NV5232 less stable than NV4116?

ExTechjunkie

Young grasshopper
Oct 21, 2020
43
19
New York
For years, I ran a hodgepodge of 14 mixed brand ONVIF cams on an Amcrest NV4116 with the only Dahua firmware version that preserved motion detection on all the cams. Several months ago, I swapped it out for an Amcrest NV5232 and updated that with again… the only Dahua firmware version that recognized the ONVIF motion detection from all the cams. The version number is nearly identical and so is the release date.
I am pleased with the increased responsiveness of the newer model and the ability to preview and playback 4 4K cams at a time.

Recently, the newer NVR has developed a habit of hanging after a few days. The old one was bulletproof.

I’m wondering if the summer month temperatures of the basement it is in is a contributing factor.

Does anyone else with this model find it necessary to reboot it several times a week to keep it running? Is ambient room temp a concern?
 
Not likely

Im not familiar with Amcrest NVRs but am with Dahua branded NVRs

When you say it hangs? what does that mean exactly? Are you streaming 24/7? How?

No changes at all on camera bitrates, no other system changes?

How many cameras and how many of each MP?
 
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Not likely

Im not familiar with Amcrest NVRs but am with Dahua branded NVRs

When you say it hangs? what does that mean exactly? Are you streaming 24/7? How?

No changes at all on camera bitrates, no other system changes?

How many cameras and how many of each MP?
By hangs, I mean I can’t connect to it remotely through the DMSS app, and attempting to search or access any feature through the console results in a reboot. When it comes back online, it’s apparent that it hasn’t been recording any channel for some length of time. (Hours or days depending on how long it took me to discover it was in this state).

Using the exact same cameras and HDD that the lesser model handled with aplomb. 14 cams in total. 12 recording always+motion and 2 motion only. 7 8mp, 3 5mp, 4 2mp. Same single 12TB HDD. Network bandwidth is ~60mbps… well under the 80mbps limitation of the 4116 and only a fraction of the 5232’s capabilities.

To try to mitigate the crashes, I added a once weekly reboot scheduled on NVR maintenance page. When that proved to not be enough , I added another using the dahua API via a script scheduled by windows task scheduler. Will try upping frequency of the scheduled task to daily but don’t like the idea of daily downtime being necessary just to keep this running. Considering switching back to the 4116 for reliability.
 
Yeah that doesn’t sound right. That NVR should handle the load easily. I reboot mine monthly just because.

I would first see if you can navigate to logs to see what if anything they may show. Sorta sounds like hardware issue, HD, peripheral…

Have you tried connecting to it via a web browser on the local lan using its IP? I use the console for the first 10 min of setup and never go back.
 
You know using DMSS remote it’s probably using P2P to Dahua servers. Could be something changed on P2P setup? IP change? I know that doesn’t account for the reboot issue…
 
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You know using DMSS remote it’s probably using P2P to Dahua servers. Could be something changed on P2P setup? IP change? I know that doesn’t account for the reboot issue…
P2P is disabled. I have DMSS configured to connect by IP (using dynamic dns and port forwarding). New NVR is configured with same static IP as the one it replaced.
Yeah that doesn’t sound right. That NVR should handle the load easily. I reboot mine monthly just because.

I would first see if you can navigate to logs to see what if anything they may show. Sorta sounds like hardware issue, HD, peripheral…

Have you tried connecting to it via a web browser on the local lan using its IP? I use the console for the first 10 min of setup and never go back.
connecting by IP a no-go when it’s in this state. The only relevant log entry is the one that indicates “Abnormal Reboot”
 
Im outta ideas without hands on. Sure sounds like hardware issue of some type. Mebbe the internal network card is going to lunch?

Have you tried disconnecting from the network completely?
 
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Maybe test the hard drive or swap in a known good one to see how it reacts to that.
 
Was the older NVR a similar back plane? 1 WAN port? and 0 POE ports?
 
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Check the NVR's log and see what it shows, the NVR is a poe one or None POE?
 
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If I did that, none of the cams would be connected to it. This model only has the one port.

Sorry I meant disconnect from the internet. Leave the cameras plugged into the external switch but disconnect the incoming internet from your router.
 
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I would isolate the new NVR from the internet for a while and see if the problem continues. If it does not, then it might have been attacked?
Sorry I meant disconnect from the internet. Leave the cameras plugged into the external switch but disconnect the incoming internet from your router.
That’s an idea. I’ll check the router logs first. If I disconnect the Poe switch from the router, I lose the WiFi mesh connection to two WiFi doorbells and one WiFi cam.
 
Non-POE. Logs are ordinary right up until the abnormal reboot.
I think I can rule out heat…
View attachment 167002
Holy smokes batman!

My NVR started behaving weirdly at 60*c when the fans got clogged with dust.
That CPU is roasting at 70*c, it's a lie that it says 'Normal'.
 
Good catch
 
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Holy smokes batman!

My NVR started behaving weirdly at 60*c when the fans got clogged with dust.
That CPU is roasting at 70*c, it's a lie that it says 'Normal'.
Well, that’s disappointing. The self adaptive setting for the fan should raise its speed if the cpu is getting too hot. I’ll try changing the setting to constant instead of self adaptive and see what effect that has on temp. Not looking forward to the whine of 8600rpm. If it makes a difference then I’ll have to look into a diy cooling upgrade.
 
Well, that’s disappointing. The self adaptive setting for the fan should raise its speed if the cpu is getting g too hot. I’ll try changing the setting to constant instead of self adaptive and see what effect that has on temp. It point forward to the whine of 8600rpm. If it makes a difference then I’ll have to look into a diy cooling upgrade.
I put Noctua fans in my NVR, at full power it's still quieter than the original fans where at 'adaptive'.

Make sure there's ventilation around the NVR as well, and heat can escape. My NVR's in a cupboard and I had to put a vent in the ceiling to effectively remove hot air.
 
I put Noctua fans in my NVR, at full power it's still quieter than the original fans where at 'adaptive'.

Make sure there's ventilation around the NVR as well, and heat can escape. My NVR's in a cupboard and I had to put a vent in the ceiling to effectively remove hot air.
Thanks. What’s your temp & cpu utilization at for reference?