Help, cannot connect to brand new 3241

[Mary Moo]

Finally bit the bullet and bought a real camera from Andy and finally got time to mount it and get it going. It powers up (POE) and draws power and links with the switch. I can only assume for some reasons it failed to get DHCP lease and instead went to the default of 192.168.1.108.

How can I force it to do DHCP on the first boot so I can then get in and set a static IP? I cannot will/not install any apps I cannot connect the camera to a PC, It is already mounted and I don't have another POE switch i can use, etc. The cameras are all on a VLAN that is not 192.168.1 and I cannot easily move anything around to change that.

I just want to boot it up and configure it like any other device, it gets a DHCP address, you login and do whatever, done. I have 2 Amcrest ip8m-2493, one was converted long ago to dahua firmware, and I do not remember having to do some 192.168.1 hack to access the thing. Is this really the only way to set up a brand new camera? If so how can these things be deployed at scale with automation (what I do for work) if you have to do this kind of nonsense manually for each one?

I hope there is a realistic option or I will have to ship this back and be happy with my Reolink garbage, fortunately I bought it from Amazon so no hassle to dump it at Kohls and send it back.

Thanks for any help

 

[IAmATeaf]

Just create another VLAN for 192.168.1.0, allocate 2 ports to the VLAN, plus the cam into one, plugs a pc/laptop into the other, set the desktop/laptop IP to be in the 192.168.1.0 network, access the cam, set it up as you want and restart the cam.

Then once happy remove the new VLAN.

On my switch I have a few ports configured as part of no VLANS so temp plug the cam into that, laptop etc. do the above and then move the cam into its final port.

 

[wittaj]

Wow - you should always turn on a camera and make sure it works and what not before hanging it up!

I suspect the Amcrest you probably scanned a QR code or they were wifi.

But any good camera will come at a default IP address (Dahua and OEM are 192.168.1.108 and Hikvision and OEM are 192.0.0.64). It is done this way so that their intended market (installers not us home owners) know exactly how to get into the camera.

If it came as DHCP then for many installers (or many of us) they could not find the camera because it either then becomes one of dozens of items on the system they and they would need to figure out which one it is, or many people do not have a router connected to their cameras, so they wouldn't be able to find the camera as it wouldn't be assigned an IP address.

You can use the IPconfig tool or do this:

The default IP address of the camera is 192.168.1.108, which may or may not be the IP address range of your system.

Unhook a computer or laptop from the internet and go into ethernet settings and using the IPv4 settings manually change the IP address to 192.168.1.100

Then power up your camera and wait a few minutes.

Then go to INTERNET EXPLORER (needs to be Explorer and not Edge or Chrome with IE tab) and type in 192.168.1.108 (default IP address of Dahua cameras) and you will then access the camera.

Tell it your country and give it a user and password.

Then go to the camera Network settings and change the camera IP address to the range of your system and hit save.

You will then lose the camera connection.

Then reverse the process to put your computer back on your network IP address range.

Next open up INTERNET EXPLORER and type in the new IP address that you just gave the camera to access it.

OR use the IPconfig Tool, but most of us prefer the above as it is one less program needed and one less chance for the cameras to phone home or for something to get screwed up.

 

[looney2ns]

+1^^^
You wouldn't want the cam to come set to DHCP.
Once you get the hang of it, it only takes a minute or two setup a new cam and change it's IP address.
ALWAYS bench test a camera before permanent mounting.