Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night.............

[phoenixone]

I lost power last night and when it came back on, all settings on the cameras were there except motion detection settings reverted back to normal and ALL the IR lights were off and would not turn on even after unchecking "IR Light On", rebooting the camera and rechecking "IR Light On" again.
Only defaulting all the cameras did the IR lights turn back on. But I also lost ALL my settings to all the cameras. I had everything set PERFECTLY in Motion Detection Expert Mode and Scheduled Switch both day and night. I lost them ALL.
Is there any way to back up the camera settings so if this happens again, I can just reload the settings?
I know that my best bet is to buy a UPS backup power supply, but before I spend the $$$, I hope someone out there has a solution.

I have a Milkisbad LTS NRV 7 Turret POE system similar to Hikvision's DS-7716NI-SP/16.Milk is on vacation now so he is unavailable.

Thanks so much!!!

 

[fenderman]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

@phoenixone In the cameras if you go to adv config>maintenance you can export the config file..there should be something similar with the NVR...
A power interruption should not cause this issue, the settings should not have to be reentered after a power interruption. Are you plugged into a good surge protector?

 

[phoenixone]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

@phoenixone In the cameras if you go to adv config>maintenance you can export the config file..there should be something similar with the NVR...
A power interruption should not cause this issue, the settings should not have to be reentered after a power interruption. Are you plugged into a good surge protector?

Yup. That surge protector saved me more than once.
When the power came back on, I snooped around the camera settings and I saw that "export config file". I made a back up of all the cameras and tried restoring one of the cameras. It said import failed.
I just spent 90 mins resetting all the cameras. I'm going to try again making a backup of one of the cameas and make a small change in the settings try restoring it. Maybe I did something wrong last night.

 

[phoenixone]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

OH MAN...it worked!!!!

Stinks that it didn't work last night and I had to input ALLLLL the settings back into the cameras. But now that I can back up the settings and restore them, it's going to save me A LOT of work next time.
Although I still have to manually switch the Motion Detection settings back to expert, it retained all the expert settings,..in which it only takes me about 5 mins to switch them back to expert.
Curious why it didn't work last night or if so, what did I do wrong.

Thanks fenderman for nudging me to try it one more time.

 

[fenderman]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

@phoenixone Pull the power again and see if it loses the settings...if so, you need to figure out whats causing it or at the very least install a ups..you dont want to miss a recording because of this.

 

[phoenixone]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

@phoenixonePull the power again and see if it loses the settings...if so, you need to figure out whats causing it or at the very least install a ups..you dont want to miss a recording because of this.

Good idea. I guess it's best to get a UPC. With my set up (16 POE NVR and 7 2mp turrets). How long will a UPC 1000VA last?

Another question, what is the difference between (in the NVR settings via browser) Export Config. File and Import IPC Config. File?
Which one would I export to back up the NVR settings?

Thanks!

 

[alastairstevenson]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

Export Config. File=NVR
Export IPC Config. File=IP Camera

 

[phoenixone]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

Export Config. File=NVR
Export IPC Config. File=IP Camera

Thanks!

 

[phoenixone]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

Lost power again last night for a sec or two. The IR was again, not working. I defaulted all the cameras and the IR was operating as it should. I reloaded the saved config files. All the settings were recovered BUT the IR again was off. I tried just about everything to turn them back to avoid reentering ALL of my meticulous settings into all 7 cameras. I've lost power before and had similar quick power cycles before and never had this problem. I was thinking if I recently changed something. Firmware? Settings?
Then I remembered the only thing I recently changed was going from auto switch day/night mode, to scheduled switch day/night because this was the only way to enable individual image settings for day/night. These settings are finicky as well. Both (pic below) have to be set with the same time schedule or the IR's will not operate correctly.
So, shot the dark, I switch the second Day/Night Switch settings and swtiched it from "Schedule" to "Day". I waited for the image to go from night mode...to day mode and then I switched it back to "Schedule". BOOM...IR lights turned back on.eaceful:
I was sooo happy that I did NOT have to reenter ALL those settings.
The last time I simulated a lost of power to test if reloading the saved config files would be successful, it was done during the day and when it came time for system switching from day to night mode, the IR's turned on normally.
So it looks like the IR's would give a problem turning on if the lost of power happened during night mode AND if Scheduled Switch was being used.

Now if I lose power at night, my method is:
Defaulting all the cameras
Logging in and reloading all the camera's backed up config files
Going into each camera's "Events" tab and switching them from "Normal" to "Expert" mode
Going into each camera's "Image" tab and switching them from "Scheduled" to "Day"...and back to "Scheduled" again.

Waaaaaaaaaay better than reentering ALL the settings.
Hope this helps anyone else who may run into this problem and saves them A LOT of tedious work!
Big thanks again to fenderman and alastairstevenson for their help!

 

[MaxIcon]

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............

Good idea. I guess it's best to get a UPC. With my set up (16 POE NVR and 7 2mp turrets). How long will a UPC 1000VA last?

It'll depend on how much power you draw. If you measure it with a Kill A Watt or similar, you can calculate it based on the spec for the UPS. They usually have power graphs that make it easy to figure. Alternately, you can test it to see.

One big benefit of a UPS is that it lets you ride out power pumps like this with no problems. If there's an extended power outage, with a PC, you can set it to shut down normally before the batteries runs out, but I don't know if NVRs will do this. If they don't, you'd still have the same problem of losing power suddenly when the batteries run out.

 

[pdobrien3]

So, I went to the settings area listed above and tried to export my settings. The save box doesn't give a default extension. Is there a preferred extension name?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[alastairstevenson]

It's entirely your choice.
Maybe use .cfg
As is the naming convention for the file, whether you include date/time, camera name etc

 

[pdobrien3]

Ok, this should be the easy part . I have been able to totally set up my 2cd2142s but saving the settings has got me stumped. I created a new text file in windows explorer, renamed it test.cfg, and then tried to export the settings from the camera login and I got export failed??

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[alastairstevenson]

I created a new text file in windows explorer, renamed it test.cfg, and then tried to export the settings from the camera login and I got export failed??

It's the IP camera or NVR that creates the file - you don't need to.

tried to export the settings from the camera login and I got export failed??

I'd guess the browser does not have permission to create files in the selected folder, assuming the filename you specified has a valid format.
Are you using IE, with the plugin loaded? ie can you see Live View OK?
Either try another location, eg Desktop, or see if adding the camera IP address to the IE Trusted Sites fixes this.

 

[pdobrien3]

I will try another folder but when I go into system setting/maintenance/export, it requires me to create the file or at least select the file to use in the folder. I find this to be a little odd. It is why I think I am doing something wrong.

 

[alastairstevenson]

t requires me to create the file or at least select the file to use in the folder

It's actually just asking you to specify the filename that you want to use for the export, just like any 'file save as' dialogue.
If you pick a file that already exists - it will ask if you want to overrwite it.
And the browser has to have the required permissions to be able to write files into the selected folder.

 

[pdobrien3]

Ok, when I tried to save to another folder it worked. It was a permissions thing. Thank you for your assistance