Power cycling a camera

[Kim Armstead]

At 2 different camera installations this week, we have had an issue where the cameras (only 2530s at one installation and only 2500s at another) were powered on and operational, but it took cycling the power to allow the cameras to reconnect to the network.

Can you think of a reason why that would be??  How could cameras have power enough to stay powered on, but not have power enough to maintain a network connection?  Why would cycling power to a camera that was already on and operational put it back on the network?? 

Power cycling of cameras has become a standard practice here in our shop, but without any real understanding of why the power cycling is necessary.  Is this really a symptom of a larger, more serious network issue or power issue?  Is anyone else experiencing this?  What have you done to further diagnose the real issue??

Thank you,

ka

[Jason Rossi]

Are you able to connect to it directly via a web browser when the condition you described occurs? The reason I ask is there was an issue with 25xx cameras where it would be on but would not stream. In other words it lost connectivity to the VSM, but was still online. One could still connect via a browser, but the camera would display "connected users = 0". Power cycling the camera would correct that and it would stream again.

That was fixed with the firmware upgrdade. Not sure if that is your specific problem, but sounds familiar to this now corrected issue.

[Kim Armstead]

Jason, In our case, the camera was completely off of the network.  We could not reach it via VSM nor could we log on to it via a web browser.  We have upgraded to 2.5.0-9 for the 2500 series cameras.  Do you recall which firmware upgrade was required to fix the problem you describe??

Thank your for your response.

ka

[Scott Olsen]

As for the 2530s, it's assumed they are being powered via a 24VAC source.  As for the other 2500 series cameras, are they being powered via PoE, or via a 24VAC cable plant / transformer as well?

If they are all being powered via a discreet 24VAC source, what other information can you provide with respect to the transformers?  What is the VA rating of the supplied power?  Are the cable lengths excessive? Cable gauge adequate to compensate for voltage drops?  Is the 24VAC on filtered or UPS based power?

We have a situation where a facilities external 2530s are on (via a 24VAC transformer) a questionable source of AC power, and on more than one occassion when the facilities deisel generators are tested, these cameras can end up in the state you described above.