Network drop out - Possibly caused by Dahua IP Camera(?)

[ManicGTI]

Hi all, apologies if this is the wrong section and for the possible crudeness of my info...i'm not a regular poster.

So I am having a networking issue that I think is caused by on of my IP cameras, a IPC-T5442TM-AS (From @EMPIRETECANDY). Approx 1-3X Daily all SSIDs disappear and all hardwired devices lose their connections / IPs.

After much messing around (...trial and error!), I believe I have traced it back to the IPC-T5442TM-AS. The problems started when I installed it in place of an older camera a few weeks ago. If I leave it unplugged I get no issues, and when these drop outs occur, as soon as I unplug it I get the network back immediately.

• Network setup: Cable Router in modem mode > Unifi USG router > Main switch > POE switch > 3x IP Cameras, Unifi APs, Unifi Cloudkey.
• I have 3 X IP Cameras, on concurrent fixed IPs (fixed on router via cloudkey and updated in camera settings).
• No notifications on the Unifi Controller other than 'USG is unreachable' at the time the fault occurs and a reconnected note ~15 mins later. Logs on the USG Router say the IP of the Controller (Cloud key) is unreachable at the time of the drop out. I'll see if there's any logs on the Cloudkey itself that are of use.

Camera details:
System Version V2.800.0000000.8.R, Build Date: 2019-09-02
WEB Version V3.2.1.783129
ONVIF Versio n18.06(V2.4.5.698080)
Algorithm Version1.0.0 (! Algorithm Authorisation Expired !)
Security Baseline Version V2.0

I'll admit i'm an amateur when it comes to networking and cams, so i'm not really sure where to start on working out exactly why problem is occurring - any suggestions welcome! I guess it could be my Unifi Controller at fault, but the camera is the device tripping it up. As I work from home mostly I've left the camera unplugged for a few days now and had zero network issues.

Thank you in advance!

David

 

[setch]

Dodgy ethernet cable maybe, have you tried a different cable?

 

[ManicGTI]

Dodgy ethernet cable maybe, have you tried a different cable?

Thanks for the suggestion, would that cause this kind of issue?

I've tested the cable run with a generic Ethernet cable tester and shows as ok on all cores, plus I've had an older Dahua turret on in that spot for 4-5 years with no issues. BUT I guess I could have disturbed something, so i'll swap the cameras back and connect the 5442 directly to the POE switch in the cupboard with just a short cable and see if that makes any difference.

 

[looney2ns]

Cable could be damaged. Cable has too sharp of bends in it.
Rj45's were not wired to 568B standard.
Copper clad aluminum cable used instead of solid copper cable, of at least 24awg size.
Corrosion on Rj45s from cable not being properly waterproofed.
WaterProofing Connections

 

[Dabba dabba dabid]

Did you assign the new camera the same static IP address?

 

[garycrist]

How much power and how old is the POE switch? (too much current draw from cam)

 

[setch]

My father in-law had a similar experience a few weeks back where his computer kept rebooting and the cameras dropped. We traced it back to a nick in the CAT5 cable, the wire was not broken, but a screw was touching the bared wire. After replacing the cable, everything went back to normal operation.

 

[ManicGTI]

Cable could be damaged. Cable has too sharp of bends in it.
Rj45's were not wired to 568B standard.
Copper clad aluminum cable used instead of solid copper cable, of at least 24awg size.
Corrosion on Rj45s from cable not being properly waterproofed.
WaterProofing Connections

The first two are possible.
I've wired everything to 568B, with Cat6 solid core cable. This camera is on my garage so goes through a ~7m of outdoor spec cable along a fence, all connections (inc rj45 plugs) are inside the garage aside from the camera itself, which is mounted on a IP65 Junction box - no obvious signs of water ingress.

Sounds like consenus is wiring, so when I get a mo i'll move the camera inside and see if that sorts it.

In what I can only assume is unbelievably poor timing , in the 3 days I've had the camera offline (not that anyone would know), some ####head has tried to rip off the front indicator on my old VW Camper. Not steal it...it's only held on by two philips screws so easily stolen, they've literally levered it out bending and splitting the metal panel. I'm livid. As it happens it's the only corner of the van that isn't normally covered by this camera - so it looks like they saw the camera. Sadly as it was offline I won't even be able to see them walking round the van. So annoyed.

 

[ManicGTI]

Oh just for completeness, the main switch is a TL-SG1024D, the POE switch is a TL-SG1008PE (126W total, max 30W/port).

 

[ManicGTI]

So, just to follow up. I've swapped the cameras back and reinstalled the old 2mp Dahua Turret above the garage, all working fine as before (Pings great, but a little slow to view on-camera settings/access SD card files).

I've reset and installed the latest firmware from Empire on the suspect T5442, and left it powered up (via same POE) in my home office while I went away for a few days, and i've had no drop outs since!

I now have my BI machine is back up and running and i'm getting feeds from all three cameras - with no issues as far as I can tell. Annoyingly I didn't have 'log to file' turned on, so have turned that on to see if I get any camera dropouts from there (if any).

I'm hoping it's the firmware that has solved the unknown issue, although I guess I could have moved a cable /disturbed a connection doing the camera swap.

edit: to correct crappy spelling.