One Problem with IP Cameras

[upstatemike]

We are having a lot of power problems today due to the heavy wet snow and I noticed an interesting issue with my IP cameras. They are not on battery backup yet so when the power goes out they lose connection with the browser session I am using to monitor them. Problem is, the PC is on battery so when the link is lost the picture just stays frozen with no obvious indication that you are no longer seeing the live feed. Manually refreshing the browser sets it right once I notice it but what all was really happening in front of my cameras while I was unsuspectingly looking at the old frozen images?

Seems like a good plot element for a TV crime drama or spy movie!

 

[CollinR]

That has more to do with your viewing software then the cameras. I have apps that will almost instantly show video lost, and I have apps that will wait 30-60 seconds before giving up. However I have not yet seen software that will indefinately display the last capture, I can understand why that might hack you off a little.

I would suggest you get your cam power on an UPS too, if possible, maybe a PoE switch to help if you don't use a distributed power supply. I realize those are $ compared to alternative methods.

 

[upstatemike]

That has more to do with your viewing software then the cameras. I have apps that will almost instantly show video lost, and I have apps that will wait 30-60 seconds before giving up. However I have not yet seen software that will indefinately display the last capture, I can understand why that might hack you off a little.

I would suggest you get your cam power on an UPS too, if possible, maybe a PoE switch to help if you don't use a distributed power supply. I realize those are $ compared to alternative methods.

I plan to put them on battery but will use a regular Elk 12V power supply instead of POE. Because POE is up around 50V you have to use a UPS for backup which means a much shorter run time than 12V cameras on a straight 12V battery backed supply.

 

[CollinR]

For sure. <_<

 

[Steve]

Seems like a good plot element for a TV crime drama or spy movie!

Reminds me of that scene in the movie Speed where they recorded the terrorists camera and then played it back in a loop. It worked for a while until he got suspicious and then noticed a slight glitch at the beginning of the loop.

 

[gatchel]

Some POE cameras (Panasonic) have the ability to be powereed from both sources at the same time for redundancy.


The panasonic cameras also typically drop out with in seconds of disconnecting while using the browser.

 

[znelbok]

There is no point powering your cameras up on 12VDC. Yous till need the switch to be powered up (so the PC can see them on the network) and hence you need a UPS for that as well.

Use your POE switch and use a UPS that powers the switch and PC, that way all your cameras are powered up as well and able to communicate to the PC.

 

[upstatemike]

There is no point powering your cameras up on 12VDC. Yous till need the switch to be powered up (so the PC can see them on the network) and hence you need a UPS for that as well.

Use your POE switch and use a UPS that powers the switch and PC, that way all your cameras are powered up as well and able to communicate to the PC.

My 4 cameras are on a dedicated Linksys SD205 switch which runs off of the same 12V supply I am going to put the cameras on.

 

[znelbok]

Ok - you musn't have POE.

The issues still remains for everyone though, if you have a POE switch to power the cameras there is no point in powering the cameras from an alternate source as you need power to the switch as well to keep the system working. If the POE switch has a 12V input for backup then it must also put out the 50V while on the 12V supply.

Mick

 

[CollinR]

It really makes no difference he is still ahead in the effientcy game every time you convert the current you lose some. It really makes no sence to go from 12v battery to an inverter up to 110v back down to 50v back to 12v.

 

[upstatemike]

POE has its place. If you had a POE switch running off of a 48VDC battery backed supply then you could argue that the single conversion to 12v at the camera is OK since it is offset by lower line loss.

Problem is the cost. A POE camera costs $100 more than the non POE version of the same model. Also the 12V Linksys switch cost me $33 dollars from Zip Zoom Fly. I don't think they had a POE switch in that price range.

 

[gatchel]

There is no point powering your cameras up on 12VDC. Yous till need the switch to be powered up (so the PC can see them on the network) and hence you need a UPS for that as well.

Use your POE switch and use a UPS that powers the switch and PC, that way all your cameras are powered up as well and able to communicate to the PC.

This is where I'll have to disagree. Switch power failure isn't the only way an IP camera can fail. That is why some IP cameras have an internal SD memory card slot for backup recording. When the network fails (POE power failure or not) the cameras can continue recording and then dump the images to the NVR when the network is restored.

There is a reason for the redundant power. Whether or not you have to configure your install that way is for you or the customer to decide.

 

[CollinR]

100% of the installs I have done using PoE are not redundently powered as the costs get very high and the probablity of the network failure is very low. (More then $100k in power controls who knows how much in network gear.) Everyone else gets Cat5+18-2 now and I doubt I'll be changing that anytime soon. The decent PoE gear just costs too much and delivers too little power.