Unhappy with stability of HFW2831T-ZS cameras

AveryFreeman

AveryFreeman

Getting the hang of it
Jan 24, 2019
129
52
Seattle
Hi,

I have a friend who bought 3x HFW2831T-ZS from Andy's Amazon store. I help him manage them since they're his first IP cams. He's got a ton of Wyze, Rings and an old Hikvision HVI 32ch DVR, so I was anxious to show him how great IP cameras are, but the HFW2831T-ZS have been super unstable.

We've had issues connecting with them via DMSS, can connect to live view but recordings don't play. We set them to auto-reboot under the maintenance config tab which helps temporarily, but the recordings become non-responsive after a while and it's a crapshoot knowing when (sometimes half a day, sometimes an hour).

I thought it was related to some 256GB (unsupported size) micro sd cards I use in other Dahua cams, but I replaced them with 128GB SanDisk High Endurance and the problems persist (no change).

I've got them connected to Milestone Xprotect Essential+ now and they're having issues staying connected with that after a while, too (reboot helps). The cat5e run is not particularly long, single run about 180 ft. through conduit, all cables tested good. Using Cisco SG110-16HP for powering, so not a terrible switch.

I noticed the firmware on the HFW2831T-ZS is 2.622.0000000.18.R (2019-01-09) while my IPC-HFW1831C-PIR (for example) is V2.800.0000005.0.R (2019-03-25) and my IPC-T5442TM-AS is V2.800.0000000.10.R (2019-11-18). Does anyone know if there's a newer version of the firmware for the HFW2831T-ZS? I tried the manual check on the camera but it turns up nothing.

Really hoping we can get these cameras functioning better so my friend will want to get away from his Analog + crap consumer cams. Any recommendations much appreciated.

Thanks
 
fenderman said:
That sounds like a cable or crimping issue. The only proper way to test would be to take the camera down and use a short premade cable. Some of the most common errors include failing to use the 568B standard, using copper clad aluminum cca cable, Or making poor crimps.
Click to expand...

I would usually think something like that, too, but it doesn't do it for live feed - only the recording. I was thinking maybe an issue w/ the app (which none of us like, almost wish we would have gone w/ Hikvision solely for that reason).

Tester seems to be reliable:
1609552489598.png

Not CCA. Only 24 gauge, but we needed thinner cable to make it through the conduit.

I personally think it's a firmware issue. Anyone know of any newer firmware for these cameras? It'd be a lot easier to try than climbing 18 ft to take one down. ;)
 
Are you sure its HFW2831T-ZS?
Or maybe its HFW2831T-ZS-S2?
Anyway if it the first option (not S2) then there is a new firmware here:

IPC-HFW2831T-ZS

IPC-HFW2831T-ZS
www.dahuasecurity.com www.dahuasecurity.com

Choose 'Download' then 'Firmware'.
Latest firmware date is 07/01/2020
 
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AveryFreeman said:
I would usually think something like that, too, but it doesn't do it for live feed - only the recording. I was thinking maybe an issue w/ the app (which none of us like, almost wish we would have gone w/ Hikvision solely for that reason).

Tester seems to be reliable:
View attachment 78579

Not CCA. Only 24 gauge, but we needed thinner cable to make it through the conduit.

I personally think it's a firmware issue. Anyone know of any newer firmware for these cameras? It'd be a lot easier to try than climbing 18 ft to take one down. ;)
Click to expand...
This again points to user error. If live works it’s not a camera issue.
 
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Valiant said:
Milestone by default records on motion only, the settings are not sensitive enough (particularly on wide angle shots) and there will be gaps in recording. Check your sensitivity settings.
Click to expand...

Re: Milestone, I set always recording rule. But we're not experiencing any recording issues w/ Milestone --

Only internal camera sd card - and the issue doesn't appear to be the actual recording on the camera, it's connecting TO the camera to view the recordings in the Dahua app.

You click to add the camera's record feed in the dahua app and it fails to connect to the record stream.

To clarify: You can refresh the local storage tab in the web app and see that the sd card is filling up, but can't connect to the record stream in DMSS. Not until after a reboot (for a while).
 
fenderman said:
This again points to user error. If live works it’s not a camera issue.
Click to expand...

User error definitely the most probable issue in all circumstances, but there's not a lot of room here because there's not a lot of options. You'd usually expect dahua app connected to dahua camera, live feed stream connects perfectly, you add a record stream in DMSS and expect it to connect. But the record streams won't connect in DMSS until shortly after the cameras are rebooted.

There really aren't any settings to fiddle with.

I have 2 other similar setups of different Dahua cameras in 2 other locations (geographically) and their recordings connect in the app just fine. Nothing in particular is different about the setup, just different cameras.
 
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Jomsha said:
Anyway if it the first option (not S2) then there is a new firmware here:

IPC-HFW2831T-ZS

IPC-HFW2831T-ZS
www.dahuasecurity.com www.dahuasecurity.com

Choose 'Download' then 'Firmware'.
Latest firmware date is 07/01/2020
Click to expand...

1609617356650.png
Weird, I have visited this page before looking for firmware, but don't see a tab for it in download - am I missing something?
 
Jomsha said:
Indeed Weird, but Through Chrome for android it works
Click to expand...

Can you copy the URL for me, please? I don't see it on my phone (also Android, also Chrome). I'm at IPC-HFW2831T-ZS which apparently is the "international - English" page. I can't seem find the camera on us.dahuasecurity.com (yet).

Edit: I take this back - obviously I'm on the same page as you since I clicked on the link you posted (duh)

I set up an account through Dahua and logged into the website you sent, still no firmware tab under download. I was really hoping that would do it.
 
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I VPN-ed to Canada and now there's a firmware tab on the Dahua international website:

1609634070098.png

I'm waiting to hear back from Andy to see if it's OK to use this, but at least I could finally get a handle on where to find it.
 
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Ubaid Masood said:
Download latest baseline firmware. but by default will be NTSC .. PAL you can change it .. recommended after upgrade factory reset the device
Click to expand...

Thanks, I already got it off the Dahua website in Canada

Two out of three cameras updated, the last one hangs on this:

1609730849033.png

Very frustrating. Oh well, hopefully the firmware update helped the other two cameras, have been doing this for two hours, will figure it out later...
 
AveryFreeman said:
Hi,

I have a friend who bought 3x HFW2831T-ZS from Andy's Amazon store. I help him manage them since they're his first IP cams. He's got a ton of Wyze, Rings and an old Hikvision HVI 32ch DVR, so I was anxious to show him how great IP cameras are, but the HFW2831T-ZS have been super unstable.

We've had issues connecting with them via DMSS, can connect to live view but recordings don't play. We set them to auto-reboot under the maintenance config tab which helps temporarily, but the recordings become non-responsive after a while and it's a crapshoot knowing when (sometimes half a day, sometimes an hour).

I thought it was related to some 256GB (unsupported size) micro sd cards I use in other Dahua cams, but I replaced them with 128GB SanDisk High Endurance and the problems persist (no change).

I've got them connected to Milestone Xprotect Essential+ now and they're having issues staying connected with that after a while, too (reboot helps). The cat5e run is not particularly long, single run about 180 ft. through conduit, all cables tested good. Using Cisco SG110-16HP for powering, so not a terrible switch.

I noticed the firmware on the HFW2831T-ZS is 2.622.0000000.18.R (2019-01-09) while my IPC-HFW1831C-PIR (for example) is V2.800.0000005.0.R (2019-03-25) and my IPC-T5442TM-AS is V2.800.0000000.10.R (2019-11-18). Does anyone know if there's a newer version of the firmware for the HFW2831T-ZS? I tried the manual check on the camera but it turns up nothing.

Really hoping we can get these cameras functioning better so my friend will want to get away from his Analog + crap consumer cams. Any recommendations much appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
The switch has auto sleep enabled?
Reduced energy costs: Cisco 110 Series switches are designed to help conserve energy by optimizing power use without compromising performance, which protects our environment and reduces your energy costs. In addition, they support the Energy Efficient Ethernet (IEEE 802.3az) standard, which reduces energy consumption by monitoring the amount of traffic on an active link and putting the link into a sleep state during quiet periods. Most of the switches have no fans, so they run silently and unobtrusively while lowering energy costs.
 
Of course it's "unmanaged" maybe you cant change anything. the 802.3 af or at standard is what other people are using for camera's. hadn't heard of Az......zzzzzzz :)
 
maybe experiment with another switch to rule that out
 
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Flintstone61 said:
The switch has auto sleep enabled?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm not sure if the switch has any settings we can change, it's a black box (literally and figuritivey). I will check into it, though.

The SG110-16hp is 802.3af compliant, so since the cameras are 802.3af it seems unlikely (to me) that they're going to negotiate a different standard with the switch. It's an interesting catch, though.

I do have other (managed) switches I can try it with if it keeps giving us trouble just to eliminate any possibilities. I hadn't even thought of it, thanks for bringing it up.
 
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