Weird restarting loop on Empiretech LPR issue but only at night

[yourmom]

I have this camera EmpireTech IPC-B52IR-Z12E S2 Amazon Link which is a knock off of of Dahua IPC-HFW5231E-Z12E Link here

I previously had this camera set up in the same place on my house that I do now. Previously, I was using a different switch to supply the POE. I'm using a larger and more powerful Unifi switch to supply power to all of my cameras now.

The issue is, sometimes the camera will restart/power on and off with no end. Its only been two days but it looks like this only happens at night. I have verified that the network switch has plenty of power left. I also have another IP camera plugged into the switch which operates normally. You can see in the Blue Iris timeline that the LPR camera just restarts constantly from about sundown to about sunrise. I have tried to set the LPR camera into night mode to see if that triggers the restarting behavior during the day and it does not. I have also recrimped the end of the cable which made no difference. I have tried switching the IR illuminators off (at night) and on (during the day) which made no difference.

I have attached all of my LPR's settings for reference.













Day mode:










Here are some interesting logs from the camera:
The first restart after I recrimped the end of the cable was at about 10:47
at the same time there is this log:

which was me saving a change to the exposure configuration. The next log:

is just a system reboot
followed by a start up

and then a save configuration for video format

this is a login from my computer: (10.0.0.15 is my PC and where blue iris is run from)

and then a login from my phone:

and a reboot:
and a start up shortly after:
and then this save configuration for video format from the System user:


I dont know what the Save configuration is about. The reboot, start, save continues all night.



Not sure what to make of the boot loop relation to night time or what could be causing this.

Thanks in advance!

 

[wittaj]

Is normally sounds like a power issue with the infrared taking more power. And that can't be replicated during the day as the infrared will not turn on.

But you said you turned them off and it still happens at night.

Another issue could be if you have an SD card in it and it is failing and for whatever reason only at night.

Or some weird thing where BI is sending a reboot if you have the box checked indicating to interpret monochrome as loss of signal. If you have thar box checked, uncheck it.

 

[yourmom]

Is normally sounds like a power issue with the infrared taking more power. And that can't be replicated during the day as the infrared will not turn on.

But you said you turned them off and it still happens at night.

Another issue could be if you have an SD card in it and it is failing and for whatever reason only at night.

Or some weird thing where BI is sending a reboot if you have the box checked indicating to interpret monochrome as loss of signal. If you have thar box checked, uncheck it.

I changed the profile to run the night profile during the day (right now) which causes the IR lights to be turned on to 100% and there seems to be no ill effect.
The picture becomes black and white and the camera seems to be totally fine right now.

I will check out the restart settings from Blue Iris although I'm suspicious that it may not be that because that should also cause restarts during the day when I make the picture black and white.

 

[wittaj]

I changed the profile to run the night profile during the day (right now) which causes the IR lights to be turned on to 100% and there seems to be no ill effect.
The picture becomes black and white and the camera seems to be totally fine right now.

I will check out the restart settings from Blue Iris although I'm suspicious that it may not be that because that should also cause restarts during the day when I make the picture black and white.

Have you looked at the camera to confirm the IR lights actually came on during the day? Mine do not as the sensor says enough light to not need them.

Cover the front of the camera and see what happens.

No during the day switching to back and white it still sees an image because there is enough light. If yours is like most of ours, at night the image is mostly all black and BI will interpret that as loss of signal.

Most of us had to uncheck the monochrome check box because of this.

 

[yourmom]

Is normally sounds like a power issue with the infrared taking more power. And that can't be replicated during the day as the infrared will not turn on.

But you said you turned them off and it still happens at night.

Another issue could be if you have an SD card in it and it is failing and for whatever reason only at night.

Or some weird thing where BI is sending a reboot if you have the box checked indicating to interpret monochrome as loss of signal. If you have thar box checked, uncheck it.

Although at night, the black and white photo will be very dark as compared to the day time. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe this is actually the answer



I did have this watchdog setting that you suggested might be the issue. I have confirmed that this is the issue by turning the exposure all the way down to get a totally black image (similar to night time with no license plates in view).

The only weird thing that is still not explained is that I do not have the setting set to restart the camera if video loss is detected. In the view of the other camera (totally separate camera wide angle that is set up next to the LPR) I can definitely see the IR lights from the LPR turning on and off (looks like the LPR is rebooting) and the logs from the LPR show reboots happening. I'll turn this watchdog setting off and see what happens.

Thank you so much @wittaj

 

[bigredfish]

As @wittaj mentioned, first thought is the IR coming on and its a power issue.

 

[samplenhold]

Almost every time someone comes on here with these kinds of issues, it turns out to be connectivity. Either the cable or the POE switch.

If it continues, try plugging the cam into a different port. If that does not work, unplug ALL cams from that switch and just plug the offending one in. If that stops the reboots, then start plugging in the other cams one at a time, checking if the LPR starts rebooting. If at some point the LPR cam begins rebooting again, then the switch has a power issue.

 

[AlwaysSomething]

No during the day switching to back and white it still sees an image because there is enough light. If yours is like most of ours, at night the image is mostly all black and BI will interpret that as loss of signal.

Most of us had to uncheck the monochrome check box because of this.

Thank you. The monochrome recommendation may have just helped me with a "no signal" problem I've been having. I just made the changes a few minutes ago and so far it's been helping (fingers crossed). FYI - I already tried different ports, switches, dedicated POE injector, cables, etc but nothing solved it.

This is my 2nd camera of this model to be used for LPR. I was able to get the first one up and dialed in within 1 day (then spent 1 more night slightly tweaking). That image is all black too but not giving the errors so very strange. However, this 2nd camera has been giving me grief for weeks now. I may be starting a new thread for that.

Anyway, thanks again for the monochrome recommendation.