DS-2CD2432F-IW Issues

[plomaris]

Just got a DS-2CD2432F-IW from Nelly's last week. Overall, I really like the cam, but I have a few issues, one of which is pretty big:

1) Wireless - I initially configured it for wireless operation, and it worked fine for a while. However, twice in less than a week I lost signal. The only way to recover was to unplug/replug the wall adapter. I believe the first outage occurred after my router rebooted (automatically) and the second was right when my PC rebooted (automatically). Strange. So, I instead plugged it into a surplus Logitech PoE/Powerline adapter (leftover from one of my failed Alert cams) and so far it's been working fine. Unfortunately, I don't know how to turn off WiFi. Am I out of luck with WiFi despite a strong connection?

2) Day/Night - I'm having problems getting the camera to properly switch between day and night modes. It seems to choose night mode even when there is enough light for day mode. I've tried to tweak the image settings, but the only way to force it to switch is to set a schedule. I'd rather it do it automatically. I'm really confused over Switch Day and Night and Day/Night Switch options. Any ideas?

3) Firmware - I'm on version 5.1.2. Any advantage to updating to 5.2? I certainly don't want to brick the camera, but if there are improvements, perhaps it is worth while.

4) Telnet - I turned on Telnet and can log in to the camera. Are there any useful functions I can use? Perhaps setting up an automatic daily/weekly reboot to avoid dropouts using WiFi?

Thanks in advance for assistance.

Tom

 

[fenderman]

I have one configured over wifi and it works fine....it really depends on your router...the are the occasional no signal reported by blue iris but other than that its solid. Maybe an issue with your router.
The camera seems to go into night mode even when there is enough light and changing the sensitivity settings does not seem make much difference if at all. I would not upgrade the firmware...there is very little additional benefit.

 

[networkcameracritic]

I'm running 5.2 on my ds-2cd2432f, no problems.

 

[bp2008]

The WiFi settings are right there in the web UI. I also have one that I tried on WiFi and decided to use a powerline injector, but not because it was unreliable. Because the WiFi wasn't fast enough at times.

I left it connected to WiFi though because an idle device on WiFi isn't going to significantly harm the experience for anything else. And it will act as a backup in case the powerline units fail.

 

[plomaris]

It might be my router that's causing the problem with WiFi. The Logitech powerline adapter seems to be working fine, so I'm okay with it.

I am also having an issue with audio. With Blue Iris, you are supposed to be able to talk to the camera. I finally got it to sorta work, but the speaker is REALLY loud on the camera. Anyway to turn down the speaker volume on the camera itself?

Thanks.

Tom

 

[bp2008]

Not that I can see. I guess you are stuck with the volume you have.

 

[nayr]

tune the microphone sensitivity on your computer through the operating system's sound config, that might adjust the volume coming out the camera.

 

[fenderman]

@plomaris are you using the phone app or a mic attached to your pc?

 

[plomaris]

fenderman, I've been using my phone mic using the BI app. I think that would be much more useful than using a PC-attached mic (which I don't even have). I would hope Hikvision would have some kind of speaker volume, but I couldn't find it. I'm not sure if/how I can set the mic volume on my phone.

It's not a huge deal, but a "nice to have" feature.

 

[LittleBrother]

I read networkcameracritic's review of this, and some other threads. I don't see the following answered--can anybody answer these questions? My intent to use this camera is as a baby cam; so not the end of the world if it occasionally causes issues, but really I'd like it not to obviously. My hope is to use it for wifi--else I'd probably just get a cheaper non-mic other camera and use a powerline adapter. Also due to flakiness of wifi, I'll use ONLY a 64 GB SD card.

1) I can use a $15-20 POE injector to power this even though it's on wifi for connectivity, correct? This is twice the price, but apparently more reliable than a 12V power source, and could serve a purpose later in life also.
2) Does the audio work through the iPhone 4500 app--can anybody confirm it does? I only need one-way (from camera) audio. Our child goes off the @*#(ing rails when we talk to her through the Dropcam, like some devil is in her room :laugh:
3) Most importantly: Given the inevitable issues of wifi, dropping out here and there, is this thing smart enough and capable enough to continually attempt to reset and make itself available again when wifi is back, or am I likely to have to babysit it?

At the end of the day, I plan on just leaving this on continuous record. Based on my other 3 MP hikvision, a day is right at 50 GB, so I expect about a day worth of history and I want to be able to reliably use it on the iPhone app (I already tested that app on my other camera and it's fine). I won't cry over choppy frame rate from time to time, but I do need to be able to remote play from the iPhone app, with data as mentioned only being on this thing's 64 GB SD.

 

[fenderman]

1) Yes, i set this camera up on wifi for a friend, using the trendnet injector on amazon for 17 bux.
2) No idea, but it works with the android app
3) wifi quality is very dependent is your particular circumstances, the router (i use it with an asus n66u, works very well), interference, and signal strength. I can tell you that you will most likely not be able to run 3mp on wifi, you will need to run 2mp and lower the bit rate to about 2048 or so..The image is still very good. This camera is true wireless N, not like some of the junk foscams which are G but "backwards compatible". This allows you to keep your router in N only mode rather than mixed mode. For 110 on aliexpress you will not find a better value.

 

[LittleBrother]

1) Yes, i set this camera up on wifi for a friend, using the trendnet injector on amazon for 17 bux.
2) No idea, but it works with the android app
3) wifi quality is very dependent is your particular circumstances, the router (i use it with an asus n66u, works very well), interference, and signal strength. I can tell you that you will most likely not be able to run 3mp on wifi, you will need to run 2mp and lower the bit rate to about 2048 or so..The image is still very good. This camera is true wireless N, not like some of the junk foscams which are G but "backwards compatible". This allows you to keep your router in N only mode rather than mixed mode. For 110 on aliexpress you will not find a better value.

Thanks!