IP camera connection problems

[IP cam]

I bought an unbranded wired PTZ 10 x optical zoom IP camera on eBay. I set it up to use a static IP address on both the camera and the router, and it worked ok to start with on all mobile phones, notepad, laptop and desktop PC, when used occasionally. But having installed it permanently it then started to lose video feed on all android aps. It then also disappeared from the Firefox display. Although I could restart the camera and see the image, it was soon lost again. When it crashes, sometimes it changes IP address. Occasionally when you pan tilt it stalls and shows a menu or continues to move without sending further commands. The web page crashes most times when you try to change any settings, and sometimes does not respond at all. However you can still ping the camera at whatever IP address it is using.

I would really appreciate any help with this; I am relatively new to setting up of IP camera.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Version:V6.04.02-CGBO24200-141119
Product info:TI-LC13-10X series

 

[alastairstevenson]

I think the best advice, in my opinion, would be to return the (unspecified) device for a full refund as it sounds like it's 'not fit for purpose'.
I doubt very much that any setup choices you make would give variable and erratic symptoms as you have described.
This is on the assumption that you are powering it correctly, and that you have a solid and reliable wired network connection to it, ie not using WiFi or similar option.

 

[nayr]

take it down from where you installed it, then bench test it and see if the problems persist.. sounds like its got some damaged cabling or the cable run is too long and the voltage drop is too great. If you made your ethernet cable run a tester on it, Ive seen problems just like this with a badly crimped ethernet cable.

since this all started after the perm install it points to a cabling issue first, dont replace the camera yet as another one could have the same problems with the same cables.

 

[IP cam]

Hello, thank you for your replies. The camera is being returned to the supplier, but they want to send a replacement I think. Not sure if it is a fault with just this camera, or they are dodgy copies from China and cheap for this very reason? £230 is not cheap to us, but for this type of camera, in the shops it would cost more. The seller assures us that this is the first complaint, so we hope that a replacement will work. We ran a cable tester and saw no issues, also pinged it with no packet loss in an hour. So all looks good on the physical layer.

 

[fenderman]

Hello, thank you for your replies. The camera is being returned to the supplier, but they want to send a replacement I think. Not sure if it is a fault with just this camera, or they are dodgy copies from China and cheap for this very reason? £230 is not cheap to us, but for this type of camera, in the shops it would cost more. The seller assures us that this is the first complaint, so we hope that a replacement will work. We ran a cable tester and saw no issues, also pinged it with no packet loss in an hour. So all looks good on the physical layer.

Please do yourself a favor and dont waste your money on these cheap junk no name cameras...its not worth your time...you are not the first one to complain...you might be the first for that day, but not the first ...Either buy a few fixed cameras instead or invest in a proper PTZ..

 

[IP cam]

I really wish I had known about these camera faults before we purchased one. It is such a lot of money to us, we think the seller wants to send a replacement. If we have problems with the next one it will cost us again to return too. I hope we don't end up losing the money and not seeing a replacement or refund, the seller is on eBay and they are not a large company, possibly just a private seller. They said we had a 6 month warranty when we purchased but have since said they only usually give 3 months warranty, but will honour the 6 month as that is what they said initially. Oh the trouble this camera has been! Thanks again.

 

[Del Boy]

A bit of the problem with buying from eBay (especially from hobby sellers) is that you 1) don't know what you are getting and 2) are getting little or no tech support

A lot of these cameras look the same (because the housing is made in one factory) but the electronics etc are completely different. I wouldn't buy a no-name unless it was from a company with good support and they supplied videos of the product.

It's ebay... if it's genuinely not working, you can send it back for free. I'd do that rather than get a replacement.

My checks would be as follows:

1) Check for damaged cable / change cable (or connect via Ethernet if it's using Wireless)
2) Test power supply
3) Hard reset camera

Del Boy

P.S. £230 isn't enough for a decent PTZ in the UK, I can recommend one I have (which I use with my Hikvision NVR) if you want but it's almost double that price.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Did you see this thread of what may be the same camera, with some comments on the firmware versions, though no download links?
http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=9166.0

 

[fenderman]

They are not a private seller if the have more units to sell you...a common tactic is to make you feel bad for them. You are protected by ebay, send it back and get a refund. Dont get sucked into this.

 

[Del Boy]

Did you see this thread of what may be the same camera, with some comments on the firmware versions, though no download links?
http://www.cam-it.org/index.php?topic=9166.0

I personally wouldn't flash it with something unless the seller had given it to you. If it goes wrong then it's now your fault you've bricked it.

Agree with fenderman - these guys aren't private sellers but trying to get around business fees and returns policies.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Yes indeed. It was as much for confirmation that others have found that the device can be troublesome.

 

[IP cam]

Thank you again for all replies and help here.


We have been greener than grass with this purchase. We feel a bit silly now, and have asked for a refund instead of replacement. So we are just waiting to hear back from the seller now to see if they will be ok with this. He has been helpful so far, so have to give him the benefit of the doubt. It is just business and he probably had no idea these cameras were unreliable, even if perhaps they are not all unreliable. The only slight concern is that we do not have any technical support with this, but we have been told their technical departmentis open again Thursday…I think I know what you will think of that, it has crossed our minds too. But you do have to give people the benefit of the doubt, no choice really.

We are so sad this has happened, we were enjoying watching wildlife in our garden, have many visitors we didn’t even know about before the infrared camera was installed. We have spent so much time on this, got so frustrated with it. The picture came back and worked for a couple of days and we told the seller we were no longer returning it, and then it crashed again! So feel even more silly now, I think we just wanted it to work so badly, we hoped for the best.


I don’t yet know how much it is going to cost to send it back, as we have had it over three months, eBay and PayPal can’t do much to help. I rang the credit card company and they say if we can’t sort things out they can step in. It isn’t that we think the seller will not replace or refund, we just have to cover ourselves.



I’m not sure if we can afford an expensive camera at the moment, we thought we were really pushing the boat out with this one.



Tonight we will test everything but if we fail to find the problem it will go back later this week.

 

[Del Boy]

If it's been over three months then getting a refund instead of a replacement isn't your choice but the retailers (nor do I personally think that is fair to insist on one). They can choose to repair or replace it.

The credit card company isn't a magic wand either, they know the rules (as do PayPal who have already said no by the sounds of it), if the seller repairs/replaces then they can't do anything. You can't expect a refund after 3 months... that's a bit unfair even if we are all slating the quality of it now.

Your best bet is to work with the seller. You've been a good buyer so far so it'd be a shame if you turned into a nightmare one for them. Thursday means they are probably going back to their Chinese supplier. Give them some time to try and sort it, from your original post I think most repliers (me included) thought you had only just bought it.

Edited to add: Have you tried hard resetting the camera from within it's web-browser GUI?

 

[fenderman]

If it's been over three months then getting a refund instead of a replacement isn't your choice but the retailers (nor do I personally think that is fair to insist on one). They can choose to repair or replace it.

The credit card company isn't a magic wand either, they know the rules (as do PayPal who have already said no by the sounds of it), if the seller repairs/replaces then they can't do anything. You can't expect a refund after 3 months... that's a bit unfair even if we are all slating the quality of it now.

Your best bet is to work with the seller. You've been a good buyer so far so it'd be a shame if you turned into a nightmare one for them. Thursday means they are probably going back to their Chinese supplier. Give them some time to try and sort it, from your original post I think most repliers (me included) thought you had only just bought it.

Edited to add: Have you tried hard resetting the camera from within it's web-browser GUI?

Paypal has extended its purchase protection to 180 days...at least in the US...not sure about other countries..

 

[LittleBrother]

How long have you had this? To many sellers' chagrin on Ebay, regardless of their return policy, Ebay often forces a seller to give refunds when the buyer isn't happy anyway.

Courteously continue to ask for that refund and do not tolerate any delays (if you get any), and be sure to work within Ebay's time windows on getting your money back.

The truth is you can get a good camera for much less than what you paid, but another truth is that for what you paid there is no good PTZ 10X optical zoom camera. So if optical + PTZ is a necessity you'll need to raise your budget a great deal. If a static cam is acceptable you can get a really nice one for much less money.

 

[IP cam]

If it's been over three months then getting a refund instead of a replacement isn't your choice but the retailers (nor do I personally think that is fair to insist on one). They can choose to repair or replace it.

The credit card company isn't a magic wand either, they know the rules (as do PayPal who have already said no by the sounds of it), if the seller repairs/replaces then they can't do anything. You can't expect a refund after 3 months... that's a bit unfair even if we are all slating the quality of it now.

Your best bet is to work with the seller. You've been a good buyer so far so it'd be a shame if you turned into a nightmare one for them. Thursday means they are probably going back to their Chinese supplier. Give them some time to try and sort it, from your original post I think most repliers (me included) thought you had only just bought it.

Oh no, I haven't insisted, I have asked. He can refuse, and replace if that is his decision. I only contacted the card company because we just wanted to know if we have any come back at all if things went wrong.

We will completely work with the seller, we wouldn't be any other way. He has so far wanted to help, we are just a bit stressed over this. Sorry if it seems we have been unreasonable.

Thank you, and I do agree with all you have said. I just have to point out that we are quite new to using this camera full time, as we had only used it indoors as work was going on outside the house where we wanted it.

 

[fenderman]

Oh no, I haven't insisted, I have asked. He can refuse, and replace if that is his decision. I only contacted the card company because we just wanted to know if we have any come back at all if things went wrong.

We will completely work with the seller, we wouldn't be any other way. He has so far wanted to help, we are just a bit stressed over this. Sorry if it seems we have been unreasonable.

Thank you, and I do agree with all you have said. I just have to point out that we are quite new to using this camera full time, as we had only used it indoors as work was going on outside the house where we wanted it.

Paypal buyer protection is extended to 180 days...you have every right to use it. If more folks did, they wouldnt be dumping defective cameras on the market..

 

[Del Boy]

PayPal buyer protection is basically the same as chargeback. It's there to cover against "Items Not Received" or "Significantly Not as Described".

I do agree though that if it's defective and they don't repair or replace then I would say explore this option but it will be tricky.

The issue I have with this, is that the people who should use it don't and the ones who abuse the system put off decent sellers. (IP cam definitely not being the latter!)

Sorry for taking it slightly off topic. Let us know how you get on with trying to fix it.

 

[IP cam]

Hello, been a few weeks since we had the problems with the camera. We ended up returning the camera for a replacement, so far the replacement works. The seller was more than fair and refunded our courier costs returning the faulty camera. So we hope this time the camera will keep working and we can enjoy using it for our garden and watching all the wonderful wildlife which visits it.
Thank you for all your help and input, take care.

 

[alastairstevenson]

A good result then, thank you for the update.