. In mid-day, when I try to connect through my web browser, I can sometimes get to my login screen and other times I cannot (times out). When I do get to the login screen and login, it never goes to the video feed, it just times out. Also, I use Blue Iris Software to view my cameras remotely and the camera feed is also down in Blue Iris. Only until around late afternoon does the feed come back. Axis has an IP Utility program that when run, shows any Axis camera on my LAN. It shows the IP address and the Mac address. When I can't connect to the camera during the day, I run that utility and it shows the camera as being on the LAN, but when I check properties, it says not accessible. What does it mean that the utility program is seeing the camera? Does it mean the camera is getting power, but malfunctioning? Does it mean the power could be down, but because there is a connection to the camera from my router, the camera can still be seen? I'm trying to pinpoint the problem. I may have to add a fan that constantly spins to the camera enclosure and on top of my PoE Splitter if in fact it is a heat issue. Anyone out there have any opinions? Chris

Hey Guys, Just an update. I got to my cameras this past weekend and started making adjustments through the camera's menu. Nothing I did fixed the problem. I then installed my old capture card (a PV-183, I bought from bluecherry.net) and the camera still looked bad. Turning the sharpness down helped, but it left the picture very washed out. I guess its just not that good of a camera. Chris

Hey Everyone, Just wanted to report back on my progress. I finally set everything up this weekend and when I powered up my PoE Injectors.............nothing happened. The PoE splitters did not power up (lights did not light up). I had made a sort of Y-Cable out of a Cat-5e cable with 2 pairs of wire to one RJ45 connector and the other 2 pairs to a different RJ45 connector. I disconnected that cable and connected the main Cat-6 line to one PoE Splitter and it light up and gave power to the camera. I figured there was a problem with the Y-cable I had made (although I had tested it at home) and went to make a new one. Then it dawned on me that I was using a RJ45 coupler to connect the main cable to my Y-cable. I tested the coupler on a something else I had an it didn't work. I then took a known working coupler and tried it in its place and everything worked. It's nice when things work. It's funny how something as small as a coupler can cause such problems. This is the second time a coupler has done me in. Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for all the help Chris

Hey Guys, Just an Update on the situation: Went to where I have my cameras this past weekend and connected a 12VDC 5A power adapter to the enclosure and nothing powered up. I guess the 24VAC adapter burned out the fans, heater, circuit board or all three. I emailed the manufacturer today and they will send me a new enclosure and I have 30 days to send back my damaged one. I'll definitely test that one first with a 12V adapter and hopefully that will work. It sucks that I will have to take the enclosure down and swap everything out, but at least the company is taking responsibility. Thanks again for all you help, Chris

Not 100% sure I understand what you're asking for, but can this help? http://www.phihong.com/html/poe21-120h_21w_dc-dc_splitter.html

Thanks for all the help guys.....I'll be at my camera location on Memorial Day weekend and try to fix it then. I'll keep you posted