IP POE Camera stopped working

[IrfaanD]

Hello, I have an IP 48V POE camera setup and for over a year, everything was working fine. However, since the past 3 months, 5 cameras stopped working suddenly.

Brand Name (Chinese): Techage
Power: 48V POE
Number of cameras: 8
Number of damaged cameras: 5

The cameras are still receiving power but they are making a strange sound through the speaker, the led lights keeps on flashing and the connection is lost.

You can have a look at the video. Any idea what could be the problem? Thank you.

 

[Starglow]

That camera looks very old and probably isn't even supported anymore, so my recommendation is to just replace them with new cameras of a well recognized and better supported brand.

 

[TonyR]

What have you tried so far?

• Tried powering up only 1 camera at a time from the power supply?
• Tried replacing the power supply (POE injector, POE switch, etc.)?

 

[IrfaanD]

That camera looks very old and probably isn't even supported anymore, so my recommendation is to just replace them with new cameras of a well recognized and better supported brand.

Thanks, I have the cameras installed for around 1.5 years but as I have 3 of them still working and bought some replacements, I may need to use them for some more time. I am just worried that something is causing this issue and all may stop working.

 

[IrfaanD]

What have you tried so far?

• Tried powering up only 1 camera at a time from the power supply?
• Tried replacing the power supply (POE injector, POE switch, etc.)?

Thanks for the suggestions. I just tried to power one of the camera via the 12V DC port instead of usual POE. Surprisingly, the camera was able to connect and it worked fine.

Would you know what could be the issue?

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just tried to power one of the camera via the 12V DC port instead of usual POE. Surprisingly, the camera was able to connect and it worked fine.

Would you know what could be the issue?

If the cam won't power up on POE but it will on the 12VDC, it could be a defective module inside the cam that converts incoming POE to 12VDC for the cam.

How is the POE supplied? If switch or injector, have you tried powering up just 1 cam? Then 2?

 

[IrfaanD]

The cameras are powered directly from the NVR. I tries to connect only 1 camera at a time but it's the same issue.

Do you think I can use a POE splitter 48V to 12V? Or if you know of any other possible solution?

 

[TonyR]

I see those are pre-made cables which often can be not pure copper but CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) which can cause issues, especially POE. But you said all 5 cams stopped "suddenly" which in my mind lets them off the hook.....to a degree. Meaning one could have failed so badly that it cause a current issue in the NVR's POE circuitry which shut down 5 of the 8 ports, I don't know. But keep in mind that the blue pre-made cables are suspect IF...they are not pure copper.

Instead of 5 POE to 12VDC splitters I think it would be cleaner to buy and use an 8 port POE switch; don't buy a 5 port because you have 5 cams and you need an uplink port to connect to the NVR's LAN/WAN port.

EDIT: keep in mind that when the cams were powered by the NVR they were likely on the NVR's private server of a specific network subnet, such as 10.1.1.XXX. If you instead plug them into a POE switch then all the cams will likely have to be configured to be on the same subnet as the NVR's LAN port such as 192.168.1.XXX.

 

[IrfaanD]

I see those are pre-made cables which often can be not pure copper but CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) which can cause issues, especially POE. But you said all 5 cams stopped "suddenly" which in my mind lets them off the hook.....to a degree. Meaning one could have failed so badly that it cause a current issue in the NVR's POE circuitry which shut down 5 of the 8 ports, I don't know. But keep in mind that the blue pre-made cables are suspect IF...they are not pure copper.

Instead of 5 POE to 12VDC splitters I think it would be cleaner to buy and use an 8 port POE switch; don't buy a 5 port because you have 5 cams and you need an uplink port to connect to the NVR's LAN/WAN port.

EDIT: keep in mind that when the cams were powered by the NVR they were likely on the NVR's private server of a specific network subnet, such as 10.1.1.XXX. If you instead plug them into a POE switch then all the cams will likely have to be configured to be on the same subnet as the NVR's LAN port such as 192.168.1.XXX.

Hi Tony, sorry for the late reply. Thank you very much for your assistance. Much appreciated. At least, I will be able to use the cameras for some more time without replacing the full setup.

The cables are indeed not pure copper.

Just to add, I tried to replace 1 camera with a brand new one and the new one is working perfectly while connected to the same POE port. This makes me think that the damage is in the cameras itself and not in the NVR but I could be wrong. In any case, I will try both options (POE switch and splitter) and see which one works for me.