Image fading on cameras (sample)

[brendler 0]

OK. Everything was going so well up until last weekend when I started having a few problems with my system.

I currently have 5 cameras running and for some reason a kind of fading started occuring in all of them.

As if it was not enough, the day after the cams started showing some images whose brightness levels would go from normal to extremely high and then back to normal... all this in a matter of a few seconds and intermittently.

 

Needless to say, the files now are getting huge as the movement detection is picking up these image property variations.

 

As it is occuring in all the 5 cams I'm ruling out that it is a camera defect, also because I'm seeing the problem

in cameras from different brands.

 

So my questions here are the following:

 

has anyone experienced something like this before? is it a kind of typical problem?

could it be some sort of interference? power cables, for instance?

 

Here is a sample of the fading problem: sample clip (550kb)

 

I post the other video (weird brightness) tonight.

 

Thanks guys

[bpzle 0]

1. If you crimped the BNC connectors onto RG-59 yourself, I'd say they connector is not making good contact or there is a strand of braid shorted to the di-electric.. If this is "simple" premade cable, then it needs to be replaced.

 

2. It looks like a crappy camera. Bad angle at that... what needs to be seen on the roof tops?

[rory 0]

Looks like a bad power supply.

[brendler 0]

I would consider both power supply and cabling, although I have to say I find it funny that all the 5 cameras would have cable related problems.

 

I'm sorry the delay in posting the 'colouring problem' clip, here it is => video (30mb)

 

I was even thinking that it could be a card problem, but since the motion detection does take this defect as a 'movement', I started guessing that the problem could be somewhere else, so yes, I will take a look at the cabling now.

 

Have you ever seen this problem before, Rory?

[tomcctv 187]

I would consider both power supply and cabling, although I have to say I find it funny that all the 5 cameras would have cable related problems.

 

I'm sorry the delay in posting the 'colouring problem' clip, here it is => video (30mb)

 

I was even thinking that it could be a card problem, but since the motion detection does take this defect as a 'movement', I started guessing that the problem could be somewhere else, so yes, I will take a look at the cabling now.

 

Have you ever seen this problem before, Rory?

this is a power problem. how many cameras and what size power supply are you using. take all cameras out of power unit and connect 1 at a time to another power supply and see what happends. but you are loosing the negitive side of your power supply. some cheap power units get hot and the soildering on the terminals come loose.

[rory 0]

Definitely a power issue and as mentioned first thing I would check is the Power Supply.

[bpzle 0]

I guess I missed this was happening on all cameras...

 

Yes, if the same power supply is common between all then that's your problem.

 

What type of power supply are you using? A fused distribution box? A single "wall wart"?

[rory 0]

I guess I missed this was happening on all cameras...

 

Yes, if the same power supply is common between all then that's your problem.

 

What type of power supply are you using? A fused distribution box? A single "wall wart"?

I went to a job I didn't install, over the past month, twice, first time a camera was doing exactly what his image was doing but only at night (it had a blinking LED that came on with the IR which might have had some bearing on that one), changed the power supply, problem went away.

 

All cameras were (thought to be) on small cheap 500ma power supplies as that is what I saw on the first trip, but I missed something probably amongst the spaghetti of other wiring and power strips.

 

Another 2 cameras started to do it a couple weeks later, but more of non stop flickering in the day also, as in the OP's color video ... I went back again ... found that 2 cameras were actually tied into 1 single power supply. So I changed the power supply and that fixed the problem. Bingo. Cant find Distributed power supplies down here, so had to use Radio Shack 12VDC 2.5a adapters.

 

Ofcourse it is going to happen again and I told them so, unless they put it all on some kind of Voltage Regulation. If I had installed it, that would have been a requirement no matter how broke they are.

[brendler 0]

Hello...

 

Guys, thanks a lot for the much helpful input from everyone there. Very appreciated.

 

As for the PSU, I'm using standard 12V DC 1A PSUs (wall wart). The 5 psus are connected to a 6 sockets extension lead which, in turn, is hooked up to a power stabiliser.

 

In one hand, it could well be that the guys who installed the cameras did a shoddy job on the cabling; on the other hand, it would be such a bad luck to get all the 5 cables wrong.

 

One thing which I did hear was they talk about the cable length between the cameras and the power supplies. I'm connecting them through Coaxial + 12V cable that is probably longer than 20/30m I'd say. Would that be too long as to cause problems like this?

 

I asked someone to check these cables over the weekend (hopefully) and give me a feedback on this.

 

Looking forwad to getting this sorted.

[tomcctv 187]

Hello...

 

Guys, thanks a lot for the much helpful input from everyone there. Very appreciated.

 

As for the PSU, I'm using standard 12V DC 1A PSUs (wall wart). The 5 psus are connected to a 6 sockets extension lead which, in turn, is hooked up to a power stabiliser.

 

In one hand, it could well be that the guys who installed the cameras did a shoddy job on the cabling; on the other hand, it would be such a bad luck to get all the 5 cables wrong.

 

One thing which I did hear was they talk about the cable length between the cameras and the power supplies. I'm connecting them through Coaxial + 12V cable that is probably longer than 20/30m I'd say. Would that be too long as to cause problems like this?

 

I asked someone to check these cables over the weekend (hopefully) and give me a feedback on this.

 

Looking forwad to getting this sorted.

 

ok you have 5 psu 1 to each camera ???? and they are 1amp. do you have ir on the cameras ?? what type are they

[rory 0]

Try a different Power strip

The power stabilizer (brand and type?) might not be working properly either, so take that out of the equation temporarily.

 

Still the same, remove 4 of the power supplies and change the 5th one, see if that camera is better. If it is, then ALL of them probably got hit. Those little plug in adapters do die very easily.