Use nvr as poe injector only

[RG3inAZ]

So, I'm new to this whole thing. I have a problem and a possible solution which might be brilliant or the funniest idea you've heard in a while here.

I snagged a deal on a Dahua nvr and 4 Dahua cameras on Offer Up recently for $60 (N41B1P2 is nvr, N42BJ62 is cams). The guy who sold it received it as a gift from a friend. However, he couldn't get it to work at all. I thought it was a steal.

As it turns out, the nvr is locked and the reset command goes to the original owner's account. While I have asked the seller if he would contact the original owners for help with the reset information, I had another possible way to make use of this possible brick.

Can I remove the HDD from the nvr, then connect the cameras to the nvr and then connect a desktop to the nvr with BI installed? Would the nvr provide power to the cameras and the computer connectivity to the cameras also?

I hope that makes sense. Feel free to either laugh at me or congratulate a noob for figuring something out!!! I'm truly expecting to be laughed at, I gotta say.

 

[wittaj]

Yes, you can use the NVR POE to then pull the camera feed into BI.

However, the NVR operating system is not on the HDD, it is firmware baked into the chip on the motherboard, so it still will not do you any good without an account on the NVR...

 

[RG3inAZ]

Will I be able to use my cameras with this set up or MUST I have a working NVR? I thought with a computer and BI you didn't need an NVR, just an injector. I'm a little confused.

 

[wittaj]

The cameras have a username and password as well, so you would need to reset those.

With a computer and BI, you still need power to camera whether it is via NVR, POE switch, POE injector, or wall wart. So you either need the user/PW for the NVR or factory reset it and set it up so that you can access the cameras through the NVR.

 

[RG3inAZ]

This is helpful, but I have some questions.
1. If I connect computer and cameras to nvr, will the computer "see" the cameras?
2. Another way for me to ask this is will the nvr supply power to the cameras even if I can't log in to the nvr?
3. If I get the username/password for nvr will I be able to reset cameras?
4. If I buy a new nvr, will I still need username/password from original owner for the cameras?

 

[mat200]

FYI -
Think of each IP camera as a separate "PC with a camera" - each one can have it's own user / password.
Think of the NVR as another "PC" which can talk to each camera.

Most will use the same user /password for the NVRs and each camera. This is what is typical.

You should reset the NVR and each camera back to factory defaults if you do not know, or can not guess the user / password(s).

$60 is a sweet deal for the entire kit.. good job on that.




Camera Specs:

 

[wittaj]

This is helpful, but I have some questions.
1. If I connect computer and cameras to nvr, will the computer "see" the cameras?
2. Another way for me to ask this is will the nvr supply power to the cameras even if I can't log in to the nvr?
3. If I get the username/password for nvr will I be able to reset cameras?
4. If I buy a new nvr, will I still need username/password from original owner for the cameras?

1. The computer will only see the cameras if you know the user and password to the NVR. If all you needed to do was have a computer on the network to see an NVR with no user/PW, every criminal in the world would simply log onto a bank or business free wifi and look at their cameras! With BI, you need to provide it with an IP address, username and password for every camera that you are connecting to it. With an NVR as the POE, you provide BI with the IP address of the NVR, along with the username and password of the NVR and then the camera number for each camera.
2. Yes the NVR will supply power to cameras, but you will not be able to see them until you login in to the NVR GUI. No username/password, then no seeing the video in BI.
3. You can probably reset the camera to factory default and then just buy a cheap POE switch if you cannot reset the NVR to factory or get the username password.
4. If you are going to use BI, then just get a cheap POE switch unless you wanted to use the NVR as redundant backup. In all likelihood, the original owner simply plugged the cameras into the NVR, so if you were to plug them into a different NVR, then NVR would simply reassign a user/password to it.

But in reality, you should be looking online for how to reset the NVR to factory reset, then your life is a lot easier...here is a hint that should work...

 

[Flintstone61]

For $40 more dollars you can get a POE switch, bypass all the bullshit, and go straight to BI.

For $100 bucks you can get an Amcrest (Dahua OEM) 4108 NVR and swap the drive over to it, and then do what you propose.( if you can't reset the thing)

When adding camera's in BI from a NVR, you need the IP address of the NVR, and then the Channel # (1,2,3,4,5,etc) assigned to the Cams.
and even then, you can't get into the Camera's to adjust the settings for your locations, unless you can see what IP address the camera has been given.
and you need to know if the previous owner had enabled HTTPs port 554. or are they using Port 80