Hikvision IP Camera POE Long Distance Connection Issue

[leony]

Hi,

We have DS-7600 Series NVR + DS2CD2T55 IP Cameras.

All cameras are working fine, (they are powered through Ethernet cable (POE)) except the one which is approximately 100m away.

On the cable it says Cat5E + UTP + 24AWG

The steps I have followed for trouble shooting:

- I used a cable tester, the connection is fine, even plugged a laptop in and I can get internet with full speed, no dropped connection that I have experienced.

- On the NVR itself when the IP Camera is connected, both green + orange lights keep blinking slowly. No stable connection it seems.

- I can see the camera is powered when connected through the data cable but again the NVR lights are slowly blinking as if no data is transmitted.

- Used 2 external adapters while the camera is connected to the data cable (12v + 2A and 12V + 1.25A). With both adapters connected, the camera did not transmit data.

- I have tested the camera with a shorter data cable and it works fine.

So to me, all above indicates a limitation with POE - Data Transmit due to the long distance. But I could not figure out how to proceed as I do not wish to invest in expensive cabling or equipment without knowing what the result could be.

I have searched the forum and possible solutions that may work? Please advise:

1) I can get a POE switch and plug in at the end of the cable (at 100m) while the other end is still connected to NVR and from the switch, I can connect to the camera with a much shorter cable. Will the switch be powered by NVR or external power supply is required?
2) I can cut the cable in half (50m + 50m) and use a POE extender
3) Get a completely new cabling, but not sure whether this is a good solution.
4) I am also planning to install a 2nd camera to this location (if I can get the one work in question), maybe rather than using a 2nd cable, POE Switch in the 1st question may be a better option (again if it works). Will the NVR recognise both IP cameras from the same port?

Any advises are appreciated.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I can see the camera is powered when connected through the data cable but again the NVR lights are slowly blinking as if no data is transmitted.

- Used 2 external adapters while the camera is connected to the data cable (12v + 2A and 12V + 1.25A). With both adapters connected, the camera did not transmit data.

I think that both those statements let out PoE voltage drop as the issue, assuming the 12v adaptors were local to the camera.
It seems to be a data transmit problem, not a PoE problem.

even plugged a laptop in and I can get internet with full speed, no dropped connection that I have experienced.

What was the full speed?
What type of ports was the cable connected to on this test, eg 100BaseT or Gigabit, and what speed did the laptop port negotiate at?

Dumb question for which apologies, what wiring standard are the cable ends made to? eg T568B

 

[leony]

Hi,

I tested the cable plugging to our normal gigabit switch and made a speed test. The speed came as full our internet speed (80mb Download + 20 upload)

As far as I remember the data speed was 100mbps, but it would be down to the laptop itself, it may or may not have a gigabit ethernet card. But I will try to get a gigabit enabled device to test the max data speed.

The cable wiring standard is T568B

All I want to know if I can utulise the existing cable by using POE switch - extender etc. Thank you.

 

[Teken]

At this point if working with what is on hand is your goal than a POE extender would be the most direct approach.

At a high level the Ethernet cable installed should have been shielded direct burial (23 AWG) solid copper. Proper low resistance (bonded) Earth grounding at the switch / NVR to the homes single point grounding system.

Regardless of what cable was used the only thing that matters is what the voltage at the camera is / was. It doesn’t matter what the NVR / POE Switch says it’s what voltage / ampacity is at the camera.

If you don’t have some kind of SPD (Surge Protective Device) installed at the camera and NVR / Switch.

Get them in place because you’re going to receive a collect call from the lightning Gods in the future!

 

[tigerwillow1]

Just some thoughts. I have a couple of cameras running reliably near the 100m limit, with a couple of differences from your installation:
(1) The wiring is 23 awg solid copper cat6. Your description left open that yours could be CCA.
(2) I'm using a business class POE switch, which could work better at the fringe than what's in the NVR.

If you use a POE switch at the far end near the camera, can you power it from mains power? If it has to be powered by POE, that will just add more power draw to the NVR port and data cable. Seems like a bad idea, but sometimes odd things end up working. If the POE switch near the camera allows the camera to work, adding a 2nd camera would be possible only if it's mains powered. That would make adding a 2nd camera easy, and offhand strikes me as maybe the best solution. Adding an extender to the middle of the cable run might work, but if it doesn't, you're stuck with a cable cut in the middle. Did you terminate the cable ends yourself? As a longshot, you could try putting new RJ45s on the ends. Out of over a hundred times, I've messed up a couple of the terminations. Also look for any moisture or corrosion in the far end RJ45 or the camera connector.

 

[TonyR]

+1^^^ regarding CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) especially if they came in a boxed-up kit, which it sounds like it may have.

 

[leony]

I tested the cable again with another laptop with Gigabit Ethernet card. Strangely the speed was 10mbps. So I tried to crimp the ends myself again and after 3 times of crimping, same pin no 5 light never came on strangely and I gave up.

Basically I want to install 2 cameras at 100m:

• If I buy 100m cable of 23 awg solid copper CAT6
• A POE switch plugged into mains where cameras will be located and this CAT6 will connect both NVR and POE switch.
• Both cameras will be connected to POE switch and will be powered direct from the switch.
• Will NVR damage the switch POE ports as it also gives POE power?

So do you think this configuration will work?

Apologies asking all these as trial - error will be a bit expensive and time consuming. I haven't much of an experience with POE networking.

 

[Teken]

I tested the cable again with another laptop with Gigabit Ethernet card. Strangely the speed was 10mbps. So I tried to crimp the ends myself again and after 3 times of crimping, same pin no 5 light never came on strangely and I gave up.

Basically I want to install 2 cameras at 100m:

• If I buy 100m cable of 23 awg solid copper CAT6
• A POE switch plugged into mains where cameras will be located and this CAT6 will connect both NVR and POE switch.
• Both cameras will be connected to POE switch and will be powered direct from the switch.
• Will NVR damage the switch POE ports as it also gives POE power?

So do you think this configuration will work?

Apologies asking all these as trial - error will be a bit expensive and time consuming. I haven't much of an experience with POE networking.

Based on your reply doesn’t it make sense to replace the RJ45 connector?!? As stated earlier one of the most important things to validate is what (IS) the voltage / current present at the camera.

You could certainly replace everything as you stated only to find out it’s the RJ45 jack.

Everything in the infrastructure is critical especially when you’re pushing the limits of POE Ethernet!

Pick up a cheap POE meter it will offer you great insight and save you time, money, and what little hair is on your head.

 

[leony]

Hi

Both RJ45 ends I changed, crimped 3 times, no 5 pin has not lit up in all instances. It is really weird, all lights were working before I touched the ends. And why pin 5 gave error every time? The cable itself seems behaving inconsistently in tests so can't figure out. I don't think with this current cable, I will achieve to operate 2 cameras @ 100m?

 

[TonyR]

Can you confirm that the cable is solid copper and not CCA?

 

[leony]

Most likely CCA. It is a light weight standard Cat5e cable.

 

[tigerwillow1]

• A POE switch plugged into mains where cameras will be located and this CAT6 will connect both NVR and POE switch.

(This info is for a Dahua NVR. I'm assuming the Hikvision NVR would be the same but you'd need to verify.) The NVR camera ports are meant for a single camera only, and you would plug the cable from your new POE switch into your LAN, Then the NVR talks to the cameras over the LAN instead of it's built in POE ports. (This assumes you don't have one of the higher end NVRs with dual LAN ports). You set a static IP address for each camera outside of you LAN's DHCP assignment range, then add the camera(s) to the NVR's camera list. Since my NVR doesn't have POE ports, this is how mine works.

• Will NVR damage the switch POE ports as it also gives POE power?

It shouldn't. If built to standards, the POE port applies power only if the connected device "asks" for it via a negotiation. I'm assuming the NVR's POE port would conform to the POE protocol. Since you wouldn't be connecting your new switch to an NVR POE port anyway, it's a non-issue.

A Hickvision NVR user is needed to confirm that the POE ports do or don't work the same as Dahua's.

 

[TonyR]

Most likely CCA. It is a light weight standard Cat5e cable.

If it is CCA then I would not use it. Even if it tests good today it might not work in a week, month or year.....especially with POE.
The giveaway is if it's a lot lighter than a pure copper cable of the same length.