Cam Ethernet connector replacement

[Kevin Doe]

I have one of the color 4k cameras that was damaged with water. The round housing filled up with water and corroded the hell out of the connectors. Not sure if the camera still works or not, as the connector is unusable as it is. Any recommendations on how to repair the connector? I have a normal interior style Keystone RJ 45 socket that I could put on the camera, but I’m guessing there is something better out there that I can replace the cameras connector with. The water leak has been repaired.

 

[Ri22o]

I just had a similar issue and was fortunate enough to be able to scrape the corrosion off. I was using the supplied gland and water still got in; I am being more diligent about using dielectric grease now.

My camera seems to power on reliably, but if it becomes an issue I plan to just use a punch down keystone since I will have the room for the connection.

 

[TonyR]

If it won't clean up well as mentioned by @Ri22o , including using some deoxIT cleaner, before cutting it off I would be sure to move back far enough to see and keep the color codes of the conductors intact, buzz out what goes to which pin with a continuity checker or Ohmmeter and write in the blank chart below. Then it should be a lot simpler to use that female punchdown female RJ-45 keystone he mentioned.

It does look like some of the pins are bent, too.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm with the try like heck to clean it up crowd, before cutting it off. Those stock connectors are very nice compared to keystones.

 

[looney2ns]

You can find replacement RJ45 connector harnesses on AliExpress pretty cheap.
WaterProofing Connections

 

[tigerwillow1]

You can find replacement RJ45 connector harnesses on AliExpress pretty cheap.

I'm curious if you have replaced one? I demolished a couple of old cameras and it was darn difficult to chip out the filler between the case and cable without destroying one or the other. Of course in this case the cable is already pre-destroyed.

 

[Kevin Doe]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to clean it up. One of the pins was corroded so badly half of it fell off. And the pin in the 8th position is stuck in the slot and I can't get it out. I have a keystone on hand, I'll give that a shot. I metered it out, and it's almost the t568b, with one wire in a different position (and two missing wires, the cams only use 6).

 

[Kevin Doe]

Well things took a turn for the worse. I replaced the connector (after I triple checked the wiring pinout). Plugged the camera into my NVR, which was on at the time. I heard an audible spark in the NVR, then smelled a burnt electronics smell, and heard a very faint oscillating sound, almost like a siren, but barely noticeable. I unplugged the camera. Then I checked the NVR and channels 1, 2, and 3 were all red dots, while the others seemed ok. Seems as if the camera has some sort of internal short, likely caused by the underwater connection. I assumed the POE power supply for channel 2 (which was the one my camera in question was plugged into) shared the same power supply with channel 1 and 3, so I moved cameras 1, and 3 to ports 7, 8, as those were the next open ones. I guess the camera is dead, I don't want to try plugging it in again.

I deleted the cams from the bottom pane of the NVR screen, and figured the NVR would recognize they were added to different ports, and move them back down to the bottom window. But the NVR isn't recognizing I plugged those in. And now a few other channels are showing red. Seems as if something really got messed up here. This whole thing is going from bad to worse.

In retrospect, I should have tried to plug the camera into a cheap POE switch, not the NVR port. A $40 switch would have been better to burn out than the NVR.

 

[wittaj]

OMG that sucks.

Have you tried taking one of the good cameras and connecting to another source of power and doing a factory reset on it and then try the NVR again. Sometimes the NVRs can get really quirky about moving cameras around on different ports, so you have to set it up as a new camera again on a new port.

And as a lesson learned for other folks, did you use dielectric grease on the connections? What about the supposed waterproof connector that comes with cameras (that we all know aren't really water proof)? And how did the junction box fill with water that you fixed (maybe a leaky roof or a snow/ice event that got up under the roof?

 

[TonyR]

A $40 switch would have been better to burn out than the NVR.

Or a $12 POE injector, as here.

 

[Kevin Doe]

OMG that sucks.

Have you tried taking one of the good cameras and connecting to another source of power and doing a factory reset on it and then try the NVR again. Sometimes the NVRs can get really quirky about moving cameras around on different ports, so you have to set it up as a new camera again on a new port.

And as a lesson learned for other folks, did you use dielectric grease on the connections? What about the supposed waterproof connector that comes with cameras (that we all know aren't really water proof)? And how did the junction box fill with water that you fixed (maybe a leaky roof or a snow/ice event that got up under the roof?

Originally I did not use dielectric grease or the provided waterproof connector. With the placement under the eave and attached to the soffit I didn't think it was necessary. There was a small gap in the flashing in the corner of the roof, where where the gutter, drip flashing, and facia flashing all come together. That gap faced the predominate wind direction and we have had some very heavy rainfall with high driving winds. I also had some excess wire looped up in the soffit and it was touching the inside of the cavity right behind where the gap was. The box was over 12" away from that gap/hole, but the wire just happened to be in the worst possible location and allowed the water to run right along the wire into the box. I sealed up the gap, moved the wire away from that area, and used a waterproof grey PVC box connector on my round terminal box, then ran about 6" of the flexible grey conduit up into the soffit cavity. I don't think it would be possible for water to get in there again.

For future use, do you just put a squeeze of dielectric grease inside the RJ45 receptacle before you plug the connector into it?

 

[tigerwillow1]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. It might be worth trying the camera with a 12 volt power input in case just the POE circuitry is shorted out but the camera otherwise works. A standards compliant POE switch is supposed to detect a POE device by measuring the load resistance before applying power. I wonder if Dahua cut corners assuming the only connected devices will be cameras, and just applies full power all the time? Even in that case, it's a poor design if it doesn't have some sort of overload protection.

 

[Mike A.]

For future use, do you just put a squeeze of dielectric grease inside the RJ45 receptacle before you plug the connector into it?

I usually do Just a small blob to cover the pins on both connectors so that there's enough in there to keep any water away from the connection but not enough that it squishes out. Any more is just wasted and is a mess to clean up and will make the coax seal/tape not stick well.

 

[wittaj]

Originally I did not use dielectric grease or the provided waterproof connector. With the placement under the eave and attached to the soffit I didn't think it was necessary. There was a small gap in the flashing in the corner of the roof, where where the gutter, drip flashing, and facia flashing all come together. That gap faced the predominate wind direction and we have had some very heavy rainfall with high driving winds. I also had some excess wire looped up in the soffit and it was touching the inside of the cavity right behind where the gap was. The box was over 12" away from that gap/hole, but the wire just happened to be in the worst possible location and allowed the water to run right along the wire into the box. I sealed up the gap, moved the wire away from that area, and used a waterproof grey PVC box connector on my round terminal box, then ran about 6" of the flexible grey conduit up into the soffit cavity. I don't think it would be possible for water to get in there again.

For future use, do you just put a squeeze of dielectric grease inside the RJ45 receptacle before you plug the connector into it?

Wow what an unfortunate series of events to happen to cause this. And I am sure any warranty, etc. on the house/roof is long gone.

If it ended up frying the camera and NVR, you may be able to make an insurance claim, but probably not worth the claim against you and what not.

People do dielectric grease a lot of different ways. Some just dab on each end, others fill the receptacle and put a dab on the wire connection.

Personally I fill the entire connector and then the grease that squishes out I lather it around the entire connection to not allow any part of the plastic between the two points to show. I kinda consider it like a sealant - if you were caulking/sealing the connection, you would go around the whole thing. This obviously isn't a caulk, but I figure in all but extreme instances, if it is a barrier to entry it may be enough to prevent water or vapor from getting in.

But yeah doing so makes a mess of things and coax seal can be a pain to do.

 

[Kevin Doe]

Wow what an unfortunate series of events to happen to cause this. And I am sure any warranty, etc. on the house/roof is long gone.

You're right. I had the house build in 2020, so the 2-year roof warranty is gone. Luckily there was not any water damage to the house, likely because it's a vented soffit and any water that got in was easily able to dry out. I think I may have fried $500ish of equipment in this mishap, so you're right, not really worth an insurance claim. I'll just chalk this up to bad luck and maybe a bit of poor planning on my part. Now it's time to undertake the most time intensive part of this, to reset all the cameras and try to get the NVR working properly again. At least it's worth a try.

 

[wittaj]

That sucks. They probably won't do anything, but I would consider reaching out to the builder and raise a stink and tell them you are going to talk to your neighbors and if others have the same issue, you all will go to media. It obviously was poor craftsmanship that was at build, but it was the unfortunate situation of placing a camera where you did that found the problem before it became too big.

Fingers crossed going thru the process of resetting the cameras and NVR get back working everything!

 

[Tinman]

Little late now, But Andy has this and other useful info on ipcamtalk vendor section: EmpireTech Andy | IP Cam Talk

 

[looney2ns]

I'm curious if you have replaced one? I demolished a couple of old cameras and it was darn difficult to chip out the filler between the case and cable without destroying one or the other. Of course in this case the cable is already pre-destroyed.

No, I haven't. I just saw others post here about doing so.

 

[looney2ns]

WaterProofing Connections

 

[Kevin Doe]

Is there a way I can test the POE ports on the Dahua NVR without risking damage to a camera? After the spark/smell, I'm hesisitent to plug another $250 camera into that port (or any other port really)? I have a cheaper K42A camera that I could try, but that's still around $80.