5 MegaGixel 1/1.8" low light destroyer for $90-AVOID LONGSE JUNK

I purchased mine a couple of months ago from here: Aliexpress.com : Buy #LRDC60S500 H264 / H265 Hisilicon Hi3516A & 1/1.8" SONY IMX178 Infrared Onvif H264 Network Real Time 5MP IP Camera Dome from Reliable camera lace suppliers on Shenzhen Topxel Electronics Tech Co Ltd

Maybe I just got a lemon but I wouldn't recommend this camera. The color night image is great but the stability is horrible. I have to factory reset it every 7-10 days due to it not outputting a video feed.
These are not reliable, my test unit has now suffered poe failure after 6 months...
 
Dahua offers this same sensor in its 6MP 1/1.8" IPC-HFW8630E-Z w/a 4-16mm varifocal lens.. Ive seen em as low as ~$350..

I suspect a large part of the cost is the varifocal lens in a 1/2" sensor format, not many varifocal cameras will go all the way up to 16mm so thats really nice..

compared to longse the quality will be measurably better, its widescreen and not square screen, and its got some pretty unique varifocal optics.. so the premium is worth it if your looking for a high megapixel camera that does pretty well in low light conditions.
 
Dahua offers this same sensor in its 6MP 1/1.8" IPC-HFW8630E-Z w/a 4-16mm varifocal lens.. Ive seen em as low as ~$350..

I suspect a large part of the cost is the varifocal lens in a 1/2" sensor format, not many varifocal cameras will go all the way up to 16mm so thats really nice..

compared to longse the quality will be measurably better, its widescreen and not square screen, and its got some pretty unique varifocal optics.. so the premium is worth it if your looking for a high megapixel camera that does pretty well in low light conditions.

@nayr do you have a reliable source I could purchase one of those cameras from?
 
I do not; might reach out some of the larger Dahua vendors and ask them about availability; there's only one vendor on Ali right now advertising it but there may be many more than can order one for you.. I had one in my cart for $350 w/free shipping a couple weeks ago but its no longer avilable at that price.

it was just announced a month or so ago; it might a lil tricky to locate for the time being it since its such a fresh model.
 
Thanks I'll keep an eye out for one. That camera looks like a good replacement for my Longse camera. So far it's been holding up (about 9 or 10 months without it dropping) however, sometimes the WDR settings don't hold, it lacks settings for Daylight savings time and doesn't allow me to put in my own time server.
 
Thanks I'll keep an eye out for one. That camera looks like a good replacement for my Longse camera. So far it's been holding up (about 9 or 10 months without it dropping) however, sometimes the WDR settings don't hold, it lacks settings for Daylight savings time and doesn't allow me to put in my own time server.

Firmware update 3516A_IMX178_W_6.1.39.3 gives you the option to set DST and input your own time server.
 
About flashing different vendor's cams:
- flashed Iptronic Hi3516a_imx178 with the latest firmware via Web access - camera got bricked (no http responce, no streams, etc...)
- however it was still available via IPCSearch tool
- flashed it with IPCSearch to latest firmware again (wasn't able to flash previous versions - got errors)
- camera booted and became available via Web
- at first there was no any video, however everything came to normal after reset to factory defaults (via Web - even no button reset was required)

Don't get me wrong - I'm not seducing you to flash the cam as in your case it may lead to unrecoverable error...

This happened to me with one of mine. I had one on 6.x (that was posted earlier in this thread) and the other on 5.x. The one that was on 5.x was affected like yours. The 6.x version upgraded with no issue - although the interface did not get updated as it was still the same look and version number of the previous 6.x version I had on it.

I followed your directions and upgraded again via IPCSearch tool but was still unable to get into the web interface. After a few refreshes I got in and just like you - no video. I checked the log and noticed that it seemed to be in a boot loop - rebooting about every ~2 minutes giving a very small window to access the web interface before it reboot again. The factory reset works though. You just have to get into the interface in that small window of time.

Another issue I am having is unrelated to this firmware, but possibly the last firmware upgrade on the camera that was upgraded to the older 6.x version. It seems to work fine for about half a day and I lose all video streams.
 
My Longse has been experiencing failures after a few months, as well. :( Time to contact Cicely at Longse and arrange a replacement.

Please update us on what they do. I didn't attempt to try to contact Longse or the seller because I don't want to pay to send it back.
 
What issues are you having? Good luck trying to get them to help..
I was originally running it via POE from an inexpensive $15 TP-Link power injector. When it first stopped working, I suspected the injector, and changed over to a POE switch. Seemed to work again for a few days, then poof. No connection, no ping, nothing. I'd guess it's a weak/failing POE circuit board inside. Most likely, a crappy capacitor or diode.

Nope, it's conversant, and communicating, but NO VIDEO. :( So it's not the POE at all. It's likely the image sensor.
 
Last edited:
Nope, it's conversant, and communicating, but NO VIDEO. :( So it's not the POE at all. It's likely the image sensor.
You might just be able to confirm that if you can access via telnet and grab a copy of the kernel log. (cat /proc/kmsg)
What is the full version (including the Soc and sensor prefix) of the firmware that its running?
If the web GUI is functional - maybe a firmware refresh might be worth trying also.
 
You might just be able to confirm that if you can access via telnet and grab a copy of the kernel log. (cat /proc/kmsg)
What is the full version (including the Soc and sensor prefix) of the firmware that its running?
If the web GUI is functional - maybe a firmware refresh might be worth trying also.
Good suggestions all, but attempting to upgrade from v6.1.39 to v6.1.44 failed multiple times. :( Last chance attempt, I told it to reset to factory settings. Now I need the default login/password which seems to escape me at the moment. I cleverly forced to ls123 in the .39 firmware before I loaded it. Oh, also, it's an HI3516 with the IMX178 sensor, or the S500 model.

admin/admin -- DOH! </facepalm>

Strange. While the web interface repeatedly fails to upload the .fls firmware file, a simple FTP upload to the same /dev directory on the camera succeeds with a 100% complete file. Sucky JavaScript interface, I'd suppose. Next, out to the garage for a direct cable connection to the damned camera. Okay, upload of .44 firmware succeeded, but still no video. She's kaput, and only been outside beneath the garage eave for about 75 days. Completely protected from the elements, not exposed to direct sunlight, so it's not likely to be a heat-related failure. Here's hoping Cicely@longse.com will provide an RA number for me, overnight.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: alastairstevenson
If she doesn't, send it to Q™ because I'd like to play with it.
I still have one more really crazy thing to try (since I've obviously got NOTHING to lose at this point) and that's loading the original, original firmware back onto the camera. With my luck, the interface won't allow it.
 
I still have one more really crazy thing to try (since I've obviously got NOTHING to lose at this point) and that's loading the original, original firmware back onto the camera. With my luck, the interface won't allow it.

You may want to try using the Herospeed Search Utility to update that camera's firmware bro.
 
You may want to try using the Herospeed Search Utility to update that camera's firmware bro.
dmesg didn't reveal anything obvious. Strangely enough, the video is now intermittent. It will probably be more worth my time to open the camera and re-seat any and all connections inside from the external pigtail, than it will be to ship it back to Guangdong, China.

I've got the camera search tool from them, I'll give that a shot, next. Nope, it errors out immediately. It's probably checking the version numbers.

Definitely worth opening up and re-seating cables. The camera video is on a ribbon cable that appeared firmly attached, but I removed both ends and re-seated them, as well as re-seating everything else that was any kind of plug/connection. Here in the house, using the power injector, it works perfectly. I know it's not the network connections outside, because two other cameras come in over that same network feed just fine. Now it's time to re-install it and see how long it lasts, this time. Fingers crossed. Nope. Talks fine and dandy, so I know it's up and running and the network is working, but NO VIDEO. On the off-chance it was a bad POE port on the switch, I tried another, and it's still NO VIDEO. :(

Oh, by the way, there's NOT a lot of slack inside this thing, just barely enough to work with.
 
Last edited: