I was having an intermittent signal issue with one of my Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE cameras. It would record fine for hours or several days, then drop for several hours to a day at a time. Also, sluggish, unusable response time from the camera's web server page.
After much troubleshooting, upgrading firmware, replacing RJ-45 connectors, swapping cameras around, etc., I determined that the camera was defective. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the tiniest bit of corrosion on a couple of the leads of the female RJ-45 jack (camera pigtail end) and also thought maybe the pigtail had been installed (by me) with a bit too severe of a bend. The corrosion was so insignificant, and out near the outer ends of the pins, so I doubt this was the culprit, but I decided to replace the pigtail.
I ordered a new pigtail from AliExpress for a few dollars and waited about a month for shipping. I bought from seller Shuncheng Electronics (no affiliation).
The Dahua color scheme was different from the cable I received, so I used a continuity tester to create a pinout diagram that I wanted to share. The new cable came with several connectors, none of which was the required 12-pin connector, so I carefully removed the old cables and reused the original 12-pin camera connector.
The camera works great now!
Posting my pinout chart in case this helps someone else.
I decided not to connect the DC power pigtail, but it would be connected like this: Outside Barrel (black, pin 8) & Center Post (Red, pin 5), Note that the crimps on my replacement cable for these two leads were larger than all the others, too large to fit the original 12-pin connector. I had previously decided to not connect them anyway, so wasn't an issue for me.
After much troubleshooting, upgrading firmware, replacing RJ-45 connectors, swapping cameras around, etc., I determined that the camera was defective. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the tiniest bit of corrosion on a couple of the leads of the female RJ-45 jack (camera pigtail end) and also thought maybe the pigtail had been installed (by me) with a bit too severe of a bend. The corrosion was so insignificant, and out near the outer ends of the pins, so I doubt this was the culprit, but I decided to replace the pigtail.
I ordered a new pigtail from AliExpress for a few dollars and waited about a month for shipping. I bought from seller Shuncheng Electronics (no affiliation).
The Dahua color scheme was different from the cable I received, so I used a continuity tester to create a pinout diagram that I wanted to share. The new cable came with several connectors, none of which was the required 12-pin connector, so I carefully removed the old cables and reused the original 12-pin camera connector.
The camera works great now!
Posting my pinout chart in case this helps someone else.
| RJ-45 | Dahua Color | Cam Connector | New Color |
| 1 | Brown | 9 | Blue/White |
| 2 | Purple | 10 | Blue |
| 3 | Orange | 11 | Green/White |
| 4 | Yellow | 2 | Yellow |
| 5 | Open | N/A | Open |
| 6 | Blue | 12 | Green |
| 7 | Grey | 4 | Grey |
| 8 | Grey | 4 | Grey |
I decided not to connect the DC power pigtail, but it would be connected like this: Outside Barrel (black, pin 8) & Center Post (Red, pin 5), Note that the crimps on my replacement cable for these two leads were larger than all the others, too large to fit the original 12-pin connector. I had previously decided to not connect them anyway, so wasn't an issue for me.
