Help with Lorex NVR (Setting up PoE switch and Cameras keep changing ip)

Hello, I am new here and would like some assistance. Tried to search for my issue on the forum but couldn't really find anything so I am creating a thread.

I've been trying to help my dad setup his Lorex NVR unit he bought at costco. I thought it would be pretty simple but things just aren't connecting the way I would like them to. He has spent the last month setting up the cameras around the house and also his shed so im not sure if that will be an issue later if I need to connect the cameras manually.

The setup: So the way he has everything connected is 5 cameras are gonna be on his shed/warehouse building about 60 feet behind the house. Those 5 cameras are connected into a PoE switch he also bought from Lorex. He is running a network cable back to the house from the switch to plug into the NVR system. Then he has 11 more cameras around the house. To cut down on wires he also has them all going into another PoE switch which is going into the NVR system. The only 2 ports being used on the NVR are from the 2 switches.

Now from what i've read online this should entirely be possible. The standard setup I see online is to plug both the switch(es) and the NVR system into a router but he only has one free port on the router so the current way he has it seemed like a no brainer.

Main Issue(s): I can get camera feeds to show up just fine. But the feeds like to change identity. From what I can see, it seems like the same ip address (10.1.1.x) is assigned to multiple cameras. The feed will cut out and return on an entirely different camera from a different location. Everything seems fine when I only connect one of the switches. When I plug both of them in thats when it gets crazy.

Is there a way to solve this? I'm not sure how to make sure the cameras keep their ip address. Or is that what the router is for. At the moment the system isn't connected to the router but I was under the impression that it could run just fine without it. I did see in the manual that it said to connect the cameras to the NVR system first but I don't think he did that and im not even sure how to change the ip address on the cameras since it seems some of them are being shared. I've tried to contact Lorex support on the phone but could never get through. I did send an email detailing the issues but who knows when that will get a response. Should I try to hard reset the nvr system and start over by connecting each camera and make sure they get an assigned ip address that is different? Sorry for the newbie questions but NVR is a completely different game to me so far. I've already put time into this and now need to see it through.

If you are using the Poe ports on the back of the nvr, you must have one camera per port.

You can have any number up to the nvr capacity on the LAN connector. You must either set each camera to have a static ip or have your router dish out a dhcp reservation.

Jagfreeze said:

..
The setup: So the way he has everything connected is 5 cameras are gonna be on his shed/warehouse building about 60 feet behind the house. Those 5 cameras are connected into a PoE switch he also bought from Lorex. He is running a network cable back to the house from the switch to plug into the NVR system. Then he has 11 more cameras around the house. To cut down on wires he also has them all going into another PoE switch which is going into the NVR system. The only 2 ports being used on the NVR are from the 2 switches.

Now from what i've read online this should entirely be possible. The standard setup I see online is to plug both the switch(es) and the NVR system into a router but he only has one free port on the router so the current way he has it seemed like a no brainer.
..

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Welcome @Jagfreeze

Brianegge hit the answer spot on.

You need to connect those 2 PoE switches to another switch and connect that to the NVR's LAN port, you may need to "manually" add / configure the cameras now to the NVR.

Normally we recommend isolating your IP cameras from your normal LAN traffic for security and performance reasons.
( i.e. do not route everything through your router )

brianegge said:

If you are using the Poe ports on the back of the nvr, you must have one camera per port.

You can have any number up to the nvr capacity on the LAN connector. You must either set each camera to have a static ip or have your router dish out a dhcp reservation.

Click to expand...

mat200 said:

Welcome @Jagfreeze

Brianegge hit the answer spot on.

You need to connect those 2 PoE switches to another switch and connect that to the NVR's LAN port, you may need to "manually" add / configure the cameras now to the NVR.

Normally we recommend isolating your IP cameras from your normal LAN traffic for security and performance reasons.
( i.e. do not route everything through your router )

Click to expand...

I’m starting to see why using a router can make this easier. So if I wanted to connect the two switches to the router I should have them connect to another switch which will then go into the router? Does it matter how much power this new switch puts out? You also said to isolate the cameras for security and performance reasons and I don’t really understand what you said.

brianegge said:

If you are using the Poe ports on the back of the nvr, you must have one camera per port.

You can have any number up to the nvr capacity on the LAN connector. You must either set each camera to have a static ip or have your router dish out a dhcp reservation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I guess it does make sense not to use the poe ports on the back since it probably can handle all the traffic. I’ll probably just have to get the router in the picture.

Jagfreeze said:

I’m starting to see why using a router can make this easier. So if I wanted to connect the two switches to the router I should have them connect to another switch which will then go into the router? Does it matter how much power this new switch puts out? You also said to isolate the cameras for security and performance reasons and I don’t really understand what you said.


Thanks for the reply. I guess it does make sense not to use the poe ports on the back since it probably can handle all the traffic. I’ll probably just have to get the router in the picture.

Click to expand...

FYI - clarification:

NVR PoE ports typically designed for ONE camera each, not a switch to the PoE port with multiple cameras.

Do not use your internet router as a connection for your NVR and LAN IP cameras streaming to your NVR.

Jagfreeze said:

I’m starting to see why using a router can make this easier. So if I wanted to connect the two switches to the router I should have them connect to another switch which will then go into the router? Does it matter how much power this new switch puts out? You also said to isolate the cameras for security and performance reasons and I don’t really understand what you said.


Thanks for the reply. I guess it does make sense not to use the poe ports on the back since it probably can handle all the traffic. I’ll probably just have to get the router in the picture.

Click to expand...

Your new switch would need enough power to operate the cameras you have.

This should help regarding security reasons:

Keep it simple to start.

Do not connect the POE switches to the router. A router may not be able to process the data from the POE switches. It is recommended to never run local video through the router.

Us a simple regular 4 port switch (NOT POE). connect the nvr, and the two poe switches to the 4 port switch.

If the NVR is to be connected to the HOME network. connect the router to the 4 port switch. In the router set a block of addresses to NOT use DHCP. use the unassigned address to assign a static address to each camera. It may be necessary to only have one camera at a time plugged in to assign the address, As all cameras on the network may have the same IP address to start.

What is the model number of the NVR and what is the model number of the cameras ?

SouthernYankee said:

Keep it simple to start.

Do not connect the POE switches to the router. A router may not be able to process the data from the POE switches. It is recommended to never run local video through the router.

Us a simple regular 4 port switch (NOT POE). connect the nvr, and the two poe switches to the 4 port switch.

If the NVR is to be connected to the HOME network. connect the router to the 4 port switch. In the router set a block of addresses to NOT use DHCP. use the unassigned address to assign a static address to each camera. It may be necessary to only have one camera at a time plugged in to assign the address, As all cameras on the network may have the same IP address to start.

What is the model number of the NVR and what is the model number of the cameras ?

LNR300 netHD Series Security NVR - Frequently Asked Questions | Lorex

LNR300 netHD Series Security NVR - FAQ

www.lorextechnology.com

Click to expand...

This is the nvr being used. The camera model is also on that page.

I bought a 5 port switch today. Still need to run a cable from the router but im sure things will start coming together soon.

Jagfreeze said:

This is the nvr being used. The camera model is also on that page.

I bought a 5 port switch today. Still need to run a cable from the router but im sure things will start coming together soon.

Click to expand...

FYI - adding equipment info:

Lorex NVR:
N862A64B
4K Ultra HD Network Video Recorder Features:

IP PoE Camera:
E892AB
4K Ultra HD Smart Deterrence IP Camera:

iirc those cameras have smaller sensors...





ref:
specs
and

I have a Lorex N882 recorder and a Lorex poe switch with 18 cameras. Everything is working fine except for the mobile app (apple iOS) is not very stable connecting to the wan network. It takes awhile to connect and sometimes will time out. If it does connect, it will sometimes come up and say ‘network not available’. The NVR is hooked to a separate switch than the Poe switch. Could this be the problem? Do both the NVR and Poe camera switch need to hooked to the same network switch to get a stable wan connection? There are 2 network switches. Thanks for any help.

It shouldn’t matter how many switches you have. Are you connected using P2P or vpn? Most people recommend turning off p2p and only using vpn. Most likely you don’t have enough upstream bandwidth for a stable stream. Does it work longer if you are only viewing one camera in SD?

brianegge said:

It shouldn’t matter how many switches you have. Are you connected using P2P or vpn? Most people recommend turning off p2p and only using vpn. Most likely you don’t have enough upstream bandwidth for a stable stream. Does it work longer if you are only viewing one camera in SD?

Click to expand...

Don’t know which. Connecting using device id in app. The upstream bandwidth is slow but it was working fine before adding 6 cameras and the Poe switch to the second network switch. It was just slow to populate, but it would connect ok and never got the ‘network not available’ message. It seems to connect a little quicker (if it will connect) in the sd mode instead of hd. The network switches are labeled with 2 different IP addresses is why I think the nvr and Poe switch needs to be hooked to the same network switch, and is having trouble connecting, but I don’t know that for sure, just a guess.

I going for a similar setup as above. Hope I'm not missing the obvious, but if I'm using my NVR's LAN port for the switch, how do I connect my NVR to my home LAN?

darazi said:

I going for a similar setup as above. Hope I'm not missing the obvious, but if I'm using my NVR's LAN port for the switch, how do I connect my NVR to my home LAN?

Click to expand...

You run a line from the external switch to your LAN.

wittaj said:

You run a line from the external switch to your LAN.

Click to expand...

Thanks wittaj. So the 1 LAN port can support 2 subnets?

darazi said:

Thanks wittaj. So the 1 LAN port can support 2 subnets?

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That is correct.

Got it all working, thanks again @wittaj. Consideirng there is now no physical machine seperating the 2subnets. Is this more of a security issue?

darazi said:

Got it all working, thanks again @wittaj. Consideirng there is now no physical machine seperating the 2subnets. Is this more of a security issue?

Click to expand...

There is always a risk, even with a VLAN switch. The only sure way is to physically air-gap it from the internet, which is extreme for most people.

Placing your cameras on a subnet that is different than your LAN and assigning the cameras (if the camera accepts it) a fake subnet mask, default gateway and nonworking DNS Server addresses is one more step you can do.

Good calls. Thanks again.