Recomendations on reliable camera for manufacturing setting

[davidm2232]

Looking for some robust POE bullet cameras for a light manufacturing facility. Lots of dust but nothing too extreme. No need for any sort of motion detection or AI. Just a good quality, reliable camera. We have some Amcrest cameras that need to be power cycled at least daily and we are not happy with them at all. Stream will be brought into Blue Iris

 

[mat200]

Looking for some robust POE bullet cameras for a light manufacturing facility. Lots of dust but nothing too extreme. No need for any sort of motion detection or AI. Just a good quality, reliable camera. We have some Amcrest cameras that need to be power cycled at least daily and we are not happy with them at all. Stream will be brought into Blue Iris

Hi @davidm2232

Probably want to understand better why the current cameras want to be power cycled first, as that could be an issue with other models also.

 

[davidm2232]

Hi @davidm2232

Probably want to understand better why the current cameras want to be power cycled first, as that could be an issue with other models also.

We are totally lost as to why. Different models of Amcrest cameras on different switches. Camera webpage is just blank white. Reboot the camera, and it works fine.

 

[mat200]

We are totally lost as to why. Different models of Amcrest cameras on different switches. Camera webpage is just blank white. Reboot the camera, and it works fine.

Are you using a central storage device? A NVR? VMS?

 

[davidm2232]

Are you using a central storage device? A NVR? VMS?

Yes. Blue Iris

 

[mat200]

Yes. Blue Iris

So are the camera's streams failing on Blue Iris?

 

[davidm2232]

They go offline in Blue Iris, but if you try to go to the camera's web interface, it just loads a blank white page. Once the poe port is powercycled, the camera pops back up in Blue Iris and you can log into the web interface. I have a ticket open with Amcrest but no word yet.

 

[mat200]

They go offline in Blue Iris, but if you try to go to the camera's web interface, it just loads a blank white page. Once the poe port is powercycled, the camera pops back up in Blue Iris and you can log into the web interface. I have a ticket open with Amcrest but no word yet.

What camera model?

 

[davidm2232]

We have the same issues with both the IP8M-2496E-V2 and the IP5M-B1186E. Nightly scheduled reboots of the cameras helped a lot but we still get one or 2 that go offline every day or so

 

[looney2ns]

This could be due to failing POE switch, or wiring issues.
What are the length of the cables running to the cameras?
Was solid copper cable used and not Copper Clad Aluminum to wire the cams?
Wire size of at least 24awg?
Have you tried to reterminate the ends of the cable RJ45's.
Are the RJ45's wired to the 568B standard?
Connections properly protected from any spray or major dust?
Any punch down/patch panels in use? All wires properly punched down?
Does it happen if you take one camera down and connect it with a known good factory made ethernet cable?
Non of the cables running in close proximity to power lines?

 

[mat200]

We have the same issues with both the IP8M-2496E-V2 and the IP5M-B1186E. Nightly scheduled reboots of the cameras helped a lot but we still get one or 2 that go offline every day or so

Hi @davidm2232

I'd test using a very short cat5e/6 cable with copper wires of AWG 23 or 24 on a couple of cameras and see if the problem stays or goes away ..

 

[davidm2232]

This could be due to failing POE switch, or wiring issues.
What are the length of the cables running to the cameras?
Was solid copper cable used and not Copper Clad Aluminum to wire the cams?
Wire size of at least 24awg?
Have you tried to reterminate the ends of the cable RJ45's.
Are the RJ45's wired to the 568B standard?
Connections properly protected from any spray or major dust?
Any punch down/patch panels in use? All wires properly punched down?
Does it happen if you take one camera down and connect it with a known good factory made ethernet cable?
Non of the cables running in close proximity to power lines?

This is occurring on multiple new Meraki switches. No other POE devices have seen any issues whatsoever. Cables are all new Cat 6 and terminated T568B, not sure on conductor size or material but I can check. No punch down panels, cables plug directly into the switches. Some cables are as short as 15 ft and not near any power lines, that one with the short run actually had the most issues before setting up auto rebooting. This is happening on 15 different cameras at various times so I do not believe it is a cable issue. Also, we are still able to ping the camera and get a blank white webpage when trying to access the web interface, occasionally with grey outlined boxes that look like they could be to login but do not allow typing, so the camera is still on the network to some degree.

 

[mat200]

This is occurring on multiple new Meraki switches. No other POE devices have seen any issues whatsoever. Cables are all new Cat 6 and terminated T568B, not sure on conductor size or material but I can check. No punch down panels, cables plug directly into the switches. Some cables are as short as 15 ft and not near any power lines, that one with the short run actually had the most issues before setting up auto rebooting. This is happening on 15 different cameras at various times so I do not believe it is a cable issue. Also, we are still able to ping the camera and get a blank white webpage when trying to access the web interface, occasionally with grey outlined boxes that look like they could be to login but do not allow typing, so the camera is still on the network to some degree.

HI @davidm2232

Is the camera network isolated from cyberattacks?

Are the cameras dropping about at the same time?

Are the switches running any multicast or similar protocals about the time the cameras drop out?

Do you have a cheap PoE switch you can test the cameras on?

 

[sebastiantombs]

What's the operating environment in terms of temperature?

 

[davidm2232]

HI @davidm2232

Is the camera network isolated from cyberattacks?

Are the cameras dropping about at the same time?

Are the switches running any multicast or similar protocals about the time the cameras drop out?

Do you have a cheap PoE switch you can test the cameras on?

Camera network is isolated I believe. I don't have access to the firewalls to confirm that though. Some of the cameras will drop in groups at the same time, but sometimes just one will drop. Not aware of any multicast or anything else going on with the switches. We could probably put in another switch and do some testing but not sure where it would lead us.

@sebastiantombs temps range anywhere from 40F-120F depending on location. But even the outside cameras are seeing the same issues so I don't think it's temperature related.

 

[garycrist]

Sounds like power spikes or dirty power. Probably nothing wrong with the equipment.

 

[davidm2232]

Sounds like power spikes or dirty power. Probably nothing wrong with the equipment.

What is the method to troubleshoot that? Switches themselves don't seem to be the problem. We have a bunch of POE phones with zero issue

 

[garycrist]

It might be a pain in the tail but, can you temporarily run an extension cord to the POE switch that is
on a different circuit? If you have 3 phase, then one of the legs might be failing. Also the power leg to the POEs
might be on the roof-top air-conditioner that might have an unbalanced load.
Loose connections and corrosion @ the junction boxes or @ the A/C will cause the spikes and scrambles the
"computer" inside the cams.

Do you have any POE switches on the cameras that have NO PROBLEMS? If YES, can you get power to the other switch/s?

 

[davidm2232]

It might be a pain in the tail but, can you temporarily run an extension cord to the POE switch that is
on a different circuit? If you have 3 phase, then one of the legs might be failing. Also the power leg to the POEs
might be on the roof-top air-conditioner that might have an unbalanced load.
Loose connections and corrosion @ the junction boxes or @ the A/C will cause the spikes and scrambles the
"computer" inside the cams.

Do you have any POE switches on the cameras that have NO PROBLEMS? If YES, can you get power to the other switch/s?

They are separate switches on different sides of the building on separate circuits and both are having dropping cameras. I think they are powered from different breaker panels even. We have 3 phase computerized roto-molding machines throughout the building that are rock solid, so I doubt a leg is failing.

 

[garycrist]

The reason I mentioned A/C is because that is the one of the biggest surge/spike one runs into.
Are you CERTAIN the mains are clean and not the cause of the problem? The reason I ask, is because
a user here a few months back, had V problems that arose from the mains up the road in a different address.

If you have machine/s that draw a tremendous amount of current, they can cause a kick back of high
voltage. The processor boards get scrambled on some of my cams after lightning storms or power drops too
and need reboots from time to time.
An explanation:

Inductive kickback

I know this is a very basic concept, and has been described in many places, but I still can't 100% understand inductive kickback. simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab ...

electronics.stackexchange.com

A good multi-meter with high/ low / average might find your transient voltage spikes.