5231-ze time drift

[IAmATeaf]

I have a total of 6 5231-ze cams which I got from Andy but on one the time always drifts. All are setup exactly the same to sync the time from my BI PC but this cam always drifts.

Incidentally, the microphone on this cam has also never worked since I got it but as it’s covering the rear garage it’s never bothered me so I never bothered to do anything about.

If I logon to cam and I re-sync the time it syncs up fine but then starts to drift so I’m wondering if anybody has come across a similar issue and how they fixed it or is the microphone not working an indication of some other issue that I need to get sorted with Andy?

In the screenshot it’s the bottom right cam.

View attachment 81102

 

[IAmATeaf]

Not too sure why the attached image doesn’t show, another try

 

[wittaj]

Sorry...couldn't resist LOL.

when it pulls time from the BI PC, are they all in sync at that point and then it drifts? What is the time frequency for the pulls - maybe make that one a more frequent pull if you don't already have that set? I had one camera that was off and I forgot to check the pull from NTP box LOL.

 

[IAmATeaf]

All the cams are set exactly the same, when I manually sync that cam then all are in sync and over the days it starts to drift.

Can’t remember what the sync interval is, will check and report back.

Edit: Interval is 30mins

 

[alastairstevenson]

All are setup exactly the same to sync the time from my BI PC

How does the Windows firewall handle the inbound requests to the time server app on the BI PC?
Does the app install automatically create an inbound 'allow' rule, or do you have to manually specify it?

 

[IAmATeaf]

I manually created a rule to allow it for the NetTime utility I use.

 

[pozzello]

check the details of that rule to make sure you didn't limit to specific IP's. If you did, perhaps that camera was added later and not added to this exception list?

 

[IAmATeaf]

The rule is fine and when I click the sync now it syncs from the BI PC with no issues.

 

[pozzello]

you said it drifts over days? then it's clearly not re-syncing on schedule (every 30 min)... perhaps a firmware update or other issue in it's past has left that cam partially mis-configured. Have you tried resetting it to factory and reconfiguring?...

 

[fenderman]

The rule is fine and when I click the sync now it syncs from the BI PC with no issues.

The sync with pc feature is not syncing with nettime. To test if nettime sync is working, change the time to 1 hour ahead. Then set the sync interval for 1 min and see if it fixes itself. You will find that it doesnt. You need to allow port 123 UDP.

 

[pozzello]

If he didn't have UDP port 123 open on the PC for NTP requests, then NONE of the cams would ever be sync'ing via NTP and they'd all be drifting...

but yeah, I has assumed the OP knew the diff between 'sync to pc' and 'test/NTP'. You know what they say about assuming...

 

[fenderman]

If he didn't have UDP port 123 open on the PC for NTP requests, then NONE of the cams would ever be sync'ing via NTP and they'd all be drifting...

but yeah, I has assumed the OP knew the diff between 'sync to pc' and 'test/NTP'. You know what they say about assuming...

Sync to pc does not require port 123 to be open

 

[sebastiantombs]

^^^ This place never ceases to teach me things I don't know but have made a bad habit of assuming.

 

[fenderman]

^^^ This place never ceases to teach me things I don't know but have made a bad habit of assuming.

To be clear, i mean the sync to pc button on the cameras interface.

 

[pozzello]

Right. that 'Sync PC' button that does a ONE TIME (just when you click it) sync from the current web browser's computer, which has NOTHING to do with the NTP configuration below that includes an interval setting. Yes, that one...

This is why we usually ask for screen shots... ;-)

 

[IAmATeaf]

Ok confession time, I had assumed that Sync PC was using the NTP configured source.

I’ll try what fenderman has suggested and report back.

 

[pozzello]

what f-man suggested is to troublehshoot an NTP setup (see if it works end-to-end). we now know you don't have it set up right. you mentioned there's a firewall rule, but did you set up and are you running an NTP server on your BI PC ? (or any other PC on your network that runs 24/7, or even your router if it supports it) For the BI windows PC, either nettime or the windows built-in server:

NetTime - Network Time Synchronization Tool

How to Create a Standalone NTP Server With Windows | Interface Technical Training

Windows has taken this into account. The Network Time Protocol (NTP) service has been built into Windows since Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, and most Unix and Linux implementations have supported NTP since they were first built.

www.interfacett.com

 

[IAmATeaf]

All my other cams sync up to NetTime running on the BI PC with no issues but I’ll check/test it tomorrow when I have time.

As far as I know it is setup correctly, when I set it up I purposely set the time on my BI PC out by an hour to test and then waited and all the cameras synced up including the camera that I now have the issue with.

This problem with this camera is something I’ve noticed in the last 6 or so months.

 

[pozzello]

after all that, we're back to square one. at this point I can only RE-suggest "Have you tried resetting the drifting cam to factory and reconfiguring?..." good luck!

 

[IAmATeaf]

I did reset it when I last updated the firmware to the R16 release which I always do a reset after updating the firmware.

I’ll have a play around with it hopefully tomorrow and see what I discover. Will also check the ports etc