cameras gor home monitoring
Hi all We have a Uniden camera system, with four cameras, to monitor our home when we are away. The last two trips, 2 weeks in, they stopped working. When we got home, I unplugged them, plugged them ...
Forum Discussion
I'm not familiar with your specific hardware so this may not apply to your system. I assume from the discussion that your system has a control/DVR box and several cameras hardwired to that box. You also have a separate router that connects the controller/DVR box to the internet. If that's correct then read on.
It sounds to me like your house (or power utility company) has a power SAG problem (line voltage below 104 volts). If you have this problem you will have the same failure whatever new system you buy. If you don't have a voltage tester, one simple way to test for a sag is to turn on all electric devices in your house except one or two high power devices like an electric stove or air conditioner. If the lights blink (dim) or the TV goes dark when you turn on that stove/air conditioner – you have sag. Another sag condition can be created when the power company fails to supply your house with 110 volts. This usually happens in the summertime when all customers have their air conditioners turned on.
How does sag affect your system? After the sag, the line voltage returns above 104 volts, the router/controller restarts but doesn't remember the IP address that was previously assigned to their channel so they don't talk to each other any more and you see it as a system failure. When you reboot the controller/DVR, it requests a new IP address from your router and then talks to it and everything is “fix(?)” until the next time.
To really fix this, you can do one or both of these. If you know how, you can log into your router and the controller/DVR and assign them to a static IP address that way they will know about each other whenever they restart. A better way (IMHO), is to plug the router, controller/DVR, (and cable modem if you have one) into a UPS box (uninterruptible power supply) which will keep the power stable for several hours/days until the sag recovers. I did both on my system and don't have that issue.
It sounds to me like your house (or power utility company) has a power SAG problem (line voltage below 104 volts). If you have this problem you will have the same failure whatever new system you buy. If you don't have a voltage tester, one simple way to test for a sag is to turn on all electric devices in your house except one or two high power devices like an electric stove or air conditioner. If the lights blink (dim) or the TV goes dark when you turn on that stove/air conditioner – you have sag. Another sag condition can be created when the power company fails to supply your house with 110 volts. This usually happens in the summertime when all customers have their air conditioners turned on.
How does sag affect your system? After the sag, the line voltage returns above 104 volts, the router/controller restarts but doesn't remember the IP address that was previously assigned to their channel so they don't talk to each other any more and you see it as a system failure. When you reboot the controller/DVR, it requests a new IP address from your router and then talks to it and everything is “fix(?)” until the next time.
To really fix this, you can do one or both of these. If you know how, you can log into your router and the controller/DVR and assign them to a static IP address that way they will know about each other whenever they restart. A better way (IMHO), is to plug the router, controller/DVR, (and cable modem if you have one) into a UPS box (uninterruptible power supply) which will keep the power stable for several hours/days until the sag recovers. I did both on my system and don't have that issue.
