No Uplink Port on POE Switch? Huh?

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savatreatabvr

Young grasshopper
Jul 16, 2021
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19
Phoenix
Originally I bought a 5 port POE switch that put out 55 watts, link below, it has 4 normal ports and a uplink port. Someone convinced me that this switch was not powerful enough to power 4 of my cameras. So I reluctantly bought an 8 port POE switch that has 123 watts, link below, but I didn't realize at the time of purchase that the new 123 watt 8 port POE switch does not have an uplink port. My cameras only need 11 watts or so each so I'm sure there's plenty of power but how does the switch communicate with the router without a uplink port?


 
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I think you can use a regular ethernet cable to connect any of the PoE ports to your router:

TonyR said:
Back before Auto MDI/MDI-X ports on switches and PC LAN ports became common, you did need a cross-over cable for certain situations, like PC to IP camera or PC to PC, now that's no longer a requirement with modern networking devices.
Click to expand...

Or somebody that knows for sure will be along to help :)
 
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Yep, as I said in your other thread, you simply plug it into one of the available ports....

These are the little things one needs to consider when purchasing a POE switch - total power budget, number of POE ports, speed of switch, and number of uplink ports.
 
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wittaj said:
Yep, as I said in your other thread, you simply plug it into one of the available ports....

These are the little things one needs to consider when purchasing a POE switch - total power budget, number of POE ports, speed of switch, and number of uplink ports.
Click to expand...

I took the advice you gave in my other thread but it didn't work so I hooked up the original switch again with the uplink port and still nothing. I've ruled out using a crossover cable so I must have a cable crossed somewhere. The thing is, these cables are ran in an attic, under 2 story eaves and underground so tracing cables is a problem. I guess it's time to break out the tone generator..
 
I would hook it up on a test bench setup first, like 6' cables near the camera/PC to make sure it is working and configured properly before troubleshooting the long cable run.
 
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Do you see the red glow of the IR at night when they are plugged in?

If so, then you know you have power and then it is probably a network topology issue.

Did you plug each camera in by itself and assign it an unique IP address? If you plugged them all into the switch, then you have IP address conflicts.

Provide a network topology map as that is probably where your issue is.
 
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Rob2020 said:
I would hook it up on a test bench setup first, like 6' cables near the camera/PC to make sure it is working and configured properly before troubleshooting the long cable run.
Click to expand...

All the cameras are mounted 2 story's up so bench testing, even though it's a great idea, is not going to happen. It may be something simple like having the POE switch plugged into the NVR instead of the router, I won't know until I tone out the cables. I watched a video on finding IP addresses for the cameras using the command prompt, which I did and then adding them to the NVR but the NVR software in the video is quite different from my NVR software so I'm being challenged here. Like I said before, I have a commercial CCTV installation background so I shouldn't be having any problems with this install, at all, but before POE came out we used Honeywell, Bosch & Pelco cameras plus Radionics & Panasonic control panels, all using RG6 & RG59 coax cable.
 
wittaj said:
Do you see the red glow of the IR at night when they are plugged in?

If so, then you know you have power and then it is probably a network topology issue.

Did you plug each camera in by itself and assign it an unique IP address? If you plugged them all into the switch, then you have IP address conflicts.

Provide a network topology map as that is probably where your issue is.
Click to expand...

I did not add the IP addresses one by one simply because the switch is located upstairs in an attic and the NVR and router are in a different building so plugging all the cameras into the switch first seemed like the best way to go.
 
That is your problem.

The cameras all have a static IP address of 192.168.1.108

So now your system is IP conflicting.

The NVR assigns ip addresses if you hook it to the NVR POE ports.

Any cameras hooked to an external switch has to be manually assigned static IP addresses.

Once you assign them IP addresses on the same subnet then you can manually add them one at a time to the NVR by IP address.
 
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wittaj said:
That is your problem.

The cameras all have a static IP address of 192.168.1.108

So now your system is IP conflicting.

The NVR assigns ip addresses if you hook it to the NVR POE ports.

Any cameras hooked to an external switch has to be manually assigned static IP addresses.

Once you assign them IP addresses on the same subnet then you can manually add them one at a time to the NVR by IP address.
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense. Not really, lol but I will unplug the cameras on the switch, reset the switch then plug the cameras back in one by one. I already have IP addresses for the 4 cameras so I'm good there, I just need to find out where in my NVR software they go. Like I said the video I watched is from a different NVR manufacture so the software is different.
 
This is a great thread for you to look at. It also shows how to do the manual camera add.

Even though this thread is for Dahua, your Lorex is Dahua OEM, so it will be very similar.

***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch

IF you have a Dahua NVR with built-in PoE switch... DO NOT follow instructions telling you to use the config tool or switch the IP of your cameras or initialize anything..! With NVR's typically with a -P designation (Built-n PoE switch - example: 4208-8P-4KS2) none of that is required and it...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
wittaj said:
Any cameras hooked to an external switch has to be manually assigned static IP addresses.
Click to expand...

Or be assigned DHCP reservations, which are preferably to static IP addresses in many cases because you can view, assign, and change them from the router. If your manufacturer was thoughtful and kind, and put the MAC addresses on a decal on the camera or even on the product box, you can have all the DHCP reservations assigned before you ever plug the cameras in.
 
wittaj said:
This is a great thread for you to look at. It also shows how to do the manual camera add.

Even though this thread is for Dahua, your Lorex is Dahua OEM, so it will be very similar.

***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch

IF you have a Dahua NVR with built-in PoE switch... DO NOT follow instructions telling you to use the config tool or switch the IP of your cameras or initialize anything..! With NVR's typically with a -P designation (Built-n PoE switch - example: 4208-8P-4KS2) none of that is required and it...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link, it's very informative. UPDATE > After toning out cables to find their correct locations I checked them with my cheap rj45 tester, link below, and at first I may get a short so I'd test it again and then I'd get an open and then maybe it would test ok. I went through this for two days second guessing myself trying to make sense of it all then I decided to buy another tester, link below.

The new tester seems to be giving me correct and consistent readings but I still have IP conflicting issues. I know the POE switch is working because I can see one out of the four cameras hooked to it but when I do a Device Search on the NVR it says it found all four cameras but they are all the same IP address. I keep changing the IPs to separate the cameras but getting no where.. Can't find a good video of the same Lorex model NVR I have. I'll get though, so close, so close, lol.


 
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You need to use Explorer or it won't take.

And you have to do one camera at a time. Unplug the other cameras and set one camera up completely with an unique static IP address and bring it in to the NVR and then do again.

At this point I would suggest you factory reset the cameras you do not see and start over. Since you had them all plugged in at once, who really knows what the camera is thinking now. Reset them to factory and start over.

Use this process to give them IP addresses:

Here is how most of us get it to the IP address of our system:

The default IP address of the camera is 192.168.1.108, which may or may not be the IP address range of your system.

Unhook a computer or laptop from the internet and go into ethernet settings and using the IPv4 settings manually change the IP address to 192.168.1.100

1643659199778.png




Then power up your camera and wait a few minutes.

Then go to INTERNET EXPLORER (needs to be Explorer and not Edge or Chrome with IE tab) and type in 192.168.1.108 (default IP address of Dahua cameras) and you will then access the camera.

Tell it your country and give it a user and password.

Then go to the camera Network settings and change the camera IP address to the range of your system and hit save.

You will then lose the camera connection.

Then reverse the process to put your computer back on your network IP address range.

Next open up INTERNET EXPLORER and type in the new IP address that you just gave the camera to access it.

OR use the IPconfig Tool, but most of us prefer the above as it is one less program needed and one less chance for the cameras to phone home.
 
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wittaj said:
You need to use Explorer or it won't take.

And you have to do one camera at a time. Unplug the other cameras and set one camera up completely with an unique static IP address and bring it in to the NVR and then do again.

At this point I would suggest you factory reset the cameras you do not see and start over. Since you had them all plugged in at once, who really knows what the camera is thinking now. Reset them to factory and start over.

Use this process to give them IP addresses:

Here is how most of us get it to the IP address of our system:

The default IP address of the camera is 192.168.1.108, which may or may not be the IP address range of your system.

Unhook a computer or laptop from the internet and go into ethernet settings and using the IPv4 settings manually change the IP address to 192.168.1.100

1643659199778.png




Then power up your camera and wait a few minutes.

Then go to INTERNET EXPLORER (needs to be Explorer and not Edge or Chrome with IE tab) and type in 192.168.1.108 (default IP address of Dahua cameras) and you will then access the camera.

Tell it your country and give it a user and password.

Then go to the camera Network settings and change the camera IP address to the range of your system and hit save.

You will then lose the camera connection.

Then reverse the process to put your computer back on your network IP address range.

Next open up INTERNET EXPLORER and type in the new IP address that you just gave the camera to access it.

OR use the IPconfig Tool, but most of us prefer the above as it is one less program needed and one less chance for the cameras to phone home.
Click to expand...

I used the command prompt, typed in ipconfig and I think it brought up like 198.168.0.153 or something like that then I used the ping command with a new IP address of 198.168.0.154 the pinged it again for 155, 156, 157 and I assumed those we my new camera IPs. Then I added them to the NVR but thats where I hit a road block. I'm kinda hesitant on playing with the computer IP address because if I screw it up the office lady will have my head on a platter. I'll unplug the four cameras, plug in only one at a time and try to add the new IPs that way or should I just shut up and try it your way, lol?
 
LOL - well you would hate to end up with your head on a platter.

It is weird it is showing 4 ip addresses but you only see the one. Makes me wonder if the router someone MAC binded and even though the IP addresses are all different, somehow it is relating them back to the original? Seems unlikely, but something is certainly up.

Try the unplug and do one each at a time. Start with a different camera than the NVR sees and see if that results in finding the camera.
 
wittaj said:
LOL - well you would hate to end up with your head on a platter.

It is weird it is showing 4 ip addresses but you only see the one. Makes me wonder if the router someone MAC binded and even though the IP addresses are all different, somehow it is relating them back to the original? Seems unlikely, but something is certainly up.

Try the unplug and do one each at a time. Start with a different camera than the NVR sees and see if that results in finding the camera.
Click to expand...

Now here's another dumb question. After doing a device search and adding the cameras, do the cameras show up on the NVR monitor or the computer monitor?
 
New day and now I have blinking lights on the router but no lights on the switch where the router cable is plugged in to. I have lights on the other switch ports cameras are plugged in to but still no video. And now when I do a device search it finds one IP address 239.255.42.42 but no video on that one camera.
 
The installation guide says the cable should be no more than 328' max for cat5e cable.. Are they talking about from router to switch or from switch to cameras? I still have no lights at the switch or router after plugging in the cat6 cable and that cable isn't more than 250'. The longest cable run from switch to camera isn't more than150'. I've checked connectors and toned out cables several times and no lights. Its acting like the switch to router cable length is to far.
 
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