Camera reliability?
- Thread starter JohnKol
- Start date
Just as a reference point: the first security cameras I installed back in 2011 were some cheap Foscam ones; they were indoor-only cameras, but I went ahead and installed them under the eaves in the exact same positions where the Dahua are now. Over the course of 8 years, the optics of 3 out of the 9 cameras became hazy, but the electronics were still working fine; I started replacing them in 2019 with the Dahua cameras. Now that 2 of the Dahua cameras died, I tried 3 of the old Foscam cameras and they are still working, so I installed them where the dead Dahua cameras were.
Maybe there is an explanation why outdoor-rated cameras died in the same place where indoor-rated cameras survived for double the time, but the reasons you offer are certainly not the ones.
But at the same time, those old Foscams were not running during the time the Dahuas were out there, so they didn't experience the same dirty power or surge or some other event unique to the time that the Dahua cameras were out there.
Are the foscams POE or wifi?
You know what always makes me laugh from all of these so called Engineers??? You would figure someone that comes from an industry based on science. Which means they would A typically have some facts based on collected data! Yet, I don't see any of these Engineers go out of their way to show how they tracked, measured, and substantiated their claim(s) or positions?!? 
The image below shows how I track, measure, and substantiate the electrical system. It literally has a time stamp, calls out what the fault is and for how long. I'm not guessing, I don't feel this happen because, I don't think X was the cause, I literally KNOW what the cause is . . .
I can literally see how many surges have occurred based on the define threshold I've set:
I literally have a dozen tools that span $1.00 to tens of thousands of dollars to help me track, monitor, record, and archive any power quality event in my home. Do you see the difference???
The image below shows how I track, measure, and substantiate the electrical system. It literally has a time stamp, calls out what the fault is and for how long. I'm not guessing, I don't feel this happen because, I don't think X was the cause, I literally KNOW what the cause is . . .
I can literally see how many surges have occurred based on the define threshold I've set:
I literally have a dozen tools that span $1.00 to tens of thousands of dollars to help me track, monitor, record, and archive any power quality event in my home. Do you see the difference???
You know what always makes me laugh from all of these so called Engineers??? You would figure someone that comes from an industry based on science. Which means they would A typically have some facts based on collected data! Yet, I don't see any of these Engineers go out of their way to show how they tracked, measured, and substantiated their claim(s) or positions?!?
The image below shows how I track, measure, and substantiate the electrical system. It literally has a time stamp, calls out what the fault is and for how long. I'm not guessing, I don't feel this happen because, I don't think X was the cause, I literally KNOW what the cause is . . .
I can literally see how many surges have occurred based on the define threshold I've set:
I literally have a dozen tools that span $1.00 to tens of thousands of dollars to help me track, monitor, record, and archive any power quality event in my home. Do you see the difference???
Post the pic of your backup power!
As I stated before it's not about boasting or Look at me. I only posted it up because it came up and thought it would help the members see and understand. How you can start off small and gradually expand to something more complex / expansive when the need arose.For me its about getting the basics right within your means . . .
Nobody has to spend gobs of money on anything - just get the basic right!
For me its about getting the basics right within your means . . .
Nobody has to spend gobs of money on anything - just get the basic right!
My point is you know for your situation all the variables and can probably quantitatively demonstrate in your situation if it was a camera failure or an "act of god".
For the rest of us, there are too many variables to know with 100% certainty if it is a bad camera, bad luck like a power surge or dirty power that we weren't measuring.
The Foscams are Wi-Fi.
So you are saying that during the period 2011-2019, the power/environmental conditions at my place were somehow favourable and the Foscams that were directly plugged into outlets survived, yet during the 2019-2023 period with the Dahuas powered by PoE (hence once removed from outlets) the power/environmental conditions were so detrimental, they somehow resulted in the gradual deterioration of the cameras. Maybe, but if I had any faith in those odds I would be buying lottery tickets every week.
Another datum point: back in 2009 a car crashed onto a utility pole, bringing it down and plunging our neighbourhood into darkness; PG&E worked overnight and had restored power by morning. But for months afterwards my UPSs were logging a disturbing amount of brown outs and power surges, so I eventually conducted PG&E presenting them with the data; they asked me to keep recording and updating them. I did, and after a couple of months they came and replaced the transformer that powers our neighbourhood. Since then the power has been great: the last power outage was 18 months ago, the last brown out in February, and I have not seen any spikes in years.
Flintstone61
Known around here
So the foscams were powered completely different than the Dahua cams. It would be one thing if you said all you did was replaced foscam with Dahua, but you didn't.
The Dahua has a lot more variables/devices than the fosam.
The foscam is what a 12VDC power supply plug into an outlet. One variable between the camera and the outlet. Everything powering that foscam past theoutlet came from foscam. That isn't the case with your Dahua.
Dahua would be at minimum an ethernet cable (what quality?), POE switch (what quality), surge protection/batter backup (what quality) (which is sounds like you didn't have). How many more variables is that between the camera and the power outlet? More than the foscam, so more room for something to fail along the way blowing out the camera.
Further the 12VDC power is a lot more forgiving to atmospheric moisture than the tiny wires of a POE connection. Maybe the little 12VDC box was more tolerant than the power supply to your POE switch.
POE installed outdoors without waterproof provisions like dielectric grease have been demonstrated here time and time again to cause a camera to fail.
Did you properly waterproof the Dahua connection? What are the makes/models of the devices from the camera to the power outlet?
As you can see, well hopefully you see, you are not comparing apples to apples.
I know, just offering them up because once a year there is someone that says - FAKE
I'm not here to brag about X vs Y just sharing my personal experience. When I reply to a thread and offer my insight its from years of experience in the field with thousands of hours of belt time.Every day I wake up and say I'm going to learn something new. That I am the dumbest one in a room. That I know nothing but am willing to LEARN.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,408
As an engineer surely you understand that surges to not flow evenly to all outlets eh?
Just buy foscams, they never fail....
expect 20 years from them...Of course I'm not comparing apples to apples; what I'm saying is that the odds were massively stacked against the Foscams: they were indoor cameras installed outside with the SD slot and power connector fully exposed to the elements. You may not think very highly of the ethernet seal housing Dahua provides with the cameras (which is what I'm using), but it is a huge upgrade over the unprotected connectors of the Foscams. If you believe that the environmental conditions were too harsh for the Dahuas to survive for more than four years, then the Foscams should have died within a week.
Incidentally, one of the cameras that died was inside the garage.
But the cameras were not blown out; they slowly started going offline until (a few months later) they were constantly offline.
Last edited:
Again you do not understand the differences between the connection of the 12VDC barrel versus a POE connection.
Those barrel connections are not as prone to moisture as a POE with the tiny strands by comparison. They don't even attempt to provide a waterproof connection.
If you truly think that the little Dahua "waterproof connectors" are sufficient, we have lots of threads here proving otherwise. As an electrical engineer you should understand the impact water and corrosion can have on a component.
So between either you not waterproofing properly and thus allowing atmospheric moisture to corrode the wires over time (and yes there can be corrosion that can't be seen) to an inferior CCA ethernet cable, to poor POE switch, that is how that camera went out.
And that is likely why the camera finally failed.
Before I knew better and didn't waterproof correctly I would have cameras die earlier than I liked as well.
Those barrel connections are not as prone to moisture as a POE with the tiny strands by comparison. They don't even attempt to provide a waterproof connection.
If you truly think that the little Dahua "waterproof connectors" are sufficient, we have lots of threads here proving otherwise. As an electrical engineer you should understand the impact water and corrosion can have on a component.
So between either you not waterproofing properly and thus allowing atmospheric moisture to corrode the wires over time (and yes there can be corrosion that can't be seen) to an inferior CCA ethernet cable, to poor POE switch, that is how that camera went out.
And that is likely why the camera finally failed.
Before I knew better and didn't waterproof correctly I would have cameras die earlier than I liked as well.
So your hypothesis is that the ethernet connector got corroded through moisture ingress and... then what? What is the exact failure mechanism? Reminder here, the cameras are still powered up and they are recording data, you just cannot communicate with them anymore despite all interventions: new cables, new PoE switch, connector cleaning, etc.
And if corrosion was the problem, how can that explain the fact that the communication was a hit/miss event: the cameras would be offline for 20 seconds, then online for 40 seconds, then offline again, etc. Was the corrosion clearing for those 40 seconds?
BTW, the second camera started going offline in July; needless to say there is no moisture where I live in the middle of the summer.
That makes me wonder if the problem is lack of attention to detail as opposed to the connector itself? I have about 10 of them with full exposure to rain and snow, and no use of dialectric grease to boot, with no moisture related failures. My first rule is to make sure they hang vertically with the fully sealed camera end on top, so there's little or no risk of water getting through the gasket/seal on the other end. Another detail is to make sure that the square-cross section seal between the connector halves isn't curled. The connector half with the removable seal has to be tightened after the connector halves are mated. And finally, that the seal is there at all. I have a few times swapped cameras where the seal stayed with the old camera pigtail, and I stupidly didn't notice that there was no seal on the new camera pigtail.
Ok, so we go 25 days and 5 pages into this discussion and now you tell us the cameras are not dead, you just don't see them.
Hmm maybe a power surge reset them to the default address - did you try that? We have seen that happen.
Interesting, it says you are from the San Francisco Bay area and you say in July there is no moisture, yet San Fran tops the list of the most humid city in America - Just because you aren't getting rain doesn't mean your air doesn't have moisture in it. And these little connection points are ripe for moisture being drawn from the atmosphere and why dielectric grease is strongly recommended.
All the while you have yet to name the make/model of the cable you used or the POE switch.
You have never had a toy or some gadget where the battery corroded the connections because you left it in too long and well sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't?
And people have put Dahua indoor cams outside in similar situations and have lasted and still going for years. As you have found out, if you protect it from the elements, an indoor camera can work outside.
These connections are outside and are subject to temperature swings and what not, and even if indoors, maybe the connection works and a slight heating from the power going thru and it goes off until it cools and repeats cycles. As an engineer you should know that is a possibility.
But sometimes it is easier to bow out - it is clear you want to blame the camera, just as it is clear that we have seen many camera failures here for the exact reasons people are pointing to and yours fits those to a T and you refuse to answer the simple questions folks have asked about your setup.....
Enjoy the foscams...
Last edited: