Also, of note: I noticed that the cameras felt really hot. I used a temp gun to see, because it was almost uncomfortable to the touch. 110-112°. Yowza. I don't remember the old ones getting that hot.
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Yet another new lorex Costco kit. 4k IP Fusion + alarm kit
- Thread starter Firefighter
- Start date
One last thing I just noticed and then I swear I'll stop bumping this thread needlessly.
I'm not sure if it's lens placement, minor discrepancies in the casting tolerances, or just shoddy assembly overall, but every single camera seems to give a slightly different picture than another. I have my front door cam mounted on the same place since installing these new cams, on stucco, with premium anchors and screws, not the included crap.
I've tried 5 different cams now, each one is either a slightly closer-looking picture, or a slightly farther-looking picture. Not a single one seems like it was assembled carefully. With my old set from 2017, I could move camera 4 to the camera camera 1 position, and could match the picture perfectly. Not possible with this new set. I'm still very new to home surveillance cameras, so I don't know if this is typical from this manufacturer or just these cams in general, but it seems to me QC has fallen considerably since my first purchase. Not sure if pandemic-related or not. Just putting it out there.
I'm not sure if it's lens placement, minor discrepancies in the casting tolerances, or just shoddy assembly overall, but every single camera seems to give a slightly different picture than another. I have my front door cam mounted on the same place since installing these new cams, on stucco, with premium anchors and screws, not the included crap.
I've tried 5 different cams now, each one is either a slightly closer-looking picture, or a slightly farther-looking picture. Not a single one seems like it was assembled carefully. With my old set from 2017, I could move camera 4 to the camera camera 1 position, and could match the picture perfectly. Not possible with this new set. I'm still very new to home surveillance cameras, so I don't know if this is typical from this manufacturer or just these cams in general, but it seems to me QC has fallen considerably since my first purchase. Not sure if pandemic-related or not. Just putting it out there.
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
- 15,465
- 26,030
Depending on the camera model, a lens is screwed on and adjusted to a focus point. I am guessing each one is screw on a bit more or less.
In the thread on the original costco lorex hit, @rkilpa shared his work to replace the lens with a stronger one and you can see what you need to do for that.
FYI - Some local Costco B&M have a Lorex / Dahua OEM 4K 6x camera kit and 8 port NVR for $800
Shutter speeds will have to be adjusted in the cams themselves. IE: You will have to connect to the camera direct. Reading License plates is an art. A 1 mp cam setup correctly, can easily catch plates. But it needs to be dedicated to that single job. Read the LPR section on this forum...
Depending on the camera model, a lens is screwed on and adjusted to a focus point. I am guessing each one is screw on a bit more or less.
In the thread on the original costco lorex hit, @rkilpa shared his work to replace the lens with a stronger one and you can see what you need to do for that.
FYI - Some local Costco B&M have a Lorex / Dahua OEM 4K 6x camera kit and 8 port NVR for $800
Shutter speeds will have to be adjusted in the cams themselves. IE: You will have to connect to the camera direct. Reading License plates is an art. A 1 mp cam setup correctly, can easily catch plates. But it needs to be dedicated to that single job. Read the LPR section on this forum...ipcamtalk.com
Ooh, nice. I'll wait and see if anyone with greater skills than I possess to crack open these new ones and see if they're "upgradable". Thanks, I hadn't thought to meddle with them like this. Appreciate the heads-up, Mat.
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
- 15,465
- 26,030
HI nynaz
Is this one of the new cameras ( i.e. with the smaller sensor? )
Config Tool should find it.
I'd try this: Change your netmask to see the entire 192.168.x.x range
The default IP for Dahua is 192.168. 1.108
I don't know if Lorex continues with that spec
There are some reports that there is a higher number of QA issues with these cameras in those kits, so you may need to RMA it.
nynaz
n3wb
- Aug 31, 2015
- 9
- 4
ya its the newer version... i tried 192.168. 1.108 no go. do they actually RMA individual cams or does it have to be the whole sys?
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
- 15,465
- 26,030
Hi Nyanz
1) Lorex should RMA individual cameras... many people have reported issues with from Lorex customer service on this.
2) Costco perhaps could RMA individual cameras.. depends on the manager, but iirc that would not be standard protocol - as they would have to basically junk a kit.
Costco normally does kit swaps. ( if returning a kit, please do pull tape with "OK" / "BAD" on the cameras, can help Costco do #2 )
Thus some have mentioned picking up 2 kits, bench testing all, burning in for 72hrs and then return the rejects. Perhaps that should be the standard way we as customers have to deal with this even though I do not like burning though 2 kits to get one good one. ( hmm.. maybe test one kit, and if problems pick up another and assemble a working kit from that )
In your situation, I would ask the manager at Costco what they recommend.
Perhaps there is an issue with firmware not getting properly burned in? perhaps a hardware issue? Who knows? ( would be nice to know.. )
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brianegge
Getting comfortable
I purchased the Costco Lorex kit six months ago - before the Fusion Kit. I set everything up in my basement first, so I tested everything before mounting the cameras. The wizard makes you name the cameras on startup, which resulted me in needing to rename them all of the system was setup. In general I'm happy with the setup. All are running 4k/15fps and I can record about a week on the NVR. I don't have a monitor attached to the NVR but use SmartPSS if I want to view the cameras or recordings.
The app is so poor and has such lag it's not really worth it. I turned off P2P after I noticing multiple GBs leaving my network each day from the Lorex for no apparent reason.
1) The two way audio in theory allows you to talk to someone. It takes 15 second for the app to load, and another 15 seconds to open the two way chat, plus a few seconds of lag, so I found I couldn't even use it to tell the dog to come in.
2) The lights operate based on time of day, not based on if they are needed, resulting in them turning on during the day. You can't adjust how long they stay on - seems to be about 5 seconds. At night, the IR will show some creature coming, then the lights come on, causing the camera to adjust to the new light level for about 2-3 seconds, then you have 2 second of video, the lights turn off, and then another 3-5 seconds for the camera to adjust to the night. It's almost better to leave them off, because the mess up the very part of the video you want to see.
3) The siren button on the app again suffers from such lag, it's not worth using. You press the button, hear nothing, and don't know if it didn't get the command or if it's just delayed. You press again and listen. I can't figure out how to enable the alarm via the API, which would be useful to tie into my alarm system.
4) Most of the time the thumbnails don't work in the app.
I wish the app could connect on my local network (only) when I'm home - that might fix many of the lag issues.
But the camera are great for the price! And the kit comes with everything you need, such as ethernet cable for each cam, PoE, etc..
The app is so poor and has such lag it's not really worth it. I turned off P2P after I noticing multiple GBs leaving my network each day from the Lorex for no apparent reason.
1) The two way audio in theory allows you to talk to someone. It takes 15 second for the app to load, and another 15 seconds to open the two way chat, plus a few seconds of lag, so I found I couldn't even use it to tell the dog to come in.
2) The lights operate based on time of day, not based on if they are needed, resulting in them turning on during the day. You can't adjust how long they stay on - seems to be about 5 seconds. At night, the IR will show some creature coming, then the lights come on, causing the camera to adjust to the new light level for about 2-3 seconds, then you have 2 second of video, the lights turn off, and then another 3-5 seconds for the camera to adjust to the night. It's almost better to leave them off, because the mess up the very part of the video you want to see.
3) The siren button on the app again suffers from such lag, it's not worth using. You press the button, hear nothing, and don't know if it didn't get the command or if it's just delayed. You press again and listen. I can't figure out how to enable the alarm via the API, which would be useful to tie into my alarm system.
4) Most of the time the thumbnails don't work in the app.
I wish the app could connect on my local network (only) when I'm home - that might fix many of the lag issues.
But the camera are great for the price! And the kit comes with everything you need, such as ethernet cable for each cam, PoE, etc..
Hi all,
I had posted this on the "NVR" subforum (which I'll now delete), but then found this thread which I realize is the exact Lorex system that I recently purchased:
I'm encountering an unusual problem with a Lorex NVR 8-camera PoE system that I got over the holidays from Costco. The problem is that the NVR can't detect all cameras on startup, but it only happens when the NVR is physically connected by Ethernet cable to my Internet gateway/modem. Spoke to Lorex tech support and they say it's normal for PoE systems to not find all 8 cameras on startup. If that's true, that's a serious security flaw I would think. (No issues with the Lorex NVR finding all 8 cameras but only if the NVR is completely standalone, i.e., unplugged from the modem)
Anyways, Lorex tech's workaround was to have me manually to do a 'device search' and manually add the cameras in, which does work, but again, not ideal. Because if the power goes off at night even for a minute, that means potentially several cameras could be offline until someone notices and manually adds it back in. (I think the only way around that is to add a long-running UPS battery backup for the NVR.)
I'm open to any suggestions or other fixes to get it to detech all cameras on startup. Otherwise, I'll probably return this Lorex system to Costco before the end of February.
For further info on this system, it's called the, "LOREX Security System 8-Channel 4K Fusion Series NVR" using Lorex's model E892AB IP cameras. It's no longer on Costco's site, but here's a similar one from Lorex's site, albeit my NVR is model "N842A8" and has a bit less of the smart sensor stuff:
www.lorex.ca
Thanks, nomad416
I had posted this on the "NVR" subforum (which I'll now delete), but then found this thread which I realize is the exact Lorex system that I recently purchased:
I'm encountering an unusual problem with a Lorex NVR 8-camera PoE system that I got over the holidays from Costco. The problem is that the NVR can't detect all cameras on startup, but it only happens when the NVR is physically connected by Ethernet cable to my Internet gateway/modem. Spoke to Lorex tech support and they say it's normal for PoE systems to not find all 8 cameras on startup. If that's true, that's a serious security flaw I would think. (No issues with the Lorex NVR finding all 8 cameras but only if the NVR is completely standalone, i.e., unplugged from the modem)
Anyways, Lorex tech's workaround was to have me manually to do a 'device search' and manually add the cameras in, which does work, but again, not ideal. Because if the power goes off at night even for a minute, that means potentially several cameras could be offline until someone notices and manually adds it back in. (I think the only way around that is to add a long-running UPS battery backup for the NVR.)
I'm open to any suggestions or other fixes to get it to detech all cameras on startup. Otherwise, I'll probably return this Lorex system to Costco before the end of February.
For further info on this system, it's called the, "LOREX Security System 8-Channel 4K Fusion Series NVR" using Lorex's model E892AB IP cameras. It's no longer on Costco's site, but here's a similar one from Lorex's site, albeit my NVR is model "N842A8" and has a bit less of the smart sensor stuff:
4K 8-channel 2TB Wired NVR System with 8 Smart Deterrence Cameras + Smart Sensor Kit and FREE 1080p Doorbell
8-channel NVR, eight 4K Smart Active Deterrence cameras and Smart Sensor Starter Kit, this security camera system will provide you with the highest quality recording and the smartest features to protect your property. Featuring Smart Motion Detection Plus (either Face Detection or Smart Motion...
www.lorex.ca
Thanks, nomad416
brianegge
Getting comfortable
Are all 8 plugged into the rear PoE ports on the NVR? They should all just appear. You may need to reinitialize them from the Add Camera menu.
You can’t do 8 camera on their own PoE switch to NVR lan port. The nvr will create back pressure on the switch and all your network will go wonky.
You can’t do 8 camera on their own PoE switch to NVR lan port. The nvr will create back pressure on the switch and all your network will go wonky.
Hi, yes the 8 are all plugged directly into each port on the NVR. Ok, I'm not familiar with the Add Camera menu so I'll try reinitializing them later. Thx.
brianegge
Getting comfortable
The Lorex workflow expects you to plug all cameras in when you first setup the NVR. Adding them after the wizard or changing the ports can get the nvr confused, but it’s always possible to reinitialize them. There should be no reason once setup that all 8 cameras don’t initialize on boot up.
This is weird; I select the device to initialize but yet it keeps saying that I haven't selected it yet:
I ended up putting the NVR back to factory reset, and it still can only find some of the 8 cameras on initial startup:
I'll try fiddling some more with it, but I'm at a loss as to what to do. Any other suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I ended up putting the NVR back to factory reset, and it still can only find some of the 8 cameras on initial startup:
I'll try fiddling some more with it, but I'm at a loss as to what to do. Any other suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Griswalduk
Known around here
On a test bench.
Try unplugging all cameras. Factory reset the NVR. Plug 1 camera in with a known good patch lead. Wait for the NVR to find it, initialize and move it to the bottom section. Repeat for other cameras 1 at a time. Do not try and initialize 2 cameras at once.
Label the cameras as you go with the NVR port number they were plugged into. Someone called this the camera / port assignment "being married". During installation you can wire the camera back to the respective port if you have them labelled.
During set up the NVR pushes information like passwords and IP addresses to the camera. The fact the cameras have already been plugged in might mess up the above procedure. You might also have to reset them and start everything from scratch.
Good luck
Try unplugging all cameras. Factory reset the NVR. Plug 1 camera in with a known good patch lead. Wait for the NVR to find it, initialize and move it to the bottom section. Repeat for other cameras 1 at a time. Do not try and initialize 2 cameras at once.
Label the cameras as you go with the NVR port number they were plugged into. Someone called this the camera / port assignment "being married". During installation you can wire the camera back to the respective port if you have them labelled.
During set up the NVR pushes information like passwords and IP addresses to the camera. The fact the cameras have already been plugged in might mess up the above procedure. You might also have to reset them and start everything from scratch.
Good luck
Griswalduk
Known around here
What i describe above is a shortened version of advice / procedure from @bigredfish i think. There's a thread describing dahua NVR start up procedure but i can't find it. Will keep looking tho. I've tagged him hoping he has it bookmarked. Apologies if not.
Here 'tis...
***PSA for those with a New DAHUA NVR with Built-in PoE switch
IF you have a Dahua NVR with built-in PoE switch... DO NOT follow instructions telling you to use the config tool or switch the IP of your cameras or initialize anything..! With NVR's typically with a -P designation (Built-n PoE switch - example: 4208-8P-4KS2) none of that is required and it...
Griswalduk
Known around here
@SpacemanSpiff @bigredfish you 2 might have just saved the day lol
I remember relying on that thread when i got my NVR and was drawing a blank when searching here.
Hopefully good news will follow
I remember relying on that thread when i got my NVR and was drawing a blank when searching here.
Hopefully good news will follow