Dahua 2MP 25x Starlight IR PTZ Network Camera (SD49225T-HN)

wxman

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So much for the supposed IP66 rating. :facepalm:
That's what I'm saying...Which is a big blow to me because the housing was actually the most impressive part of the cam to me, having the highest degree of upward tilt I've seen in a dome, incredible speed and seeming to handle excessive summer heat very well.

This is a concern for current owners :eek: - there must be others exposed to very poor weather, is this the first documented case :idk: Wonder if the 59225 is sealed differently, this type of PTZ design must be inherently difficult to protect from the elements I should imagine. I would be less surprised if the water had got into the lower black section, the top seems to be pretty well sealed off with just the cable gland and main body seal. With that being said in operation they are excellent!
2 cases, both from the same storm that hit the southern U.S about 2 weeks ago....I was in the weakened remnants of the storm farther inland. I've got a backyard weather station and my highest wind gust was 31 mph..The other poster ( @MarcW ) was from Florida where the hurricane made a direct hit, so his winds were obviously much higher...His leaked in the bottom half of the housing (black face part) and mine leaked somewhere toward the middle or top of the housing (white part)..His unit was not damaged by the water, but he noticed fog and droplets forming on the lens...With mine being in the top part, I didn't have any fog/droplets on the lens, but it shorted out the POE part of the unit. I first thought mine was a random failure as it was a week after the rain when it failed and never suspected water as a possible cause until the other poster mentioned that his leaked. I had to take the dome apart before I could confirm water in mine. Looks to me like the 59225 uses the identical housing; Just a more advanced module. Since the housing is what provides the water sealing, I would imagine it should be the same.

Did you find any clues as where the water entered?
That's the thing, I can't really tell for sure how it got in. There's 3 possible spots...1 being the very top wire entrance, 2 being where the top plate of the housing is screwed onto the center part of the housing and 3 where the center part of the housing is connected to the panning, black face bottom. Here's a drawing to make it easier to understand..

dahuaPTZ.JPG

Personally, I'm leaning toward part 3...Part 2 is area that I unscrewed and it was on TIGHT. Had to really put some butt into it to loosen up those screws and it wasn't until the screws popped loose that I noticed brown water drops start rolling out of the unit. So if the water couldn't get out of that spot until unscrewing, then hard to see how water got into it that way.....Part 1 also looked to be sealed pretty good on the inside with some kind of plastic-like sealing and none of the water drops drained out of it while the wet top piece was sitting upside down on the work table, so it seems sealed well there....Only other option would be part 3; Water blowing upward into the crack between the black and white part. Obviously, the black part here spins, so it doesn't actually "touch" the white part; There's a small gap between the black and white that allows the black part to spin freely.

Unfortunately, there's no way to access the inside of the housing between part 2 and 3 where the pan/tilt motors are. It's like the housing is welded together in that area and only a small hole for wires to come up through and plug into the circuit board at the top. There was some water that poured out of that hole....So my best educated guess is that wind-driven rain blew up under the "part 3" opening into the center pan/tilt motor part (between part 2 and 3)...From there, I suspect it either occasionally splashed through the top wire hole and into the top space (between 2 and 1) or either the water evaporated due to the heat of the cam, moist air flowed upward through the wiring hole and re-condensing on the circuit board/cooler metal sides in the top of the housing....With a droplet eventually after a week's time striking the electrical (POE) portion of the board.

Mine is located under the eave of the roof and some what hidden from the weather. I should be OK.
Mine was similar, except it was actually mounted on a post beside the house with a paneling over the top to prevent rain from falling on it. Even though it was supposed to be waterproof, I was still trying to avoid it getting wet because rain drops would cover the lens and interfere with the picture....So the only time mine gets wet is when there's a blowing rain that comes in from the sides.

I would think if a company like Dahua states it rated IP66 then it is weather sealed unit.

I suspect something came loose maybe a screw that compress the weather seal came loose due to the PTZ vibration or a seal wasn't compressed enough on the assembly line when it was assembled.

Company like Dahus would have lot to lose if they start to cut corner and lie about thier product spec so I doubt they are doing this.
You would think, but I've complained since day one of numerous other listed specs that were not as listed (shutter speed range, tilt range, white balance options, etc.) so there's certainly a number of inaccurate specs...Though none of those being as serious as a waterproof rating that can damage the unit in the weather. I would have expected that to be the most unlikely thing to be incorrect...Perhaps you're right that a seal came loose or an assembly line error occurred on a certain batch of units. All I know is something went terribly wrong. If there was some way to actually access the part where I think the leak occurred, that would give me a better idea if a sealing was loose. But I see no way of accessing that section of the unit. It's like it's welded solid with no screws to open it.

I'd try to file the corrosion off those pins. Maybe a nail file. And some contact cleaner if you have any. Since it works with 12 volt, might just be bad or no electrical connection on those pins.
I tried a gentle wire brush on the circuit board contacts which removed some of the black and cleaned with rubbing alcohol. Didn't do any good though...Also used the alcohol to clean the pins on the wiring harness that plugged into the circuit board. As mentioned before, an Ohm tester is giving a reading on all pins at both ends of the wire, so I'm assuming the wires are fine. Any advice on any other specific cleaning methods I could try that may work better?
 

EMPIRETECANDY

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Oh yeah! Lots! Apparently, these aren't designed to be out in the weather. Soon as I got the screws of that top part of the dome half way loosened, brown/rusty water started rolling down the sides of the dome and was soaked all inside. Fortunately, the bottom (black) compartment (where the actual camera is located) was completely dry, so the leak was only on the top portion of the housing. Since everything else seems to work when powered via 12V, I'm assuming that replacing that circuit board with the black spot should do the trick. The black spots must be on the POE connection.

There was also some black corrosion on the wires that plugged into that spot, which concerned me that maybe the wiring needed replacing too...But when testing the corroded wires with a multimeter on Ohms, was able to get a reading when touching those wires along with a pin on the ethernet input, so obviously I'm getting at least some transfer throughout those wires. Hopefully it's enough.

Unfortunately, Andy hasn't gotten back with me on a replacement circuit board. If he can send one, I'm willing to do the labor as it's just 3 screws and 3 wiring harness plug-ins and give it one more chance....Though it's been nothing but problems since day one and I'm starting to wonder if I'd be better off giving up and requesting a refund. If the thing isn't even waterproof, then what's going to stop it from doing the same thing next good rain that comes? Feels like I'm just patching and buying time.
For the board right now can't send seperately, have to get the whole part back to repair. Have to checked by dahua fully. Then can solve the problem. No problem for the warranty.
 

CamCrazy

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That's what I'm saying...Which is a big blow to me because the housing was actually the most impressive part of the cam to me, having the highest degree of upward tilt I've seen in a dome, incredible speed and seeming to handle excessive summer heat very well.



2 cases, both from the same storm that hit the southern U.S about 2 weeks ago....I was in the weakened remnants of the storm farther inland. I've got a backyard weather station and my highest wind gust was 31 mph..The other poster ( @MarcW ) was from Florida where the hurricane made a direct hit, so his winds were obviously much higher...His leaked in the bottom half of the housing (black face part) and mine leaked somewhere toward the middle or top of the housing (white part)..His unit was not damaged by the water, but he noticed fog and droplets forming on the lens...With mine being in the top part, I didn't have any fog/droplets on the lens, but it shorted out the POE part of the unit. I first thought mine was a random failure as it was a week after the rain when it failed and never suspected water as a possible cause until the other poster mentioned that his leaked. I had to take the dome apart before I could confirm water in mine. Looks to me like the 59225 uses the identical housing; Just a more advanced module. Since the housing is what provides the water sealing, I would imagine it should be the same.



That's the thing, I can't really tell for sure how it got in. There's 3 possible spots...1 being the very top wire entrance, 2 being where the top plate of the housing is screwed onto the center part of the housing and 3 where the center part of the housing is connected to the panning, black face bottom. Here's a drawing to make it easier to understand..

View attachment 22198

Personally, I'm leaning toward part 3...Part 2 is area that I unscrewed and it was on TIGHT. Had to really put some butt into it to loosen up those screws and it wasn't until the screws popped loose that I noticed brown water drops start rolling out of the unit. So if the water couldn't get out of that spot until unscrewing, then hard to see how water got into it that way.....Part 1 also looked to be sealed pretty good on the inside with some kind of plastic-like sealing and none of the water drops drained out of it while the wet top piece was sitting upside down on the work table, so it seems sealed well there....Only other option would be part 3; Water blowing upward into the crack between the black and white part. Obviously, the black part here spins, so it doesn't actually "touch" the white part; There's a small gap between the black and white that allows the black part to spin freely.

Unfortunately, there's no way to access the inside of the housing between part 2 and 3 where the pan/tilt motors are. It's like the housing is welded together in that area and only a small hole for wires to come up through and plug into the circuit board at the top. There was some water that poured out of that hole....So my best educated guess is that wind-driven rain blew up under the "part 3" opening into the center pan/tilt motor part (between part 2 and 3)...From there, I suspect it either occasionally splashed through the top wire hole and into the top space (between 2 and 1) or either the water evaporated due to the heat of the cam, moist air flowed upward through the wiring hole and re-condensing on the circuit board/cooler metal sides in the top of the housing....With a droplet eventually after a week's time striking the electrical (POE) portion of the board.



Mine was similar, except it was actually mounted on a post beside the house with a paneling over the top to prevent rain from falling on it. Even though it was supposed to be waterproof, I was still trying to avoid it getting wet because rain drops would cover the lens and interfere with the picture....So the only time mine gets wet is when there's a blowing rain that comes in from the sides.



You would think, but I've complained since day one of numerous other listed specs that were not as listed (shutter speed range, tilt range, white balance options, etc.) so there's certainly a number of inaccurate specs...Though none of those being as serious as a waterproof rating that can damage the unit in the weather. I would have expected that to be the most unlikely thing to be incorrect...Perhaps you're right that a seal came loose or an assembly line error occurred on a certain batch of units. All I know is something went terribly wrong. If there was some way to actually access the part where I think the leak occurred, that would give me a better idea if a sealing was loose. But I see no way of accessing that section of the unit. It's like it's welded solid with no screws to open it.



I tried a gentle wire brush on the circuit board contacts which removed some of the black and cleaned with rubbing alcohol. Didn't do any good though...Also used the alcohol to clean the pins on the wiring harness that plugged into the circuit board. As mentioned before, an Ohm tester is giving a reading on all pins at both ends of the wire, so I'm assuming the wires are fine. Any advice on any other specific cleaning methods I could try that may work better?
I cant' see it getting in anywhere other than part 3 marked on your image unless the top gland or upper seal was a real mess from the factory. You can only assume or hope there is some kind of drop down rubber seal between the black and white halves that rotate but by the nature of the design that seal couldn't create any real friction otherwise it would impact rotational movement which might suggest in severe wind and rain that moisture could find its way inside the unit.
 

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Me and my boss were just watching this video.


Appears to be the same camera. I assume it must go for somewhere around $5,000 USD? That thing IS a MONSTER! Very nice.
Not such expensive, this model right now accept booking only, but not cheap anyway. Hope the crazy guy can posts some here, i will talk with him.
 

Parley

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Interesting. However I do not need 48X for my neighborhood. What exactly is Hi PoE? Does it use the standard RJ45 connector?
 

looney2ns

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Yet, they still can't get fully functioning, bug free firmware out the door.
the 6/30 firmware for the PTZ in my signature improved somethings, and messed up several others that were working.

Or IP66 rated ones.
 
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motoolfan

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Mine has been up for about 8 months and is out in the weather (on the peak of roof). Knock on wood, it's been working great.
 

CamCrazy

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Could anyone confirm which is the latest firmware for the SD49225T-HN, mine came from Empire (thanks Andy - great service) and is currently running 2.422.0000.0.R.4.2510, I notice on the Dahua site it looks like the latest is [PAL]DH_SD-Mao-Rhea_Eng_P_Stream3_IVS_V2.600.0000.2.R.20170905 - is that version safe to install and if so are there any advantages. Sorry if I've missed it earlier in the thread, pretty much read all of these pages at some point in the last few months! :D
 

wxman

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Today get a new monster PTZ. SD10A248V-HNI, maybe the first one in the world. A guy from US booked this.
View attachment 22202View attachment 22203
Looks interesting, though probably way out of budget. Wonder what the actual "real world" specs are for the unit. Seems the lens could be a more useful range than 5.7mm~275mm....Hard to imagine many situations where 275mm would be necessary. Typically wouldn't even have a line of sight that could utilize that much, unless you're on top of a sky scraper or radio tower and the 5.7 is kind of "close in" for a scenic view....Seems to me a better 48x range would be something like 3mm - 144mm....That would give a good wide angle view with still more zoom in ability than most would ever need. I don't know, would be interesting to see some real world samples.
 

wxman

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Could anyone confirm which is the latest firmware for the SD49225T-HN, mine came from Empire (thanks Andy - great service) and is currently running 2.422.0000.0.R.4.2510, I notice on the Dahua site it looks like the latest is [PAL]DH_SD-Mao-Rhea_Eng_P_Stream3_IVS_V2.600.0000.2.R.20170905 - is that version safe to install and if so are there any advantages. Sorry if I've missed it earlier in the thread, pretty much read all of these pages at some point in the last few months! :D
Yes, the 9-5-2017 (V 2.6) firmware is the latest for the camera module inside this model...Before that, it was 11-30-2016 (V 2.422)...Not sure if anyone has tried out the newest one or not. Based on the description, it doesn't sound like any significant improvements have been done, though apparently not all improvements get listed...Has anyone tried it or want to be the guinea pig?

I see there's also an updated PTZ firmware for the pan/tilt housing 5-18-2017 (V3.02.93); I'm on the one before that (January version)...

Any volunteers to try these new firmwares? I may try it, though with mine partially out of service right now, not sure how reflective my results would be to other's experience with a fully working camera.
 

CamCrazy

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Yes, the 9-5-2017 (V 2.6) firmware is the latest for the camera module inside this model...Before that, it was 11-30-2016 (V 2.422)...Not sure if anyone has tried out the newest one or not. Based on the description, it doesn't sound like any significant improvements have been done, though apparently not all improvements get listed...Has anyone tried it or want to be the guinea pig?

I see there's also an updated PTZ firmware for the pan/tilt housing 5-18-2017 (V3.02.93); I'm on the one before that (January version)...

Any volunteers to try these new firmwares? I may try it, though with mine partially out of service right now, not sure how reflective my results would be to other's experience with a fully working camera.
I didn't see anything ground breaking in the update notes but it sounds like this version might be required to enable presets to work with Milestone software according to Dahua support so I might be the guinea pig, lets see how I feel about that plan tomorrow! wondering if it will remove the MPEG encoding, presumably not since it is listed in the specs.

Update...I tried installing and it got to one and a half progress bars then just stopped there, camera appeared to freeze (clock stopped) then came back to life again but firmware version the same so assume either it failed or I failed :D - should note I was running the update across the network via a POE switch, might try direct from laptop to camera tomorrow but can't see that making much difference.
 
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wxman

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I didn't see anything ground breaking in the update notes but it sounds like this version might be required to enable presets to work with Milestone software according to Dahua support so I might be the guinea pig, lets see how I feel about that plan tomorrow! wondering if it will remove the MPEG encoding, presumably not since it is listed in the specs.

Update...I tried installing and it got to one and a half progress bars then just stopped there, camera appeared to freeze (clock stopped) then came back to life again but firmware version the same so assume either it failed or I failed :D - should note I was running the update across the network via a POE switch, might try direct from laptop to camera tomorrow but can't see that making much difference.
Which are you trying? If it's just the module firmware (ie pal/ntsc), it may need the newer PTZ firmware first before being compatible since the main board and the module have separate firmwares on Dahua cams. Personally, I would update the PTZ firmware first with the May 2017 version so that the main board has the latest firmware...Try out for a few minutes to make sure everything is running normally (particularly with the pan/tilt), then try updating the module firmware (pal/ntsc) with the September 2017 version...
 

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Which are you trying? If it's just the module firmware (ie pal/ntsc), it may need the newer PTZ firmware first before being compatible since the main board and the module have separate firmwares on Dahua cams. Personally, I would update the PTZ firmware first with the May 2017 version so that the main board has the latest firmware...Try out for a few minutes to make sure everything is running normally (particularly with the pan/tilt), then try updating the module firmware (pal/ntsc) with the September 2017 version...
Thanks wxman, I was trying module firmware so will try PTZ first and then module, probably tomorrow now though but will report back with results.

Update, I got them both installed thanks to your advice on PTZ firmware first and module second, no PTZ presets in Milestone still but will check that some more later, MJPEG encoding has been removed :facepalm: as I suspected and H265 added, don't think this was there before, that is annoying and I will be getting in touch with Dahua especially since MJPEG is listed in the specification. I wish they would offer MJPEG encoding on all cameras for those who want to use it. Will give the new firmware a proper test tomorrow in the daylight, see how it behaves.
 
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wxman

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Thanks wxman, I was trying module firmware so will try PTZ first and then module, probably tomorrow now though but will report back with results.
Welcome! By the way, you can actually install either version (PAL or NTSC) on the same unit. I've switched back and forth between PAL and NTSC versions on mine to see which I liked better. It doesn't really matter in the digital world like it did back in the analog days.

Will be interested in your findings....I've been hoping for some improvement in a number of things; Particularly:
  • Autofocus speed/accuracy (particularly in low light)
  • Different white balance options (I get the identical white balance, regardless of whether I pick auto, atw, street lamp, outdoor, indoor, whatever)
  • Correct FTP timing (ie. 6s should be 6 seconds but is actually 1 minute, 15s is actually 30 minutes, etc...)
  • Shutter speed that will go down to 1 second (specs still say it supports 1 second and the option is there, but the result when clicking on it is actually 1/3 second)
I originally had the September 2016 firmware and none of these problems were corrected with the November 2016 update...Hoping this one will help some of them, though I'm not holding my breath....Seems from the release notes, the upgrades are primarily aimed at system security rather than cam performance.
 

CamCrazy

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Welcome! By the way, you can actually install either version (PAL or NTSC) on the same unit. I've switched back and forth between PAL and NTSC versions on mine to see which I liked better. It doesn't really matter in the digital world like it did back in the analog days.

Will be interested in your findings....I've been hoping for some improvement in a number of things; Particularly:
  • Autofocus speed/accuracy (particularly in low light)
  • Different white balance options (I get the identical white balance, regardless of whether I pick auto, atw, street lamp, outdoor, indoor, whatever)
  • Correct FTP timing (ie. 6s should be 6 seconds but is actually 1 minute, 15s is actually 30 minutes, etc...)
  • Shutter speed that will go down to 1 second (specs still say it supports 1 second and the option is there, but the result when clicking on it is actually 1/3 second)
I originally had the September 2016 firmware and none of these problems were corrected with the November 2016 update...Hoping this one will help some of them, though I'm not holding my breath....Seems from the release notes, the upgrades are primarily aimed at system security rather than cam performance.
Well my initial thoughts are do not jump to upgrade! focus seems worse to me and I have a very odd pulsing of noise on the image every second or more, that is the best way I can describe it, also the iris doesn't seem to respond well to light changes, it was better before and now seems like it wont open enough in darker areas. Focus seems softer to me as well, all in all I am not very impressed, especially since presets in Milestone are still not working, that was my main reason for the upgrade. Now the 64 million dollar question, is there an easy way to go back to previous firmware!? I will test some of the other things in your list later today but right now I would have been better sticking with previous firmware.

Just to note I have restarted the PTZ since upgrading and also powered down completely without any change to the focus issues and pulsing, the latter is almost like the camera is trying to refocus every second or more but clearly that is not the case. Pretty serious problem in my opinion and I hope Dahua will fix rapidly or send me the old firmware, how do these firmware versions get out the door without being detected in testing :facepalm: this must be a popular camera surely.

White balance does have the expected effect on image so that all looks fine to me. Shutter speed range in manual is from 1/25 to 1/30000 from what I can see. Update after switching to night mode the shutter range is 1/1 to 1/30000

There is now a reset option that allows either a full factory reset including IP address or a settings reset which keeps the IP address you initially configured.

Also noticed that when zooming in fully and then zooming back out to the wide end the focus can fail altogether regardless of what you do, requiring either a 'Lens init' via PTZ menu or a restart, sometimes it will come back to life of its own accord after a few minutes. Now I know what a guinea pig feels like :D
 
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looney2ns

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It certainly appears that very little if any real world testing gets done on any of the firmware prior to release. I hate being a beta tester. :)
 
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